<p>I sent a letter to the “higher ups” in Housing mentioning the complaints and “scolding” them for not having a better system in place to identify and correct issues after the “summer residents” depart. I included a link to this forum so that they can see the posts themselves.</p>
<p>Their current system seems to rely too much on letting students move in and then complain. How crazy is that? </p>
<p>Now, we’ll wait and see how they respond.</p>
<p>Do what you can as soon as you can. My D reported the damage to her RCS suite to her RA after mov in last year and we got a $150 charge at the end of the semester for it. I don’t think the RA ever turned in the document. We had no proof so we had to pay</p>
<p>I really don’t trust all RA’s. Some are very good, and some are just in it for the free housing and other perks. </p>
<p>Since you never know what type you’ll get, document everything…pics, etc.</p>
<p>Your child should have been given a copy of the Move In status, so even if the RA never turned her own copy in, your child should have a copy.</p>
<p>DD room at RcSouth was filthy. Said they were replacing many items…we’ll see.</p>
<p>No move in status. Guess I need to contact housing.</p>
<p>I think that this year, the online process is supposed to replace the move in status paperwork that students have completed in prior years. So far, however, neither of my daughters in housing has been given any information about how to access the online condition report.</p>
<p>Has anyone had a carpet tile replaced?</p>
<p>There is GUM in the carpet and I spent a good bit of time trying to get it out by freezing it with ice…to no avail.</p>
<p>Guess another work order is called for.</p>
<p>Got a prompt reply from the Head Honcho over at Bama Housing:</p>
<p>Good Morning Mrs. XXXXXX,</p>
<p>I certainly regret that any student moves in with a room that is not prepared for their arrival. <em>We do try to inspect rooms multiple times between summer conferences and move-in, but apparently there were some issues that we missed. *The issues that were brought to our attention by students/parents on or around move-in, to my knowledge, were addressed quickly and **from what I read quickly on college confidential I didn’t see specific room numbers listed. **</em>If there are any unresolved issues, we will certainly address them as soon as we are aware. *Should you have any other details that would allow us to further inspect the room, we are certainly happy to investigate.</p>
<p>We will continue to work hard in the future to be certain that we are inspecting rooms thoroughly before the new students arrive on campus.</p>
<p>Sincerely,
Steven Hood,
Executive Director</p>
<p>I did thank him for his prompt response, but noted that parents would never post their child’s room number on a public forum due to privacy/security reasons, however, they certainly would be willing to let him know directly which dorms had issues.</p>
<p>So…provide your child’s dorm number and residence hall names to Dr. Hood at:</p>
<p><a href=“mailto:shood1@sa.ua.edu”>shood1@sa.ua.edu</a></p>
<p>Detail the inadequacies and if possible, include pics.</p>
<p>I’d like to chime in on a few of these issues.</p>
<p>Our building staff (including RAs) are always the best place to start on an issue you’re having inside a residence hall. When it comes to maintenance issues and housekeeping, we have staff in each area who are dedicated to certain buildings, and our housing staff have a great relationship with these folks. Letting your RA know is the quickest way to get a housekeeping issue resolved, especially around Move-In time.</p>
<p>We have increased the number of student staff in each community to further assist our residents in finding resources and resolutions in a timely manner, to ensure their success while on campus. Our staff changes each year, and we continue to recruit a high quality of student leaders, and train them in new ways to enhance the student experience here at UA.</p>
<p>If you have any maintenance or other concerns, please let your RA know, and if you would like to reach to a professional staff member, I would recommend the Area Coordinator for your student’s community as a great next step:
Reggie Lane, <a href=“mailto:rlane@sa.ua.edu”>rlane@sa.ua.edu</a>: Presidential, Riverside, Bryce Lawn, Highlands, and Bryant
Gretchen Lynum, <a href=“mailto:glynum@sa.ua.edu”>glynum@sa.ua.edu</a>: Tutwiler, Harris, Parham, Friedman, Burke, Paty, Palmer, and Somerville
Cole Altizer, <a href=“mailto:cdaltizer@sa.ua.edu”>cdaltizer@sa.ua.edu</a>: Lakeside, Ridgecrest, and Blount</p>
<p>Room condition reports:
Students will receive an email within the next couple of days to let them know when their room condition report is available in their MyHousing portal. Each student will approve/add comments to the condition of their personal space in the room, and suite mates will identify one resident to approved the condition report of common space within the suite or apartment.</p>
