How to Navigate College With Food Allergies

If you're allergic to tree nuts, shellfish, gluten or one of dozens more common allergens, you know how challenging life with food allergies can be. As you prepare to head off to college, things could get even more complex. But like most things in life, if you're prepared, you can do it, and eventually it will feel like no big deal. College is just the next step in living an independent life with allergies.

Read the guide below for tips about what to do now and after you arrive at school to help you navigate college with food allergies.

Going away to college is a big adjustment for any student. If you have significant food allergies, there are a few additional things you'll want to think about as you search for colleges and prepare for campus life.

From dining and housing accommodations to EpiPens and emergency planning, knowing what questions to ask — and who to ask — can help you find a college where you can live and eat safely.

Finding the Right College With Food Allergies

Colleges come in all shapes and sizes, and every one approaches housing, dining and accommodation procedures a little differently.

A college near your home, for instance, might allow you to commute to school, while others will require you to live on campus anywhere from one to four years and require a disability accommodation to be exempted from this requirement.

At Bucknell, we do require most students to live on campus for four years, but accommodations including single rooms and air conditioning are available for students who qualify.

Students with significant food allergies can and do live on campus. How easy or challenging that is depends on your individual circumstances and how accommodating the school will be to your specific needs.

Where Should You Look for Food Allergy Information?

A good place to start is the college's disability or accessibility office to see what sort of accommodations are available.

You should also explore the college's dining website for information about:

• Allergy-friendly dining options
• Allergen labeling
• Staff training
• Allergen handling and cross-contact procedures
• Special dietary accommodations

But the best way to learn about a college and get the specific answers you need is to visit.

Questions to Ask About Food Allergies During a College Visit

Some questions you might want to ask during a campus tour or other visit include:

• What allergy-friendly or special food options, such as gluten-free or vegan meals, are served in dining halls?
• Are these options available at every meal?
• Are made-to-order meals available in dining halls?
• Are cafeteria workers trained in allergy-safe food handling?
• Are there designated allergen-free zones in dining halls?
• Are ingredients and potential allergens listed on dining hall menus?
• Is food or eating allowed in classrooms?
• Is there a grocery store nearby that's accessible by walking or public or campus transportation?
• Is there a pharmacy on campus or nearby that's accessible by walking or public or campus transportation?
• Are all residence hall rooms air-conditioned?
• What accommodation forms are needed to guarantee placement in an air-conditioned room?
• Who responds to 911 or emergency calls on campus?
• Do campus emergency responders carry EpiPen auto-injectors?
• Are resident advisers trained to respond to allergy-related emergencies?

Keep in mind that the student or admissions counselor leading the tour may not have all the answers to your questions, but someone on campus does.

Before you go, do your homework online or call to learn who to contact for more specific details about housing, dining and disability accommodations. Again, the college's disability or accessibility office is usually the best place to start. You may even be able to schedule a meeting for the day of your visit.

If you aren't sure or can't find who to contact, you can also email or call the admissions office, which will be happy to direct your question to the right place.

Think About the Accommodations You May Need

You should also start thinking now about what accommodations you might need to live and eat safely on campus.

A few things to keep in mind and discuss with campus housing, dining and accessibility offices include:

• Can you have a roommate or do you need to request a single-person room?
• Can you safely eat in dining halls without worrying about cross-contact?
• Will you need your own microwave or kitchen to prepare food in your room?
• Will you need to live in an air-conditioned room due to a respiratory condition?

Preparing for College With Food Allergies

Until now, you've probably eaten most meals at home, where it's easy to avoid your allergy triggers. In school, you may have packed a lunch from home or always known which school options were safe for you to eat.

If you need to carry an EpiPen, you could probably rest assured that a teacher or school nurse would be ready and trained to use it in an emergency and that a backup would always be available in the nurse's office if you ever needed it.

In college, you can't necessarily take all of these factors for granted. You'll want to start making a plan for living and eating on campus as soon as you know where you'll be going to school.

