How to Find a Safe College for Your Student with Food Allergies

Last Updated on March 30, 2023 by Jill Schwitzgebel

It’s estimated that about 8% of teens now deal with food allergies – that’s 1 in 13. And 40% of them are allergic to more than one food. Meanwhile, 1 in 10 adults has food allergies, with 25% of those developing their very first food allergy as an adult. That means that some teens that leave for college without food allergies could actually develop them while there.

My family has firsthand experience with that situation, unfortunately. My daughter went away to college, 15 hours from home, and developed her first anaphylactic food allergy at the end of her sophomore year. She continued to add more to her allergen list over the next year or so. We had absolutely no idea that her college did not have great plans in place for accommodating food allergies and that she would face quite a challenge feeding herself in the dining hall for the next two years.

So, even if your student doesn’t happen to have any food allergies, know that the odds are that they will likely have a college friend or two that does. Know that anyone can develop them. And with anaphylactic food allergy reactions on the rise, it’s important for colleges to be able to keep their food allergic students safe. And it’s important for everyone on campus to take food allergies seriously.

We would have definitely approached the college search differently if we had known about my daughter’s food allergies already. Instead, we had to research and learn a lot, really quickly. And it is with that experience in mind that I am writing this.

1. Prepare for the Visit

Factor in your student’s allergy needs, as well as their comfort level with managing them, as you consider colleges for your student. It does add a layer of complexity to the college search – you need a college that will not only be a fit academically, but one where you know there is a good food allergy protocol in place. You will likely need to allow additional time for the college search, as it may take longer to find appropriate colleges.

• Before you begin your search, know that food allergies are covered under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Therefore, students are supposed to be guaranteed accommodations for their allergies at all publicly funded universities and most private colleges, as well.
• When considering colleges, evaluate how prepared your student is to advocate for themselves with both the college and potential roommates.
• Research the schools your student is considering and their reputation for handling food allergies and gluten intolerance, before you visit the campus. A place to start might be: US Colleges Directory: Comparing Food Allergy and Gluten Free Policies. As I researched this article though, I discovered many articles about various schools’ allergy-friendly policies and not all of them are included in any official list yet. So don’t write off a school just because you don’t see it on someone’s list!
• Check out the Office of Disabilities on the college website while you’re researching, and find out if they mention food allergies. Don’t be overly concerned if they don’t mention them specifically, but if they do, it will be good to know how they claim to handle them.
• Consider also using FARE’s food allergy college search tool.
• Even when a college does make an allergy-friendly list, you should still do your own research about the school’s reputation – just because a college claims to be doing things like labeling all ingredients, does not mean that they are (this is from personal experience).
• Consider whether your student would feel better/safer in apartment preparing their own food, rather than living in a dorm, which is usually required for freshman. If the answer is that they would feel better in an apartment, then consider how they will feel if all of the other freshman are together in a dorm.
• Know that colleges are getting better about handling food allergies every year.

2. Visit the College

After you have done the preliminary research, it’s time to visit campuses on your student’s list.

• Ideally, you will want to visit when class is in session, so that you can make some observations while you’re on campus.
• If the campus tour does not stop at a dining hall, ask if you may stop in at one after the tour. This gives you an opportunity to see what the dining situation is currently, so that you can ask specific questions later. However, it is important to first find out if there is a separate dining area for students with food allergies. If so, that’s the one that you want to visit!

See also: Disabilities and the College Search

3. After the Acceptance

After getting good news from the colleges on your student’s application list, it’s time to do a little more work. You could also do this when you make your initial visit to campus, but many families worry that doing so might affect the admissions decision for their student.

You will likely want to speak with representatives from three offices on campus. It can be an in-person meeting, or if you’re far away, you can do it over the phone.

It will be very important to involve your student in these preliminary discussions. Even better would be to have your student LEAD the discussions, with you chiming in as needed. Teens will obviously need to be coached about what to say and ask. Not every high school student is quite ready for that role yet. But it is important to help them understand that once they are on campus, they will be treated as adults and these representatives will be speaking with them directly, rather than you. So, even if you do most of the talking, it’s important that they are present to see you model the conversations.

