<p>i think the thing to do would have been to recontract for an on campus room with the hope that some off campus options became available.</p>
<p>^^^ Mike, yes, obviously that would have been the easiest option had we had ANY hope that the off campus option “might” transpire. However, given the “certainty” of the information that we were provided by UA, and given particular circumstances that also played into the decision, we chose otherwise. Obviously, we were prepared to make that decision, but in hindsight, UA was not forthcoming about the possibility of the The Lofts (or anywhere else) being an option for off campus utilization of the housing scholarship.</p>
<p>^^ The problem (and this will only be a problem through 2015-16 since the housing scholarship is now for only 1 year) is when you have NMFs and non-NMFs rooming together. Even if a housing scholarship kid recontracts “just in case,” if they want to be off-campus with friends in the event the Housing-contracted off campus housing doesn’t materialize, they have to commit to those friends and a lease. And since rising juniors without housing scholarships couldn’t recontract, living with the friends in the Housing-contracted apartments isn’t possible anyway.</p>
<p>I guess it depends if the goal is to live with friends off-campus or just to live off-campus, even if it’s with random roommates. My D doesn’t have a housing scholarship, but she rooms with girls who do, so this is an issue for all of them.</p>
<p>Mike, Dad’s D was told that there would be zero chance of using her scholarship off campus. My post from last night was poorly worded but I know Dad2ILD and I clearly remember him stating this. Here’s his prior post from Jan. 2013:</p>
<p>yes, we have been informed that UA will not be contracting with any outside apartments for the upcoming school year. EE was always thought to be a 1 year arrangement. I’m not sure what the deal was with the Bluffs. My D was specifically told that her only option (to retain her scholarship) was to stay in the dorm, or choose one of the on campus apartment style options (Bryce Lawn or The Highlands). Given the new rules for Juniors and Seniors going into effect, her girlfriends (non scholarship) are leaving the dorms since they are no longer guaranteed housing. Therefore, my D will be moving out of the dorms, thus forgoing 2 years of housing scholarship. She showed initiative, set up meetings with housing and scholarship staff to plead her case for an exception to have her scholarship applied at Bluffs as has been done in the past (according to staff at Bluffs), and she was denied. I suppose, given that newly entering NMFs are only getting one year of free housing, that we should feel lucky to have gotten 2 years, but it does sting a bit to be letting that benefit go, obviously. BTW, her comment on Bryce and Highlands? She said maybe boys could live there, but the units she saw were seriously dated, run down, and in need of serious upgrades. She’ll be turning 21 in the Fall, so in some cases it’ll be good for her to be off campus, but it seems to us that options placed at our feet were quite limited especially in relation to what has been offered others in previous years. No sour grapes as she’s very happy to be living in EE next year, but from our perspective it’s a shame she has to lose the scholarship.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-alabama/1453193-moving-back-campus-east-edge-bluffs.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-alabama/1453193-moving-back-campus-east-edge-bluffs.html</a></p>
<p>What I meant for the timing of this announcement being poor is that students made decisions based on information given when housing decisions needed to be made. There was no reason for Dad’s D to think the rules might change down the line. You can’t all of a sudden - in mid May after leases have already been signed - change the rules. Well, I guess you can, because it was done, but it’s not right.</p>
<p>darn, my message submitted before i was ready.</p>
<p>i think the smart thing to do would have been to recontract for an on campus room with the <strong>hope</strong> that some off-campus options became available. of course, you will say that hindsight’s 20/20, but last year, the offer for east edge came FAR after regular housing selection (i don’t remember the timeframe, but i know it was later in the year than this is), and the kids who were eligible to take advantage of it were those students who were, at least, willing to live in the lowly on-campus housing. those students were then given an option to <strong>SWITCH</strong> to the off-campus option.</p>
<p>here is the thread from last year announcing the east edge option
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-alabama/1349539-dorm-housing-brand-new-east-edge-apartments.html?highlight=east+edge[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-alabama/1349539-dorm-housing-brand-new-east-edge-apartments.html?highlight=east+edge</a></p>
<p>i understand people’s disappointment with UA, but something like this happens every year and it is not given as an option earlier in the year.</p>
<ul>
<li>freshman not <strong>having</strong> to live on campus (fall 2010)</li>
<li>anyone (not just upperclassmen) being able to contract the on-campus apartments (fall 2010)</li>
<li>the bluffs as an option (not sure when)</li>
<li>east edge (made available as an option in june 2012)</li>
<li>i am sure there are others that i do not know about</li>
</ul>
<p>these options become options when the university realizes that they NEED to make a change to accomodate more students.</p>