Here are some things to think about as you're getting ready.

Refill Your EpiPen and Other Medications

If you carry an EpiPen or require other prescriptions, make sure you refill them before you go off to college and bring adequate backups with you.

Before leaving for college:

• Refill any prescriptions you'll need.
• Bring adequate backups with you.
• Check the expiration dates on your current supply.
• Make sure your medication will last at least through your first semester.
• Find out where the nearest pharmacy is located.

Your college's health center should be able to connect you with a local doctor who can write new prescriptions and may even have one on staff, but it could take a while to get in to see someone.

Plus, you'll want to spend your first few weeks exploring your new campus, making friends and settling into your classes — not worrying about prescriptions and health care needs. It's best to come prepared.

Requesting Housing Accommodations

Your college should work with you to meet any specific needs for campus housing, such as your own food-preparation space or a single room, but you'll need to provide evidence of why you need these accommodations.

Generally, you'll begin with a request through your college's disability or accessibility office.

Bucknell's process begins with you submitting a form and supporting documents from your doctor, allergist or similarly qualified professional that describes how a housing accommodation supports your medical or disability needs.

You can learn about Bucknell's housing accommodation process in more detail.

You'll typically need to make this request well before you arrive on campus. Be sure to check Bucknell's current housing accommodation deadlines and requirements.

It will also take time to gather the medical documentation you'll need, so it's best to start exploring your options and gathering evidence as soon as you can.

Talking to Housing About Your Food Allergies

Even if you don't request an accommodation, you can still make your college aware of your needs.

Typically, colleges will assign you a roommate or roommates for your first year, and they may give you a chance to state your preferences before your roommate is assigned. At Bucknell, you'll be sent a housing questionnaire shortly after you enroll. Use this opportunity to inform your college's housing office about your allergies. If they don't send you a questionnaire or it doesn't provide a place to tell them about your allergies, you can also email or call the housing office directly.

You'll want to do this early in the process, since it's much easier for them to place you in the right place initially than it is to change your assignment later.

Requesting Dining Accommodations

The same goes for any dining accommodations you may need.

Most colleges will require you to purchase a meal plan and eat meals on campus for at least your first year. You'll need to figure out whether the food they offer can meet your nutritional and allergy needs, which is why it's important to ask good questions and check out a dining hall for yourself during your campus visit.

Begin by checking your college's dining website to find out:

• What allergen-free options are available
• Which allergens are identified on menus
• Whether allergy-friendly options are available at every meal
• Whether they're offered in every dining hall or only specific locations
• How the dining staff handles cross-contact

At Bucknell, you can explore current options on the Bucknell Dining website.

If you don't think the options your college offers go far enough to meet your needs and want to be exempted from buying a meal plan, you may need to request a disability accommodation.

Making this request may require you to provide evidence of your need for an accommodation, such as a detailed description of your condition from your doctor or allergist and a medical history summary.

Gathering these documents will take time, and it will also take the school time to review them and determine if you qualify for an accommodation, so it's best to start preparing early.

You'll encounter a similar process at almost any college or university that requires you to purchase a meal plan. If you think you'll need such an accommodation, you can save yourself time later by starting to gather evidence even before you enroll.

Bringing Your Own Food and Snacks

Whether or not you're able to eat in the dining halls — and regardless of how delicious or unpalatable the options there may be — you're going to want to eat other food sometimes.

If there are special snacks or ingredients you crave, like nut-free peanut butter or gluten-free munchies, make sure to pack enough to get you through at least your first few weeks on campus.

Keep in mind that every grocery store or specialty shop might not carry exactly what you're looking for and that grocery selections on campus may be limited.

On the day of your campus tour or during a follow-up visit, such as an admitted students open house, carve out some time to visit shops nearby. That will give you a sense of:

• Which allergy-friendly products are available locally
• How easy nearby stores are to reach
• What you'll be able to buy once you're at school
• What you'll want to bring from home

Navigating College Life With Food Allergies

If you've done all of the steps above, you should be well on your way to confidently navigating your new college life.

