FAACT's Roundtable

Ep. 244: Exploring College with Food Allergies

• Season 5 • Episode 244

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If your student is exploring colleges—or you’re just starting to look ahead—you’re in the right place. Today, Caroline Moassessi, FAACT's VP of Community Relations, will talk about starting the college search when food allergies are in the mix. She'll share two essential checklists from FAACT's College Resource Center—one for parents and one for students—to help you work together and cover all the bases from the start. 

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Thanks for listening! FAACT invites you to discover more exciting food allergy resources at FoodAllergyAwareness.org!

Caroline: Welcome to FAACT's Roundtable, a podcast dedicated to navigating life with food allergies across the lifespan. Presented in a welcoming format with interviews and open discussions,

each episode will explore a specific topic, leaving you with the FAACTS to know or use.

Information presented via this podcast is educational and not intended to provide individual medical advice.

Please consult with your personal board certified allergist or healthcare providers for advice specific to your situation.

Hi everyone, I'm Caroline Moassessi and I am your host for the FAACT Roundtable Podcast.

I am a food allergy parent and advocate and the founder of the Grateful Foodie Blog. And I am FAACT's Vice President of Community Relations.

Before we start today, I just want to say thank you to DBV Technologies for being a kind and generous sponsor of FAACT's roundtable podcast.

Hello again, my food allergy friends and family.

If your student is exploring colleges, you're in the right place. And if you're just starting to look ahead at what's to come,

yep, you're in the right place too.

Today we're talking about how to kick off the college search when food allergies are part of the equation.

Because sure, your student needs the perfect academic fit, but they also need to feel safe and supported every single day.

I'll walk you through two essential checklists found on the FAACTS website in the College Resource Center,

one for parents and caregivers and one for students.

All both designed to help you work together and to cover all the bases from the very start.

Finding the right college can feel daunting and maybe even a little overwhelming. But there's one thing. Starting early gives you and your student the breathing room to reduce stress and focus on the questions that really matter.

Before we dig into FAACT's Getting started checklists,

one designed for parents and caregivers and one designed just for students. I wanted to share a few simple tips that will set you both up for success right from the very beginning.

Number one, create a plan for collecting information.

That could be a spreadsheet, a notebook, notes on your computer or phone, but whatever it is, create a system so you can write down every single college and then what you asked them and then what their responses were.

Because it's going to get very confusing very quickly and it's going to get really hard to remember who said what.

Also consider a page or a file on your computer somewhere of your your food allergy, must haves, nice to haves, and bonus to haves. And what I mean by that are things that you absolutely must have,

and maybe that's having a microwave and Refrigerator in the room. It could be access to allergists. But whatever it is, sit down with your doctor and decide what are the things in regards to managing food allergy that your student just must have to go to college?

And then just make notes on your pages as you visit colleges to see if the college checks off those boxes on your checklist. Number two, have a heart to heart chat with your student about exploring all types of colleges.

And so I'm talking large schools, small schools, religious school, urban, suburban, all the different kind of flavors.

I think it's safe to say that most college counselors encourage students to explore the different environments. And so it's the same with our students too. They just have food allergies.

So it's really critical to help your student discover not only a great fit academically and the right environment to help them flourish, but one that they feel that they can be safe on campus with too.

Number three, consider avoiding choosing a school solely based on food allergies.

Yes, your student does need to be safe on campus, but it also means that they should attend the right school for them. So you don't want to necessarily encourage your student to go to a school that might be very strong in the sciences, but they're really interested in writing,

so that's just a little more food for thought.

Lastly, it's important to know that food allergy programs are constantly growing and being developed on campuses just worldwide. And so when you look at a program today, it might be different tomorrow.

So just know that these programs change,

they improve.

Even if you go to a school and they don't have a program established yet, your student might be the inspiration to start one.

Now we're going to dig into exploring colleges.

And what I want to direct you to is FAACT's College Resource Center. Because in that center we have two centers that are specifically designed for parents and caregivers and for students.

And each one holds multiple checklists based on where you are at during the college process.

So today what we're going to do is we're going to focus on the Getting Started Exploring Colleges Checklist in the For Parents and Caregivers Center. And then we're going to touch on the four students getting started and Exploring college's checklist, because the student's checklist is almost identical to the parent checklist with just a few slight differences.

And we'll review those.

So as you're listening to this podcast, you're welcome to download that checklist or just listen and then go check it out later, or just take Notes and be done with it.

So first thing in exploring colleges is helping your student and directing your student toward creating some basic questions that they need to ask when they're doing tours, either on campus or online tour.

And so just have a base set of questions to ask. And so examples of a few questions to ask. And these are big picture questions that you could ask in a large group.

