@Mandalorian, apparently you missed the title of the thread. Regardless, there’s no reason to be a jerk.
@Mandalorian
Food allergies can be serious. I feel sorry for any celiac who can’t avoid gluten.
Does UA grant waivers for required on-campus living and food plan requirements for students who have special dietary needs? Our oldest son has life-threatening food allergies: all tree nuts, all fruit grown on trees, all fish and shell fish. His allergist wrote a letter to his university and he was able to get a waiver so that he could live off-campus in order to do his own cooking.
Mom2aphysicsgeek, thanks for recognizing the seriousness and understanding where I come from. I actually am really good friends with your son and he tells me all about his brothers food allergies!
Mandalorian, I understand your rude comment. Most people this gluten free is a fad and a choice. But sadly I’m not lucky enough to be in that group. Lakeside feeds me gluten all the time and I constantly get sick like throwing up, dizziness. The dining halls workers think they can cut corners and cross contaminate, but it really makes me sick. It’s not a choice and I understand sometimes people don’t understand the seriousness of food allergies.
bamagirl18: As for the lack of bonding in the suite-style dorms, my son lived in Lakeside and Ridgecrest his first two years, and he never knew his neighbors. He was even on the dorm council and organized various get-togethers, but he rarely met new people that way. My younger son is at UAH, and he has never met his neighbors in the suites on his floor. He knows other people in the building, because they are in his classes, run on the track team or are part of Greek life. It is a shame that students really do not get to know others on their floors.
As for the gluten issue, my younger son has a teammate with the same problem. He also struggles to find things that he can eat at the dining halls. Fortunately, he has car, and he goes shopping for groceries each week.
@bamagirl18
If you are the young lady who moved into a different suite, I hope that at least one of your concerns is finally being corrected. 
That group sounds like a wonderful group of friends! I know my son’s life has been blessed by those friendships.
For those who want to live with other Honors students but are scared about feeling isolated in suite-style housing (or need to save funds), consider Blount. They will have an entire floor dedicated to non-Blount students next year, I believe. My son is VERY happy his initial request for a suite could not be filled. He’s love living in Blount because it’s such a social dorm.
Agree that the university ought to offer waivers for the mandatory freshman meal plan for those with confirmed medical issues. Practically speaking, I think it is too much to expect that this dining program could accommodate special diets, though I sympathize with your plight.
What has been the greatest disappointment to me as a parent? The dining program itself. Yes, I have expressed my concerns to them, and they are gracious, but that never translates into food.
I had two concerns as a parent sending off the first kid to college: that he’d have a decent place to live and decent conveniently located dining hall with dining hall quality food to eat (especially given the mandatory $3200 a year meal plan.) Did not seem to be too much to expect on my part.
He chose $8800/year Honors housing in one of the Ridgecrest buildings. Yes, lovely rooms, and quiet - in fact, so quiet because nobody is around. He was amused to see other students show their faces during study week whom he had never ever seen all semester long (and he does not hide out in his room.) Even within his suite, he may or may not see some of his roommates. The RAs try to host things but most students don’t show up. So don’t count on the Honors suites automatically building communities. Those suites are just not set up like what you might see at other universities (I tend to compare Alabama to Ole Miss’ Honors and residential suites.) Other than the beauty of the buildings, I am not quite sure what the advantages are. Most of the students he has met plan to move out of Honors Housing next year anyway, so what communities may have been established will not exist next year.
Think hard about the value of Honors housing if you have any concerns about the dining plan. Lakeside Dining keeps shrinking its menus. This semester, it does not even offer any brunch food on Saturdays. Yes, Burke is available, and has the best menus, but it is a 1.1 mile walk one way from Ridgecrest to Burke. When a student starts classes at 8am and has classes all day, and activities in the evening, trying to schedule in 2 mile round trip walks to out of the way Burke Hall just to go eat breakfast, lunch, or dinner is difficult to do.
Lakeside Dining is just responding to student needs, or so they say, and I guess most of the students in Lakeside are eating elsewhere (a lot of Cane’s and Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts, I guess.) But if you are sending an out of state student, without a car, and moving them into the Honors Housing and then expecting that eating their basic meals will be convenient, you will be as disappointed as I. Dining Dollars will evaporate more quickly than you expected, and you will be sending your students food and microwave cookware throughout the year and they will be heading to the grocery store, too.
