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Our Guide to Free College Resources from Celiac and Food Allergy Groups

Writer's picture: Jasmine HouJasmine Hou

Updated: Nov 24, 2024

Search for colleges, thrive on campus, and advocate for improvements!


By Jasmine Hou, GFF Student Advocate


College students with food restrictions rely heavily on dining staff to keep them healthy. Although medically required food restrictions must be accommodated under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), capabilities vary greatly by school. It takes serious legwork to ensure you can eat safely in college dining halls. We spoke with food allergy and celiac organizations to learn about free resources that can help.


Click to scroll directly to an organization's section:


HIGHLIGHTS at the start of each section include:

  • How-to Guides: Advice for searching for colleges and managing on-campus

  • Don’t Miss: What we think stands out

  • Get Involved: Student opportunities


SCHOOL-SPECIFIC searchable information:

 

Food Allergy Research & Education (FARE) offers extensive material for teens, college students, and dining professionals. They also have resources for resident advisors and non-dining college staff.


Tiffany Leon, MS, RD, FARE’s Assistant Director of Training and Professional Programs, formerly worked as a campus dietitian and has hands-on experience managing student accommodations. We discussed FARE’s efforts to help colleges become food allergy champions. For prospective college students, Tiffany suggested using the FARE Food Allergy College Search Tool alongside student feedback from Gluten-Free Friends to help research dining programs during the college search. 


HIGHLIGHTS

How-to Guide

Don’t Miss  


Get Involved

SEE RESOURCES

FARE Food Allergy College Program 

FARE’s comprehensive college program has been benefiting college students with food allergies since January 2014 and this page is a great entry point for navigating FARE’s vast college resources. 


FARE Food Allergy College Search Tool

This is the only tool in the country for searching colleges by various food allergy accommodations, such as dining options, housing accommodations, emergency services, and more. Launched in 2020, it now includes over 1200 schools. The data in this search tool is publicly available information. A purple check mark under a college’s name indicates that school staff verified the data.


College Resources for Parents and Teens

Scroll below the FARE Food Allergy College Search Tool to find FARE’s advice for teens preparing for college and navigating dining on campus. You can also connect with other students by joining FARE’s College Food Allergy Support Facebook group.


Teens with Food Allergies 

FARE helps teens with food allergies connect and learn from each other with moderated virtual talks and teen-contributed content.


College Chats

FARE holds college chat sessions, featuring special guests who discuss and answer questions regarding food allergies and college. These sessions will be posted on FARE’s webinars page

GET INVOLVED

INFORM COLLEGE DINING MANAGERS

 

Originally a New Jersey celiac support group, Gluten-Free Friends has become a leading advocacy group for college students with any medically required food restrictions. "By increasing collaboration among food allergy and celiac groups and empowering students with information and advocacy tools,” Sheryl Harpel, Founder, believes all colleges can be persuaded to meet their ADA obligations to provide safe, inclusive dining.


Gluten-Free Friends partners with celiac and food allergy groups to gather College Reviews from students on how well their dietary needs are met in a searchable database. Encourage college students with food restrictions to complete the GFF College Dining Survey to help build this community-driven platform!


HIGHLIGHTS

How-to Guides


Don’t Miss  


Get Involved

SEE RESOURCES

Student College Reviews

The GFF College Dining Survey empowers students to share feedback on managing food restrictions at their specific colleges. Searchable by school name, reviews provide candid on-campus feedback for prospective students. College students can also use this tool to organize feedback when advocating for dining improvements. Everyone can help by sharing the survey on social media and spreading the GFF Campus Flyer on college campuses. 


Curated College Dining News

Gluten-Free Friends curates news related to college and food restrictions, including articles from college newspapers. Articles are searchable by college name, trends, advice, or research. They also actively encourage college papers to do investigative journalism pieces on what it’s like there for students with food restrictions. College newspapers can use the GFF College Dining Survey to gather research for their stories.


GFF Blog 

Content includes guides for the search process, college transition, and guest posts from high school and college students about their experiences. Articles written by Sheryl for FARE's blog and the National Celiac Association (NCA) magazine are also repeated here. Students can submit their story ideas to sharpel@gfreefriends.com.