So this isn't going deep with a tour guide. It's just really asking bigger generalized questions that the whole group attending the tour would benefit from as well.

So one question could be, does this college have a written food allergy management policy? And then if so, where can you find it?

Ask about who's the contact to learn about more food allergy accommodations.

Also inquire which office should be contacted to learn about food allergy management as it relates to dining services or housing.

For example,

should your student be reaching out to housing to learn how they handle food allergies there? Should they be reaching out to dining services? Or is there just one generalized person or policy written somewhere that they could just learn more?

And then lastly, it's really important to ask questions about what type of food service options are available.

Some campuses have one dining hall. Some campuses are extremely large and they have three or four or five dining halls. And sometimes they have special dining halls for people on special diets.

Sometimes food service provides made to order meals for students on special diets, or they prepare meals ahead of time and write their name on it and put it somewhere. And there are other campuses that actually have chain brand name fast food outlets on campuses too.

So it's just really important to get a good general feel of how food is served on campus.

Next, it's important for your student to understand the language that's used at colleges and specifically the language around food allergies. This might sound a little strange, but some students get to college and they've never used the word anaphylaxis.

So if they have a school referring to anaphylaxis and they're talking about accommodations, it's really important that your student understands all the verbiage that's used around their health condition. Also, some schools might use the terms rescue medications and they're referring to epinephrine.

But it's really important that your student understand that they use the right terms such as epinephrine, epinephrine devices,

rescue medications, terms like this.

Next, on the topic of language, it's really important for your students to understand college language.

Some colleges have the Office of Disabilities, Disability Services, or Academic Support.

So as they're looking at colleges,

learn the names of the departments that would handle disabilities.

Also, there's some other extra words in there like RA. RA could be referring to a Resident Assistant, or a Resident Advisor.

Sometimes schools have a CA, which is a Community Advisor or Community Assistant, and these are people who often oversee the dorm room floors. There's also the term RD used a lot of and that could be Resident Director or Registered Dietitian because some schools have students speak to the registered dietitian to set up the accommodations for eating at school.

Let's talk about accommodations.

And it's important to start your accommodations conversation with your student and allergist to help understand and establish what type accommodations your student might need at college.

Does your child have other health needs such as asthma, anxiety or anything else that might require accommodations?

If that's the case, make sure as you're talking to people, you're not forgetting about those and you're including them. So for example, if a student has asthma, they might need to request a dorm room that has a refrigerator and a microwave, but also air conditioning because they might need to have cool air and filtered air to help manage their asthma.

And on that same breath of asthma and environmental allergies. If it's an older school, they may need to request a dorm room that isn't old and dusty. So they might need a newer dorm room.

So it's really critical in terms of accommodations that when you're taking these tours, you learn who in that office of Disability Services you can contact to learn more about how they handle accommodations,

what information they need and what kind of accommodations they can offer.

And just a quick side note, make sure you visit the legal considerations section of FAACT's College Resource Center. There's critical information in there on your students rights,

specifically in terms of accommodations and accommodations at college.

Let's talk now about dining services.

Many campuses offer a wide range of eating options.

For example, there might be several dining halls,

food service outlets, coffee shops, even off campus eateries affiliated with the college. My son and I actually toured a school that your meal card could be used at restaurants outside of the area.

So look at the school's website ahead of time to see what the eating options are. So when you're on tour or again doing an online tour,

you can direct your questions toward that type of eatery. So if there's going to be like a dining hall situation,

it's important to learn how do they handle students with food allergies? Do they order special meals? Are they made to order?

Does the dining hall actually have made to order stations, so it's really important to learn about this.

Also, a lot of schools now are using registered dietitians that will aid the student in learning how to eat on campus and then will work between the student and the chefs and the cooks.

There are even campuses that offer special top nine free stations,

so again, there's a wide range.

Find out what type of food service is available on campus. Who do you speak to? Do you talk to the director of dining services? Do you talk to the registered dietitian?

And just learn how your student can eat safely on campus.

And if you visit a campus and they don't seem to have a strong policy,

don't be discouraged. Take the time. Meet with a disabilities director.

Find out what programs are in place and what can you do to influence them.

Sometimes it just takes a family that's very active and knowledgeable to share information.

Don't forget to also ask about microwaves and refrigerators in the dorm room.

Students might be able to get meals from the dining hall and then take it back to the dorm room. They might be able to pick up food at locals grocery stores or other restaurants.

So it is also really important to see about how students can actually handle food in their dorm rooms as well.

And it's really key just to note when you're asking about microwaves and refrigerators, does the school provide them or does the student need to provide them?

And while you are exploring dining services, also ask questions about meal plans. And what meal plans are there to choose from because you might find that your student might want to do a little more home cooking,

might want to eat at an eatery that's close to campus more than campus food.

