AlwaysLearning

We just found out a few weeks ago that my son has Celiac Disease (Not exactly the Christmas present he was hoping for). He will now have to be on a strict gluten-free diet for the rest of his life. I have been able to cook gluten free meals for him at home, but we are struggling with eating out. This brings me to my reason for this post. My son will be entering college this fall, and I was wondering if anyone on CC had any first hand knowledge or experience dealing with Celiac Disease in College. I'm not sure what would be my sons best option for living arrangements:

My son could live off campus in an apartment and prepare his own meals, but he would miss out on the whole "freshman college experience". My DH & I, and also my son, feel this would be too isolating for him.

He could live in a suite with a kitchen on campus, but these are usually reserved for upperclassmen and would require him to room with a senior or grad student. My son isn't sure he wants to live in a suite with a bunch of guys that would all be 3 or 4 years older than him.

His last option would be to live in the regular freshmen dorm and eat in the cafeteria. With his restricted diet, he isn't sure he would have enough choices of foods that he could eat.

Has anyone dealt with a similiar situation in college?

anxiousmom

I don't have any direct knowledge, but colleges should be able to work with your son to make sure that he has access to food that he can eat. You or he should contact the food services department at the colleges he is interested in, to find out how they can accommodate him.

Gotopractice

My daughter's roommate has Celiac Disease. She has a small freezer in the dorm room (in addition to the regular microwave and small fridge). This actually helped her dorm situation, as she was assigned to a premium room due to the need for more space for the freezer :-)

JeepMOM

Believe it or not - many schools are prepared for kids with special dietary needs - and gluten free diets can be managed - with some communication with the dietary/dining hall folks - and some innovative things in a dorm room. As long as your guy has a pretty good grasp on his dietary needs and what to avoid - he should be able to manage it - with support.

Not wanting to miss the 'college experience' may be very important for him to not feel 'different' and may help him out alot. For some reason - I would not consider off-campus housing as a freshman - for the 'experience' reasons.

There are a couple of good support groups on-line - have lots of info on managing gluten free diet - with recipes and tips as well.

One thing to keep in mind is that he may just meet someone else with the same health issue - and that may be a good support for him as well - may even consider talking with the housing folks to see if it may be possible to find someone else and maybe be at least close to each in the housing situation.

mathmom

My Carnegie Mellon freshman is in a dorm created from an apartment building. He has a full kitchen. I know several people with celiac disease, I expect many campuses have experiences dealing with it.

LilyMoon

While I am not dealing with this issue in college, my younger D has been on a wheat and dairy free diet for 2 years now. I imagine that your son can stick to a gluten free diet at college. Some colleges are very tuned in to this and offer many gluten free options in dining. My D takes a class on Saturdays at Hofstra University and we eat lunch there in the cafeteria every week. We have no problem finding wheat and dairy free options for her.

The other consideration is where your S college is located. If it is in a fairly cosmopolitan area then he should also be able to find alternatives to the dining hall around the campus in the way of restaurants and supermarkets. There may even be a health food store nearby with gluten free products he can keep in the dorm room. I don't think there is any reason to alter his freshman experience.

Ctheflute

I agree that it is possible for dining halls to accommodate students with special dietary needs. They cannot guess what your needs are though, so your son will need to be proactive in dealing with these people. I know of at least one student with Celiac Disease at my university. As part of his meal plan, he is provided with a certain allotment of gluten-free staples each week (a loaf of bread, cereal, etc). In addition, the dining hall staff works with him to determine what meals are safe for him - sometimes by getting a portion before the sauce/gravy is added. It seems to have worked out really well for him, he even remained on the meal plan longer than required.

JeepMOM

A friend of mine has a kiddo who travels alot away from home - who also has Celiac Disease and they have developed some pretty kewl things - like.........

mom prepares all dry the ingredients that are in something - into a zip lock bag (squeeze all the air out) - attaches sticker with exactly what to add to it/instructions - - the perishable stuff - or liquid ingredients - (she has them all saved on her computer and just prints them out when needed) - and sends her kiddo off with her 'goodie bag'. (she will make up a bunch of different things so that they can grab and go as well) She plans to 'help' her kiddo as well - when she heads off to college in the fall - just to make it a bit easier to deal with.

She prowls some of the better health food places - like Trader Joes - for their list of gluten free items and puts together 'goodie boxes' also. She has also given gift certificates from some places for her kiddo too.