<p>like others, i am more disappointed with their pushing of honors college (or other LLC) students off campus when it was clearly “guaranteed” when these students started.</p>
<p>good luck getting the situation sorted out to your satisfaction, but i don’t think the university really owes you anything. NMF students were awarded 4 years housing in a dorm. they still offered you that. you just chose not to accept it.</p>
<p>“like others, i am more disappointed with their pushing of honors college (or other LLC) students off campus when it was clearly “guaranteed” when these students started.”</p>
<p>haha i quoted myself!</p>
<p>if this wasn’t the problem that it is, then the problem of roomies wanting to stay together wouldn’t be a problem at all.</p>
<p>and i agree that UA should have not been so definitive about there being NO off campus offerings this year. </p>
<p>again … good luck getting it sorted out.</p>
<p>I am also in agreement that UA should have had this in place by the recontracting deadline so students would have known what their options were.</p>
<p>They didn’t know this option would be available then? They should have put out their RFP earlier and had the plan in place prior to the recontracting date.</p>
<p>They didn’t know what the demand was going to be before then? They’re on a college campus…I guarantee if they arranged the right group of individuals, even students looking for research experience, from the finance, econ, math, and statistics departments they could have had well documented reports on the trends and the costs involved and how many rooms they should have and at what costs well before students even applied to campus for next school year.</p>
<p>I think it is possible that, back in Jan.-Feb., UA housing might have believed there would be no possible need for an off-campus option, but circumstance may have now changed and required them to seek a contract with the Lofts. Having said this, if UA housing had any thoughts that there may be a need to offer off-campus housing, it should have qualified its answers when students inquired about the possibility. </p>
<p>I wonder how many non-scholarship students would be willing to pay what appears to be a cost premium to stay in UA off-campus housing so that they could keep a roommate who has a scholarship. Maybe there isn’t a cost premium when one considers the additional costs for the summer months under required 12 month leases for non UA off-campus housing.</p>
<p>i think the smart thing to do would have been to recontract for an on campus room with the <strong>hope</strong> that some off-campus options became available.</p>
<p>For a group of 4 juniors who wanted to stay together - some with housing scholarships, something without - this was impossible as juniors were not able to recontract.</p>
<p>^^^ Mike, please excuse me, but your tone above with the particular phrasing and the use of “you” is not appropriate. I have not indicated anywhere in any post that we (or anyone else) is owed anything! We made the choice freely given the information at our disposal at the time. That information, from UA, was that there would be NO option provided for the upcoming school year. NONE. Not wait and see what happens, since we’ve provided options before. Not we’ll need to wait for a couple months while we reevaluate the population distribution and need. Nothing. We were told personally NO OPTION. That is my gripe, and that alone. My D had a sweet deal, she was in a double. It was a difficult decision. Your personal insinuations as to our motivations and/or satisfaction with the dorms by using “you” and “lowly” add no value to the discussion. If, IN FACT, UA regularly does this after they reevaluate space needs, then THAT is what they should communicate to students / families facing this decision. Those that then choose to take the risk of waiting can then make that decision. It should be that easy.</p>
<p>I wonder how many non-scholarship students would be willing to pay what appears to be a cost premium to stay in UA off-campus housing so that they could keep a roommate who has a scholarship.</p>
<p>There is a cost premium - $7200 for a 12 month lease at the Lofts in a 4 bedroom vs. $8800 for the Lofts option through UA - plus the fact of having to move a student in and out over the summer. That being said, I am a parent who would be willing to pay the premium if it meant my son could stay with his housing scholarship RMs.</p>
<p>You see how big the premium really is when you tack on the cost for a summer term lease at The Lofts through UA, which is $2200. Then you’re comparing apples to apples. I personally wouldn’t be willing to pay that premium so another student could live with my child for free.</p>
<p>beth’s mom, UA Housing stated that choosing the Lofts option through UA meant we would not have to pay the summer semester - so $8800 for the academic year.</p>
<p>I know - I’m just comparing 12 months to 12 months. As easy as move-out was for me (heck, I was at home!), one of the huge benefits of off-campus housing is not having to move (assuming, of course, that you stay in the same place 2 years in a row).</p>
<p>Thanks Class2012Mom. As you note, that $1600 cost premium is in addition to the hassle and cost of having to move out over the summer. Tough choice for all involved. If you have a scholarship, it would be tough to ask your non-scholarship friends to pay such premiums. If you don’t have a scholarship, it would be tough to ask your scholarship friend to giveup the benefits of the scholarship.</p>