<p>@sewsheknits</p>
<p>I’m glad your D’s issue seems to have been handled.</p>
<p>Even though the mold may not be related to humidity in this case, there ARE rooms where the humidity is or can be an issue. If you have an issue with humidity or mold, contact Tammy Trimm. The UA will install a dehumidifier, a small compact appliance, and hook it up to drain automatically free of charge. It works wonders in resolving humidity issues. You’ll notice a big difference.</p>
<p>Here is the link for maintenance and mold issues:</p>
<p>[Student</a> Affairs | Housing & Residential Communities](<a href=“http://housing.ua.edu/on_campus/work_order.cfm]Student”>http://housing.ua.edu/on_campus/work_order.cfm)</p>
<p>Thank you for the suggestion! I think the issue has been resolved but it is good to know that UA will install a humidifier. I had been researching the costs of a small unit + shipping and would much rather give one of their’s a try first. </p>
<p>Ms.Trimm was extremely helpful with our situation before. Hopefully, the mold is gone for good. My daughter has a mild form of asthma so any mold is an issue. I am pleased by the University’s response. They let me know all along the way what steps they were taking and what we could expect and they did what they said they were going to do.</p>
<p>:) She is family, so I’m glad to hear you were pleased.</p>
<p>bamagirls - Thank you! I can’t send PM’s yet. She really was sweet to me. I was in a bit of a panic when I called her and she calmed my nerves. Just nice to know someone is looking after my baby girl when I can’t be there!</p>
<p>“Just nice to know someone is looking after my baby girl when I can’t be there!”</p>
<p>Yes, that’s what we all want if the need arrises. The UA will look out for her. No worries.:)</p>
<p>Email sent. Thank you for the contact information! I will update and let you know how this ends up. Meanwhile, son seems happy and is staying busy, which is the most important thing. He did OA so he was there a week ago. I moved junior son into his apt. this weekend so I was able to see freshman son again. He very proudly showed me where all his classes will be. :)</p>
<p>I hope these types of move-in issues are something the Housing folks take a serious look at and try to address. IIRC, I believe there was a similar thread last year when the incoming crop of freshman were moving in and it worries me a little to see it repeated.</p>
<p>D2 is a rising junior and Bama is definitely on her radar. She’s already got the test scores for a Presidential and we’re hoping things fall into place for NM, but I know dorm issues are one thing that would be a serious negative. I’ve seen a number of good things written about on-campus housing on these threads, but a few too many negatives for my comfort factor as well.</p>
<p>I’m hoping that these types of issues are more a function of the increase in the number of students over the last several years as opposed to a lack of concern or lack of effort on the part of the Housing staff. If it’s the latter, the new dorms/improvements aren’t going to last very long. :(</p>
<p>I want to chime in and say that UA is great at fixing things and putting things right, IF they are made aware of the issues. They do not sweep things under the carpet, so to speak, and they are gracious and understanding about anything that would concern us parents.</p>
<p>That said, our students see something broken and they just do not always know how to handle this as we as adults would - they do not always know to put in work orders, because this is (usually) their first experience ever with this sort of thing. Heretofore they have just told mom or dad about something (or maybe not even!) to get fixed in their room. Putting in a work order seems like such a big deal (even tho it is not). Year after year after year of this kind of ‘neglect’, with students overlooking or ignoring small issues that we homeowners would attend to immediately, and before long, those nice suites are looking shabbier and shabbier.</p>
<p>I do have a problem with this. I have a problem because we are paying very high prices for those suites. UA needs to do a better job of inspecting its properties and following up on the damages that it seems to like to assess fines for, BEFORE students move in. In my S’s suite, there are several large chipped areas where complete pieces of drywall and corners or walls are missing…and 1 bedroom door has a huge gash in it where it looks like a chair was thrown against the wood and split it…these were noted last year on the form, trust me…we were not assessed fines for them because of that…but they were not repaired over the summer either, as they should have been. I did note on moving in (to the same room/suite as last year), that ironically a few nail holes had been spackled over, yet the larger, more noticeable, and quite frankly the more ‘valuable’ issues in terms of maintenance, were not addressed.</p>