Your most important next steps involve making sure those around you are aware of your needs and will be ready to respond in case of an emergency.

Talk to Your Roommate and RA

If you'll have a first-year roommate, your college will often provide you with their contact information so you can get in touch before you arrive.

It's best to tell them about any allergens you can't have in your room as soon as you get in touch so they don't bring anything with them that you're allergic to.

How important this is may depend on your individual allergy. While it's unlikely they'll cook a scallop dinner in your room's microwave, it's conceivable that they might bring a bag of peanuts or pistachios to snack on. If you can't be around those foods, it's only fair that you inform them before they start packing.

If you need to carry an EpiPen:

• Make sure your roommate knows that you carry one.
• Tell them where you keep it in case of an emergency.
• Keep it in the same place when you're in your room.
• Take it with you when you leave.

You'll want to have a similar conversation with your resident adviser. Ask about what they've been trained to do in an emergency and make sure they know where you keep your EpiPen as well.

Know Your College's Emergency Numbers

You'll also want to figure out who to call in an emergency.

While 911 will always help, most colleges have a campus safety or police force right on campus that may be able to respond more quickly and can access your room even if the door is locked.

Before you need help, find out:

• What your campus emergency number is
• Whether you should call 911, campus safety or both
• Who typically responds to medical emergencies
• What your roommate or RA should do if you experience anaphylaxis

Make a plan with your roommate and RA so you're all on the same page about what to do if you ever need help.

Take Your EpiPen With You

If you need an EpiPen, it goes without saying that you need to keep it with you whenever you go outside your room.

Just like you'll always want to take a pen to class to take notes, you'll want to bring your EpiPen along in case of emergency — the only difference is you can't borrow an EpiPen from a classmate if you forget.

We don't need to tell you this, but it still bears repeating.

In high school, you could probably rely on the school nurse's office having a backup. While your college's health center and campus safety officers might have a supply too, remember that a college campus will almost certainly be a much larger, spread-out place than your high school. That means it could take longer for someone to get to you in an emergency.

So it's best to always have it on you and let your friends know that you carry it.

If you live on campus, you'll have a room key that you'll need to take with you whenever you leave your room. It's a good idea to keep your EpiPen in the same place as your keys. Be consistent about where you keep it and make sure your roommate knows where that is.

Learn How Dining Works in Practice

By the time you arrive, you should have a sense of where you'll be able to eat on campus and how the college handles allergen labeling. Now it's time to figure out how that all works in practice.

You'll want to learn:

• How food and allergens are labeled
• Where special allergy-friendly serving stations are located
• Whether there are allergen-free eating spaces
• Who you should talk to when you have questions about ingredients
• How dining staff handle allergy-related requests

What and where you can eat will be unique to each school, but your college should have resources to help you figure it out.

Bucknell Student Health offers a variety of nutrition resources for students, including individual counseling with our staff nutritionist.

If your allergy is the sort where even being around someone eating an allergen could cause anaphylaxis, talk with the appropriate accessibility staff about your needs in classroom settings and what accommodations may be available.

Final Tips for Managing Food Allergies in College

Adjusting to any new change in life is challenging, and going away to college is no different. Having allergies just adds another wrinkle to the mix.

But you've made it this far, and with the right preparation and precautions, you can successfully navigate college life with food allergies, just like millions of others have done before.

Before you head to college, remember to:

• Research dining, housing and accessibility resources.
• Ask questions during your campus visits.
• Request any necessary accommodations early.
• Gather medical documentation ahead of deadlines.
• Refill medications and check expiration dates.
• Talk with your roommate and RA about your allergies.
• Learn your college's emergency procedures.
• Know where and how you can safely eat on campus.

If you'd like to learn more about life at Bucknell and how we can meet your needs, start by contacting our admissions office at 570-577-2003 or admissions@bucknell.edu.

If you'd like to visit Bucknell, you can explore your campus visit options.