She has a list of gluten free restaurants that she keeps updated and kiddo has the list with them all the time - so that going out for dinner is not a chore.

Just a couple of ideas.

JeepMOM

ALWAYS - you may want to check this out.......... some very good ideas for college kids - from college kids (at least a few anyways ) with Celiac Disease......


Gluten-Free Celiac Disease Forum at Celiac.com (Home) > College: Living Off-campus


Good idea to stock up on gluten free snack stuff - for the in-between times too.

JeepMOM

And - I hate to even bring this up - but - he will have be well educated in regards to what he can drink as well - wether it be the daily grind or the party scene - if you know what I mean - just in case he chooses to experiment - at least be knowledgable about the do's and don'ts.

rodney

As a parent of a 14 yr old with Celiac, I am always concerned about what she will do when she enters college....this is a very overwhelming time for your family, but some of the recommendations on this thread cannot be emphasized enough:

1. As soon as he knows where he would like to attend college, please contact both residential services and food services....On many college tours for my older non-celiac d, we have asked about whether gluten-free can be accomodated and they have said absolutely. In addition, if your son can be accomodated with a microwave/freezer/refrig in his dorm room, AND if there is a health food store/Whole Foods closeby you will be set

2. In terms of "eating out', there is an amazing guide called The Essential Gluten-Free Restaurant Guide...It is national and published by Triumph Dining at the following website: www. triumphdining.com...It is national and extremely helpful in finding restaurants, both national chains and local establishments, that provide gluten-free menus and dining options.

3. The internet has been an amazing resource, but you have not indicated where you are located (or where your son plans on attending school)..From our three years of observations, this is what we have found:

-major cities across the country have more availability of gluten-free dining, but surprisingly, it's the mid-west with the most knowledge.....
-there will be parts of the country that have no idea what you are talking about.....(for example,other than chain restaurants in NJ, the majority of local places are clueless)

Finally, since there are a number of people who have already written on this thread, PLEASE let us all know which colleges have been particularly accomodating.....

Obviously, I could go on forever...If you have further questions, or if you want to let me know where your son is thinking of going, PM me at any time....

jessiehl

My boyfriend and another college friend have Celiac's, so I know something about it.

If there's a meal plan, make sure that the dining halls can accommodate him. If they can't (it's fairly difficult), you and he should demand that he be taken off the meal plan. If one is available, he should get into a dorm with kitchens and do much of his own cooking. It's safer that way.

There are several restaurants with gluten-free menus, including Outback and PF Chang's. One can sometimes obtain safe dishes at restaurants that don't have them, but the likelihood of a screw-up is much greater.

Whole Foods, if there's a local one, is great for gluten-free stuff. They have decent gluten-free breads and even gluten-free bagels!

bluebayou

Suggest you reconsider college choices to only those that offer celiac-free items (some do). On another blog, I read about a celiac kid at Santa Clara Uni who is doing extremely well and the school dining services was wonderful about working with him.

be careful with the eating-out guides....it's extremely expensive (and a legal exposure) for a commercial kitchen to claim it serves "gluten free", so restaurants are dropping off the list as fast as they are being added on. You have to ask everywhere.

AlwaysLearning

Thank you all for your advice. You have been most helpful. As to your suggestions:

I do plan to contact both residential & food services at all the colleges my son is interested in. Unfortunately we only found out my son had Celiac Disease over the holidays, and all the colleges are off for the Holiday Recess. I will call when they reopen.

I will ask about adding a freezer and microwave in the dorm room. I know all already allow small refrigerators.

Thank you for the helpful internet sites. I have been furiously researching this disease on the internet and have found a wealth of information and support groups as well (Thank God for the internet).

I also plan to check out the surrounding areas of all the colleges for nearby healthfood stores & supermarkets that may carry gluten-free products. I am amazed by the amount of stores even in my small town that carry some type of gluten-free food. I will definitely be sending my son 'goodie boxes' of gluten-free snacks when he is away.

This is all still so new, we have only been dealing with it for a few weeks, so we are all still a little overwhelmed by it. Your responses make me feel more comfortable with the idea of my son handling his celiac disease while away at college. Of course, as his mother, I will still worry (I'm really good at that). I will just try to worry more quietly. Thanks everyone.

vicariousparent

First question: Did your son have a biopsy diagnosis?