So just find out what are the meal plans, what are the costs, what are the regulations on that?

And just one other side note on dining services.

As time moves forward,

more schools are embracing programs that bring dining service professionals into the schools to teach them how to manage food allergies.

FAACT does partner with Menu Trinfo, who has an Allertrain program which specifically works with colleges. And when you go to the FAACT's College Resource Center, you can see a link to to Menu Trinfo, so you might want to explore them as well.

Now let's talk about student housing. And again, just like dining services,

housing varies wildly from campus to campus.

A lot of colleges will put first year students in dorms that are just for first year students.

And it might be tricky to get single rooms if your student is looking for a single room. And we're going to talk about single rooms in just a hot second here.

So as you're taking that tour, find out what, what are the living arrangements for first year students?

And also does the school provide dorms and housing all four years? Because some schools don't. And so if your student is going to have to get an apartment and then share with people later, you need to know this information up front.

And then now let's talk about the actual dorm itself.

Learn do they have shared rooms? Do they have suites? Do they have single dorm rooms? My son was in a situation where there was a suite where you had single rooms, double rooms, but a shared bathroom.

So you need to learn what are the options and what are the realistic options that your student could secure. And of course, this is a time to ask about those microwaves, small refrigerators.

Also ask about small appliances like a hot water kettle.

Some schools allow that, some don't. And just note that older schools have a harder time with more modern appliances. And this is the time that's really important for you to talk to your student if they want a roommate.

And I would suggest having that discussion with your doctor as well.

And also ask the school,

are those medical singles readily available?

And please note that if your student attends that school, they don't pay the price for a single room. They pay the price for a standard double room. And if you go to our legals consideration center in the college resource center, you will see all the explanation of why and how that works.

Now, on housing, understand it varies from school to school. But another question to ask is, are the bathrooms shared? So like when my daughter was in her first year, it was a shared bathroom for the entire floor, but they had a few stalls that were for people who had sensitivity.

So you weren't allowed to bring in shampoos or soaps and lotions and things that had a lot of fragrance in them. So you want to ask, will your student be sharing a bathroom?

Is there a big giant shared bathroom? Who cleans these bathrooms? Are the students required to clean the bathrooms? How do you manage allergens in the bathroom?

And again, these questions might be a little too specific for the tour, but once you're able to identify the Office of Disabilities,

you can go in and ask them these kinds of questions. But these are just things to think about in terms of housing.

Next, when you're looking at a school, it is fine to ask about how do they manage emergencies and medical conditions.

So if your student has an emergency, what happens? Do they call campus security?

Do they call 911.

Are there hospitals nearby?

Might the school or the dining hall stock emergency epinephrine?

But here's a quick side note. Even if they do,

your student must always, always, always carry their epinephrine with them.

And on that note, it is really important to ask who can help them administer it? Are RAs on the dorm room halls authorized and trained to administer it?

Has the dining staff been trained on how to use and administer epinephrine? That's a really important question to ask.

Also, if your student is participating in any kind of food allergy treatment, such as SLIT or oit,

can the student continue that treatment in that area?

Can they go to a local allergist to continue the treatment? Or can that treatment be administered by the student health center? Do they help with that? That's another question to ask too.

Now let's turn to self management. And this is really important.

Since your student hasn't accepted college yet, they're in that exploration stage. There's probably a year between when you're listening to this podcast and your student actually heading off to college.

And this time is perfect for you to step back and look at the skills that your student needs to go to college with food allergies. And what I'm talking about is does your student know how to read labels and call a manufacturer?

I'll tell you, both my kids knew how to read labels, did not like calling manufacturers, but learned how to send emails and they would only call the manufacturer if they were really desperate.

But I needed them to learn and know how to do this. Does your student know how to choose safe restaurants,

entertainment venues, or anything they're going to? Do they know how to call ahead and do their research?

Are they comfortable speaking to wait staff or even staff at fast food places? Do they know how to do the research to see if that food is safe and who to talk to?

Are they comfortable grocery shopping?

Do they know how to manage the expiration dates on their medications and then order those medications?

And also, do they know that pharmacies that are located within a store like a grocery store,

do they know that those pharmacy hours are different from store hours?

And I bring this up because one night I got a phone call from a friend's daughter in tears because she went to pick up her medication that she absolutely, absolutely needed that night for her asthma and she got there at 9.01 and the pharmacy closed at 9pm she thought that the pharmacy was open till 10 when the store was open.

And I thought that was such a good lesson to share with just everybody. So it's important.

Does your student know pharmacy hours and do they know how to find this out?

Also,

teach them how to make their doctor and dental appointments. Teach them how to complete medical forms. My son had to go to urgent care in his first month of college and he filled out his forms and he did everything.