<p>Riverside is one of the now-older sets of dorms. I was quite disappointed last year on move-in with the lack of cleanliness and the quite run-down nature of the carpet, the walls, the lino, the paint, and so forth. This year, I was armed to clean the unit BEFORE S even set foot in his room (we were far too eager last year, and always regretted moving all of his stuff into that unclean room…ugh). But, the paint is bad. I’m sure they are on some sort of rotation schedule to paint, but really, it is bad. It was bad last year, and my S was a little surprised that the same blue ink/tint is smeared all along 1 entire wall next to his bed, as if the person before him 2 years ago had a blue bedspread whose colouring rubbed off.</p>
<p>I am also disappointed that students themselves are filling out the forms electronically this year, with no parental input. Last year, we parents reminded our first-year students to be meticulous, to take pictures, and to write down on the form all of these things while we were standing there, all the things that were an issue. I shudder to think what will be missing on my S’s form this year because he just plain forgot to look at something which is now covered/behind his dresser because he has already moved everything in there. While UA is saving 1000s of pieces of paper by doing this process electronically, first year students especially (and many upperclassmen as well) just cannot be relied upon, IMO, to look over a property like a homeowner would. Or someone paying the bills.</p>
<p>I will sing the praises of UA when deserved, but I will also be fair with criticism when there is room for improvement. I agree UA does listen, and I know they care and want to make things right, but this is one of those areas where I think the growing pains are a little more glaring than others. Here is our take:</p>
<p>I was generally disappointed in the overall condition of the last 2 buildings my S has lived in. His summer digs in Lakeside needed painting, and it was just so random. You could see an area where it had been painted, but then there was another area where the job clearly was not finished. I can understand a spot repair, but to leave a three foot section of an entire wall unfinished? Really??</p>
<p>Now in Paty, and even fairly taking into consideration the age of the building, his room needed (and still does need) some attention. The vanity in his sink is absolutely pitiful. It should have been replaced long ago. The window would not fully close, and the room was very dirty, even by my far less man standards as opposed to those of my wife. We had an old joke we used to apply to hotel rooms, where we “ranked” them on a scale of 1 to 5 Lysol cans, with 5 being sparkling. I’d give his room in Paty about 2 Lysol cans. My wife cleaned the room from top to bottom, literally wiping down the walls with a bucket and some cleaner. I am pretty sure the dresser came from the Walton’s farm (I’m not kidding). I will give them credit, the HVAC system seems to have had a complete overhaul, so that is good, but I just need someone to explain how the other items were not addressed.</p>
<p>In fact, I just have to say it. With three months to prepare these rooms, it honestly begs the question of exactly what the housekeeping/janitorial staff did with their time???</p>
<p>Again, I do not think it is intentional neglect. I just think that more attention needs to be paid to the details, and that the standards be raised in terms of expectations from the housekeeping staff. I know UA is trying, and I know it can be difficult, but it can’t be from a lack of resources available to them.</p>
<p>Not excusing this, but to be fair, many of these rooms have been occupied by students, campers, or parents of BB students until the last minute. It would certainly help if people living or using them would respect themselves, others, and the UA by not trashing the dorms and cleaning up after themselves, too. As for the one with dog hair, well…</p>
<p>It just seems a little surprising to me that they don’t police the rooms a little better when any summer residents leave or perform necessary repairs when damage has been reported the previous year.</p>
<p>Our other experience is with D1 at U of Minnesota, and they are VERY strict about room inspections before the students can leave at the end of the year. The dorm rooms and on-campus apartments have to be almost move-in ready for the future residents before the current residents are cleared to depart. I guess I’m not sure whether Bama or UMinn is closer to the norm.</p>
<p>I’m glad to hear that Bama Housing is pretty responsive when notified of issues, but I’d be pretty irritated if we found a dorm room in some of the conditions described in this thread when we arrived for move-in. I’m pretty darn good at making my opinion known when it’s necessary, so the RA and Housing staff would certainly get a chance to meet me. :)</p>