Office of Disabilities

(this will have different names at different schools).

• Find out what kind of accommodations they already have in place for food allergic students. They may not know specifics and will reserve some of that conversation for dining services, but they should refer you to the person who DOES know.
• Find out what the process is like for receiving food allergy accommodations. It will differ slightly from college to college, but you will need to provide some kind of documentation from your child’s doctor.
• If the school tells you that after submitting documentation, they will then take it to a committee to decide if they can accommodate your student, this is a red flag and I recommend proceeding with caution. However, if the college is a real contender in other ways, remember that they are obligated under the ADA to safely accommodate your student’s allergies and you can remind them of that nicely.

• Some questions you may want to consider asking include:

1. Is food allowed in classrooms? If so (and the answer is likely yes), what precautions do they recommend for your student so they are not exposed to their allergen?
2. Can a student with food allergies be placed in a single person dorm room, rather than having a roommate or two? Or, will they place students with the same food allergies together as roommates?
3. Are RAs and other staff trained in the use of EpiPens? If not, are they willing to have them trained?

Dining Services

Hopefully, during your conversation with the Office of Disabilities, they will offer to introduce your student to the the person in charge of Dining Services, whether that is a general manager or a registered dietitian. If they don’t offer, ask! That person should sit down with your student to talk about the specifics of how they will help to keep them safe and what their food options on campus are.

It is perfectly okay to have a conversation with this person prior to deciding whether or not this is the school your student wants to attend. In fact, it could influence their choice of school.

Below are some of the ways that colleges will handle food allergies:

• As mentioned above, a handful of schools have designated allergen-friendly dining halls for students with food allergies. Stanford was the first school in the country to pioneer a peanut free dining hall. Others have followed. And still others are totally gluten-free.
• Some schools will have a top 8 allergen-free food zone in one area of the regular dining hall.
• Ideally, all of the food stations will have ingredients listed. As mentioned above, not every college will be diligent enough to list every ingredient.
• Some colleges will be even more personalized, and the manager will ask for a specific list of staple foods that your student would like to have. Then they will have a small refrigerator and designated storage area of their own in the dining hall kitchen, which they may access at mealtimes.
• Sometimes, there is one entree available at every meal that is designated free from top 8 allergens. That menu is generally made available to students ahead of time.
• Some colleges actually use apps for students with food allergies, that will allow students to choose their menu for the week in advance.
• If the college cannot offer satisfactory options for your student for some reason, ask whether your student can opt out of the meal plan entirely and they can have a dedicated kitchen space to make their own meals.

Residential Life

Your next stop after the above two offices should be campus Residential Life. It’s possible that the Office of Disabilities has been able to satisfactorily answer some of the questions you may have about dorm living. But, there are still a few things you may wish to ask them specifically.
Ask:

• Can the student have their own designated microwave and refrigerator, even if they are sharing a room? (This may not be an issue if the college places the student with a roommate that shares the same allergies)
• Can they be placed in a room convenient to the allergy-friendly dining hall? Would that mean being housed separately from other freshman?
• Is there an allergy-free kitchen available for them to use?

4. After the Decision

After you have gathered the information your student needs to be able to reach a college decision, the next phase begins! Your student will need to complete the paperwork necessary to receive food allergy accommodations at their chosen school.

You will more than likely need to have your child’s physician complete some forms to submit. Rarely, a letter from their doctor is enough, but generally, the college will insist on having the information on their own forms. Be warned that these forms often are designed more for students with learning or physical disabilities, rather than something like food allergies. The physician will usually need to be very specific about what accommodations your student needs to have, so cover every detail.

If your student has an anaphylactic allergy, I strongly recommend printing out this care plan and having them post it somewhere in their dorm room, when you arrive on campus in the fall.

Finally…

College is the time that all of the allergy self-advocacy skills you have been working on with your teen will come together. Your support through the college search and selection process will have even given them a model to use when they are on campus and managing their allergies on their own. Renew that EpiPen or auto injector prescription, nag them one last time about carrying it, and feel confident that you’ve done your part to make sure that they – and the college – are ready.