<p>Make sure he has his own toaster-loads of gluten crumbs in any nondedicated toaster.</p>
<p>My D had very restrictive dietary issues and managed to get by for 2 years with a combination of dorm food and stocking her own refrigerator. My W has celiac and other restrictions. Once you get used to the limitations, you will find that it is less of an issue than you might imagine. For a teenager, it is mostly a social issue – no more pizza and fast food with friends.</p>
<p>Hi there. I have Celiac disease. I was diagnosed last summer and have been 100% gluten free for 7 months. I second whoever posted about the forums on Celiac.com:
[Celiac</a> Disease and Gluten-Free Forum (Home)](<a href=“http://www.celiac.com/gluten-free/]Celiac”>Celiac.com Celiac Disease & Gluten-Free Support Forums)
They are very helpful, and there is a forum specifically for teenagers and young adults. There are several college-age students who post there, and they are sure to have great tips and advice for dealing with Celiac in college. </p>
<p>Living with Celiac is hard but doable. Thank goodness we have the internet for information and support.</p>
<p>My son is going to Washington University in Saint Louis (Wash U) - Does anyone have celiac or wheat free kids who are already there or who will be going there? Will colleges let kids have a toaster oven in their dorm? That would make a huge difference, as my son lives on Annie’s Gluten Free veggie burgers! (Also stir fry, but that would obviously be tricky in a dorm room.)
Thanks.</p>
<p>Most schools will have food available that is gluten free, and most times, the dining services people are very helpful. Many of the convenience stores on campus also have some gluten free frozen foods, pretzels, cookies, etc. Celiac is becoming more and more common. </p>
<p>I have been visiting numerous schools, and all have been very accomodating. University of Michigan did not sell gluten free items in the convenience store, but they had in the dining hall. I am a bit concerned about the party scene on campus though.</p>
<p>We didn’t make that a precondition in the college search, but are now dealing with it after the fact. We’re hoping to talk them into setting up some kind of a gluten free station.</p>
<p>Here’s a very interesting and informed discussion about celiac…
[Celiac</a> Disease Becoming More Common - Well Blog - NYTimes.com](<a href=“Celiac Disease Becoming More Common - The New York Times”>Celiac Disease Becoming More Common - The New York Times)</p>
<p>Thanks - I had seen the original article, but the followup replies were really interesting…</p>
<p>My roommate this past year had Celiac. You can find a lot of restaurants with gluten-free menus now…we went to Outback for my birthday in September and she was able to request one. Lots of other places have them too.</p>
<p>Basically, all it meant was that we couldn’t share food without specifically asking first. She had her own toaster and kept lots of stuff in the freezer (we were lucky enough to have a full kitchen in our “apartment”…that’s what our school calls most of the dorms).</p>
<p>Make sure it’s explained to the roommate, and you should be fine. The cafeteria can probably accommodate you as well.</p>
<p>I don’t have much to add besides what has already been said, but one of my friends at school has to follow a gluten-free diet, does not have any special arrangements with the school (although they are offered to those with dietary needs - but she is independent and would rather handle it on her own) and manages it just fine. She eats most of her meals at the dining hall, too. depending on the school & quality of the dining hall there really are tons of options. When she eats at the fast food type place on campus she’ll get a grilled chicken sandwich or burger without the bread/bun and either eat it alone or get a side salad to put it on.</p>
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<p>This might work for some people - people with Celiac’s require different amounts/concentrations of gluten in order to cause a reaction - but I’d be VERY wary of suggesting it as general advice. A lot of people with Celiac’s would be constantly ill and malnourished if they did this (in fact, I know one who was basically forced into this situation, because her dorm dining hall refused to accommodate her - this was years ago and they’ve since cleaned up their act - and despite her attempts to only eat the safe-seeming foods, she was constantly ill due to cross-contamination). I cannot imagine my boyfriend being willing to risk this if he were back in college. And having seen how little it takes to cause him to react, I wouldn’t WANT him to risk it.</p>
<p>Also, I think the implication that anyone who makes arrangements with the school to accommodate a legitimate health issue is not “independent” is completely off base.</p>
<p>I am bumping this to revisit any colleges which were particularly accomodating this admissions year? Please post your experiences (good or bad)…</p>
<p>We visited a number of cafeterias that had their offerings divided up into stations including wheat-free, vegan and vegetarian foods noted. (American seemed particularly friendly in this regard.)</p>
<p>mathmom: any that you particularly remembered? we’ve never seen that in our visits…</p>
<p>The American one was particularly striking because I noticed wheat-free was labeled. Tufts had a similar arrangement I didn’t notice if wheatfree things were labeled. I got the impression Brandeis might be similar with Kosher added as an option, but it was closed. They do have nutritional info about offerings on their website. I think you do better when there is one big cafeteria with stations than with a fastfood court type offerings.</p>
<p>Thank you…glad I asked; American is on junior D’s list…</p>
<p>Son’s friend is a freshman at Chapman U. this fall. He has several allergies and needs to stick to a gluten-free diet. The dorm caterer has been incredibly accommodating. The caterer had stocked up on special ingredients for him before freshman orientation started and has been cooking his meals individually. Supposedly Loyolla Marymount uses the same caterer and is able to be similarly accommodating.</p>
<p>A little off-topic, but just as an indication of how aware & accomondating universities are becoming–the ecumenical protestant chapel at Yale offers gluten-free communion bread!</p>
<p>Speaking from experience you must be sure the dining services are able to fully satisfy a celiacs needs. Although we met with staff from Dining Services upon my daughters arrival this fall and were assured her needs would be met, it turned out that she was basically on her own. There were no specific “gluten free” entries. She could only check the weekly menu’s on line where entrees where simply labeled “wheat free”. However as anyone with celiac knows that is not enough…it must say Gluten Free. She had very few options, and was basically living off of care packages from home, which really can’t adequately provide complete nutrition. </p>
<p>Sadly, due to the stress of of all of this coupled with her first time away from home, she was sick in less than two weeks and was basically forced to withdraw. In the week since she’s been back we have been doing a lot of research and now see that there are SOME schools out there who REALLY get it. They provide GF breads, pasta’s, pizza etc. One that looks very interesting to us is the University of New Hampshire. There are special refridgerators stocked with GF food, and the dining staff will cook special entries for GF students. There is also a nutritionist on campus who works directly with students with special dietary needs.</p>
<p>All in all, I guess we didn’t ask enough of the right questions. We just assumed that when they said they would meet her needs they would do it. My only advise is to be sure you ask all of the questions you should, and be sure that they have specific GF options, not just steamed vegetables and salad!</p>
<p>If anyone out there has any other suggestions of schools in the Northeast that are Gluten Free I’d love the suggestions. For what it’s worth the school I’m talking about was in Florida.</p>
<p>UConn is fabulous. I have two kids who have Celiac - the younger one (not college age yet) attended a basketball program there over the summer and their head of dining services – Dennis Pierce – was completely accommodating and runs GF food stations all year round.</p>