Honors students are told if they don’t sign up for Honors Housing the freshman year, they can never live in Honors Housing. That certainly did play a role in our decision. Of course, I did not know the reality of the dining halls. Burke, even if older, sounds like it better meets needs for freshman in a whole host of ways - its own first floor dining hall, much cheaper cost, and inevitable community given sharing the rooms and the bathrooms.
If I knew then what I know now, Burke would have definitely been a more compelling choice from a financial perspective as well as from the perspective of easing my mind about whether my son was eating.
Martha Parham dorm is traditional style and is right across the street from Burke. However, it is female only, from what I understand. But for girls, it would be another possible dorm that is also right behind the newer part of sorority row. I will say…from my 1 year in M. Parham, those dorms were not that social. I hung out with my roommate and her friends from home, but most of my spare time was spent at my sorority house. Nobody seemed that friendly in the dorm, although over in Burke there was a volleyball net outside the dining hall and kids would play volleyball in the fall. The net disappeared after Christmas and did not return.
This is why it’s crucial to join some clubs and activities that interest you!
I also highly recommend getting a bicycle if a student does not have access to a car. Zipping across campus on a bike might take 10 minutes max.
I think a lot of this really depends on the individual kid. Students have switched in and out of all of these dorms for a variety of reasons. Often it simply comes down to the roommate(s) and the mix of kids on any given floor or hall.
As far as food goes, while I agree it’s been the biggest disappointment at UA, my son almost always eats at Lakeside or Fresh Fields. He’s very frugal, knows how much we paid for that meal plan, and just makes the best of the situation. He occasionally eats off campus or at Cain’s but he has not blown through his Dining Dollars. He’s fairly health conscious, does his best with what’s available, and came home for winter break slightly thinner than when we dropped him off, but I think that was as much about losing muscle mass because he’s not working out as much as he did at home and the fact that he walks everywhere. I’m thrilled he didn’t gain the “freshman 15” whatever the reason!
He also doesn’t have a bike or car and manages to get around okay. He’s planning to get a bike for when he moves off campus next year, but he does NOT want the responsibility of expense of having a car at UA–which is a good thing because, unlike a lot of kids apparently, we’ve never bought him one and he sure can’t afford to buy one on his own. If and when he needs a car, we’ll look into it.
A lot of this stuff is just personal preferences and may or may not be an issue at ANY school.
Here’s one: The wireless internet is absolutely horrible. This is a major research university, if it can afford to pay Nick Saban $7M a year, one would think they could afford some decent wifi.
Also the parking enforcement meter maid people are predators.
FYI on moving from traditional dorm (freshman yr) to suite-style dorm (soph yr): When my son signed up for housing last May, the rules said you could not move into suite-style from traditional. However, UA Housing has changed those rules…and now current freshmen who wish to move into suite-style housing for their soph yr CAN do that (…if they signed up early enough to obtain on-campus housing for their soph yr). Incoming freshmen and parents will need to check on the rules going forward for clarification on what exactly applies for students starting in Fall of 2015.
Janine in UA Housing might have the answer for us… ?
“Also the parking enforcement meter maid people are predators.”
Umm, maybe…but then I guess one would have to realize those who feel the parking restrictions don’t apply to them are opportunists, not victims. Can you imagine the mayhem that would occur without parking enforcement? Fines are consequences for slow learners.
bamagirls, I agree!!! If there were no enforcement of parking lots to insure that those parked had the proper permits, it would be a NIGHTMARE! The ones complaining about the enforcement would be the same ones complaining if they had paid for a parking permit and the lots were constantly full lot with cars with no parking permits or permits for other lots.
As for the wifi, this is an issue at many large businesses and such that all share one network. There is only so much technology can keep up with.
If we want to nitpick, go right ahead. It is obvious some are grasping for straws to find fault in some area.
No place, campus or school is perfect. Not even UA. They all have their disadvantages. Most of these are nitpicky at best.
@bamagirl18 That door issue sounds odd. That needs to be reported. Who have you contacted. There should be a place, maybe online, that you can report such issues.