<p>It would be a tough decision - and I would so love not to have to move my kid in and out - but I would like to be able to make an informed decision based on facts that won’t be changed. Even a compromise of living in the same off-campus complex in different rooms looks fairly impossible given that the choice of off-campus housing for NMFs isn’t disclosed until well after others have had to sign leases.</p>
<p>All this aggravation could be avoided if UA would offer the remaining NMFs with more than one year of housing scholarship a housing stipend as an alternative.</p>
<p>i didn’t mean “you” personally. just the general you. sorry. i tend to come off more harsly than intended sometimes. again, i apologize.</p>
<p>for as long as i have been here, housing scholarship students/parents have always had gripes about UA housing. they (not you) want housing to pay for an off campus place. they want a housing stipend. they want off campus options provided under the UA housing umbrella. they want their students to be able to live with chosen (but non-housing scholarship) students, but some of those students aren’t able to recontract at all.</p>
<p>UA offered NMF students 4 years of on-campus housing. that is all. any of the other more desirable options are not part of the offer. if something better ends up happening, then GREAT! enjoy! but you can’t expect anything other than what was offered.</p>
<p>so i guess it is a bit of a hot button issue with me having seen this type of complaint year after year (going on 4 years now). if it is not one thing, it’s another, and today the issue is the lofts.</p>
<p>i applaud your daughter for going to the right people and talking to them to try to make the most of her situation. that is admirable. my daughter would hate to have to go through all that. sorry that you feel that you were misled. i can’t imagine that that woud have been their intention, but i suppose it is possible. </p>
<p>i hope you all can get it worked out.</p>
<p>I agree that offering a stipend as an alternative would seem to solve many of the problems that have occured over the last couple of years. However, I am not willing to assume that UA housing knew back in Jan.-Feb. that it may need to utilize off-campus housing. The people I have dealt with at UA, including at UA housing, don’t strike me as being dishonest, indeed, I have always got the impression that they are honest and attempting to do the best they can for the students.</p>
<p>^^^ Mike, thanks and accepted. 
Everything you state is true, truly, but it does not change the fact that UA has regularly made accommodations for their housing scholarships to be applied elsewhere, whether it be Bluff, EE or otherwise. My D had a Double, which means if she was able to find a female NMF to live with her, she actually would have stayed in the dorms. She loves EE and the fact that she’ll be living in a Triple with 1 person that she knows (the other is potluck). I guess there is some solace for those lurking to remember that this only applies to a small and ever shrinking population of NMFs since the new housing scholarship is only for 1 year. My Ds very good friends (boys) are choosing to stay in the dorms. We will NOT be asking UA to DO anything … no demands. My D does want to call UA to inform them that she feels like she was misled given our particular circumstances … her closure. She does not want to move to The Lofts now because it would mean she’d be inconveniencing her roommate. Also, her boyfriend is also living at EE. My contention remains the same, if this option is predictable and regular, then it should have been communicated as such instead of the exact opposite giving a communication stating it would not be offered period, end of story. Again, this problem goes away in 1 more year as my D was the last class to be awarded the 4 year scholarship.</p>
<p>Despite a lot of complaints about housing, and yes, we are scholarship people, I will say that they have been wonderful for us for summer housing. Last summer, we had to last minute get son housing for a summer job in Alabama, and we just found out again that son is going back to campus sooner than expected. Housing has been so helpful to us and accommodating. Sure, we pay a premium for summer housing, and yes, it is a big headache to move in and out not just once a year, but twice a year, but it’s our way of paying back the university for their generosity.</p>
<p>Son will be attending grad school in a couple of years, and probably in a harsh climate, so even for grad school, we will probably do the inconvenient, high priced campus housing. It’s worth it for his safety and convenience. Time will fly by, and before you know it, he’ll be moving into his own apartment for real. Then, I’ll be able to sit back and take a breath and hope that he’ll be some place for a couple of years without move in/move out deadlines.</p>
<p>I do know a friend of ours, a rising sophomore, that was on the waitlist for housing, that was able to get back on campus. Maybe, with the Lofts option, others will be able to get back on campus as well. Just don’t know what will happen to kids that have already signed leases at other complexes.</p>
<p>We had an empty in our suite, but it’s been filled, and in my opinion, the boys should just leave it be, rather than trying to get one of their friends back in with them. The friends have moved on and formed a foursome in an off campus apartment. Their parents are thrilled, as it’s much cheaper than on campus housing, but I wouldn’t be surprised if some kids would not want to try to get back onto campus.</p>
<p>Good luck to everyone this summer and hope you have a restful time off from school!</p>