And then they called him back up and they said, we just want you to know that you filled out your forms the best that we've ever seen. Your handwriting was great.

You answered all the questions, you had all the information.

We just wanted to pay you a compliment.

So I thought that was kind of cool. But that also really shows you that an urgent care by a college has a lot of kids coming in who are struggling with the forms.

Also, it's important to teach them about managing their credit cards or debit cards, that they know how those work,

which I would think they might, but you never know. Double check. Also, does your student know how to stock up and keep a supply of nutrient dense, safe allergy foods?

Both of my kids kept a little drawer in their dorm rooms of snacks that could get them by if they had to skip a meal or two. But now is the time to help them explore what are the snack bars that work for them or what are the types of food that work for them and they like.

So when they go to college, they're not scrambling to find a brand or a type of food that they like that they can keep in their dorm room that is shelf stable.

And this one's going to sound a little weird, but do they know how to do laundry and do they know how to purchase the laundry detergents that work for their skin and their allergens in their body?

So think of any of those self management type skills that they need and get them those skills right now. Also, communication is huge.

So as your student is going off to college or work with them and see how are their communication skills? Are they comfortable speaking to people of authority? Are they comfortable to speaking to adults or strangers or even their peer group about their food allergies?

If they're not, now, you've got a year to work on it.

Also teach them how to send an email and how to follow up on the email.

And also one thing I worked with my students on is teach them how to ask what are the next steps? Teach them how to write. Per our conversation,

these are the five things I understand we're doing. Does this sound correct to you?

And so it was really important for me to teach them how to ask what the next steps are and then how to review back the information to confirm everybody's on the same page.

And lastly,

on our For Parents and Caregivers Checklist here,

we have information about passing the torch,

because that's what's happening here. You have been in charge of their food allergies. You have been doing this amazing job for all these years now, but now you're going to be passing the torch to them and they need to be taking over.

And so what I mean by this, it's really important for us to start taking a step back.

So when they're on the tour, encourage your student to ask all the questions and you're just following to fill in the blanks or to nudge your student or to remind them of something or you're taking notes.

It's also important to consider the language you're using.

So instead of saying, what questions are we going to ask on this tour,

instead maybe say what questions are you going to ask today?

So do you see the difference? Or we want to encourage them to start taking the lead if they're not already doing it.

And then also, this is a big change for you. I mean, we have been doing this job for years and years and years of taking care of our families and taking care of food allergies, and now it's time for us to let go.

So it can be really hard,

you know, emotionally and physically.

So don't hesitate to reach out to other friends or people that have been through this.

Also, consider joining Facts private Facebook group for parents and caregivers of high school and college students with food allergies.

There you're going to find a lot of support and a lot of great information.

Go visit FAACT's Roundtable podcast. We have a lot of great podcasts and interviews with parents who have been through every phase of college who you can listen to them. You can hear their authentic stories and how they tackled things and their successes.

And then we also have a lot of podcasts featuring college students sharing their mistakes, their successes, tips and tricks. There's a lot of really good info that you can just listen to when you're driving or folding laundry or whatever you're doing.

Now we're going to take a quick minute and look at the four students getting started exploring college checklist. Their checklist is pretty much identical to your checklist.

The only difference is, is at the end, when we talk about passing the torch, we have a section called help your parents and caregivers. And in this section we encourage your students to invite you to be part of the process and to listen to you and especially listen to parents and caregivers who want to discuss a school location in terms of safety.

We encourage them to hear you out and then if they disagree,

to work with their parents and explain why and have the discussion. But the whole point of this extra section for the students is just to let them know that it's so important to have your parents and caregivers involved in this process,

to listen to them and if you disagree, explore it. Why do you disagree? Because there could be something there that you're missing. And then lastly, in that section, we discuss with them.

It's really important for them,

the student, to be the primary point of contact.

Even though they've been used to having their parent and caregivers involved, it's important that they take the lead that they speak to the college and then they use you as a resource or as a backup.

So all in all,

this is the first step on the path to college and it's just the beginning. It will be full of changes and challenges and excitement and yes, a few nerves along the way.

But the most important thing is to stay curious, keep asking questions and honor your students passions and health needs and unique strengths. And remember, you are never walking this road alone.

Your Fact family is right here beside you. We're cheering you on and we're wishing you a meaningful and successful journey.

Congratulations on reaching this exciting milestone.

Before we say goodbye today,

I just want to take a moment to say thank you to DBV Technologies one more time for being a kind and generous sponsor of FAACT's Roundtable Podcast.

Thank you for listening to Fact's Roundtable Podcast. Stay tuned for future episodes coming soon.

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Have a great day and always be kind to one another.