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First off is the gluten free options in the dining hall. It is beyond me that at a school so large, they couldnt put a gluten free station in. Also they are constantly running out of gluten free options. I never have a choice in what I eat, its always whatever they have. The workers at the dining halls, act like it is a chore when I ask for gluten free food.
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The workers, are well, just workers. I would this this issue higher, much higher. When at the dining hall ask to speak to hall’s manager and tell him/her about the issue.
I don’t think a gluten free station is the answer, but I do think that having enough gluten-free foods is important.
Which dining hall do you normally eat? I will try to give you some contact numbers…there is also an online link to register complaints.
(edit) Lakeside
Bama Dining does recognize the need for gluten-free foods. It sounds like the intent that comes from above is not being followed by the workers who either don’t care or don’t understand the issue.
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The dining halls workers think they can cut corners and cross contaminate, but it really makes me sick.
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This needs to also be told to management.
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@mandalorian Wireless WiFi in dorms is a huge challenge everywhere because of the nature of dorms and the number of people using it. Bama has been working that issue.
BTW…the univ does not pay Saban’s salary. The Athletic dept does, and its funds are completely separate. The funds don’t come from the univ.
And your words to @bamagirl18 were extremely rude. Apologize!
http://www.speedsurvey.net/BamaDiningLocationFeedback.aspx
@bamagirl18 use the form above to list your issues…but ALSO speak to the on-duty managers.
@mom2collegekids From my experiences, I have talked to managers and they tend to be helpful at first but then rarely are helpful after the initial conversation. As for a gluten free station, I don’t think it needs to be for only gluten free people. But they should make a line naturally gluten free each day. Like chicken and rice or something that other students can eat too. Legally food allergies are considered a disability. So they legally need to provide accommodations. It is the same as providing a ramp for those in wheelchairs. Also they have plates for vegetarians even though they don’t worry about cross contamination. They need to start having lavender (food allergy awareness color) plates for those of us who are severely allergic. Also they do not list which foods contains nuts and all. I have had several friends have to go to the doctor or need to take benadryl because of the lack of labeling. I tell the management frequently and they just don’t listen. They don’t realize how sick this makes us. Luckily there is a committee meeting that students with food allergies are invited to tomorrow. But sadly I have class and won’t be able to attend. I have used that form almost weekly and I can dining managers frequently yet it keeps happening. My advice to those prospective students with food allergies is to get out of your meal plan. It is not worth the money to continuously get sick.
To address the issues of the workers, I think they need to change their mind set because it very well could kill someone. Food allergies can be deadly and if they continue to cut corners and cross contaminate things they could have a lawsuit on their hands. People don’t realize this is life or death and it is. Luckily it isn’t for me, but I know there are students who wish they could eat at dining halls but can’t because of their severe food allergies.
@bamagirl18, Have you contacted Holly Grof to ask for advice?
Holly Grof, MS, RD, LD
Dining Services Coordinator
205-348-2981
hgrof@fa.ua.edu
http://fawp.ua.edu/bamadining/food-allergies/
Maybe you could even get a job in the department helping them with food and allergy compliance issues in the dining halls.
@LucieTheLakie yes I have contacted her and she was fairly helpful but not to the necessary extent. I will look further into things. Hopefully will get some answers.
I’m actually gluten-free too (but not celiac) and I did manage to find something at the cafeteria that I thought was gluten-free on our recent tour of UA. However having celiac’s is so much more serious so I really feel for you! I think there are enough people eating gluten-free by necessity or by choice these days that a gluten-free station would be really appreciated! Good luck!
A negative from a High School Senior’s parent - That Alabama wants a partially non-refundable housing deposit by Feb. 1 to get dorm choices. Not one of the other schools DD is considering require such a deposit, and it comes close to the line of violating the May 1 commitment deadline agreed to by all Colleges. Since we won’t be paying the deposit to Bama by Feb. 1, the knowledge that others will have priority dorm selection will go into the “minus” column during the month of April when she is making her final choice after hearing back on all her applications.
@bigmacattack We agree with you! I think it reflects poorly on UA to force students into that agreement if they are not ready.