GFF College Advocacy Partners 

Links are provided to the college pages of FARE, Beyond Celiac, the National Celiac Association (NCA), and the Gluten Intolerance Group (GIG). These partners all have the GFF College Dining Survey on their websites.

GET INVOLVED

 

Follow @faactnews


Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Connection Team (FAACT) is dedicated to food allergy advocacy, education, and awareness. The FAACT College Resource Center helps students and families understand their legal rights and navigate college with food allergies. All legal accommodations shared on FAACT’s website are written and reviewed by legal experts and FAACT's website content is reviewed and approved by FAACT’s Medical Advisory Board.


Caroline Moassessi, FAACT's Vice President of Community Relations, recommended starting with FAACT's Top 7 "Must Do" Steps for College Students, which covers topics often not considered, such as remembering to ask colleges about medical resources and steps for handling emergencies. 


HIGHLIGHTS

How-to Guides

Don’t Miss  


Get Involved

  • Reach out to the FAACT team to get involved


SEE RESOURCES

Guides and Checklists  for Students and Parents/ Caregivers

FAACT provides comprehensive information and checklists for college search, acceptance, and moving onto campus with different versions for students and parents. They also have information for commuting students. One-pagers share approaches to unfamiliar conversations with RAs, dining staff, professors, dates, etcetera. These guides are designed to help lessen the stress of communicating your food allergy needs.


Legal Resources

When trying to understand federal laws such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the legal resources provided by FAACT are noteworthy. Case studies about accommodations and other important legal considerations are included on their site. FAACT’s General Counsel and Vice President of Civil Rights Advocacy, Amelia Smith, works with families in the food allergy community to discuss and brainstorm

situations. Reach her by email at amelia.smith@foodallergyawareness.org.


Private Facebook Groups for Parents/ Caregivers and College Students

FAACT's Parents of High School & College Students with Food Allergies and FAACT’s College Students with Food Allergies provide supportive Facebook communities.


FAACT's Roundtable Podcasts 

Scan these podcasts for episodes featuring parents and college students, such as  Episode 177: College 'How To' Conversations, Part 1 - Campus Life


Behavioral Health Resource Center

Managing food allergies in a new environment can be challenging. These resources help parents and students take care of their mental health.

GET INVOLVED

INFORM COLLEGE DINING MANAGERS


 

Since 2003, Beyond Celiac has been the leading patient advocacy and research-driven celiac disease organization working to drive diagnosis, advance research and accelerate the discovery of new treatments and a cure. By engaging with the top scientists in the field, awarding research grants, and supporting the community, Beyond Celiac envisions a world where people with celiac disease can live healthy lives and eat without fear – a world Beyond Celiac. They offer college search and advocacy resources as well as opportunities for students to get involved in the broader celiac community. 


Valerie Kraft, the Director of Community Engagement at Beyond Celiac, explained that their college resources focus less on specific schools and more on approaches for evaluating dining programs because a school's ability to accommodate students can change over time. See the Gluten-Free Friends interview with Valerie to learn about her experience advocating for dining improvements as a Vanderbilt student. 


HIGHLIGHTS

How-to Guide

Don’t Miss  


Get Involved

SEE RESOURCES

College Toolkit 

This guide includes advice from former college students and tips on communicating with dining staff, the accommodations process, eating out, and saving money. If you sign up to download the toolkit, you will receive a free additional PDF containing easy, gluten-free recipes.


Podcasts

Episode 14: Celiac Disease in College of the Celiac Straight Talk podcast series features Valerie’s experience navigating the college process with celiac disease.

GET INVOLVED


 

National Celiac Association (NCA) is an education and advocacy organization for individuals with celiac disease and non-celiac gluten sensitivities, their families, and communities. NCA provides crucial resources such as regular educational webinars, nationwide support networks, 1:1 phone and email support, a gluten-free food assistance program, top-notch publications such as Gluten-Free Nation and NCA News, and much more. Until there’s a cure…there’s NCA.


Carla Carter, OTR/L, Director of Outreach and Programming, suggests checking out NCA's college resources page for a Gluten-Free College Survival Guide and additional advice for college students.


HIGHLIGHTS

How-to Guide

SEE RESOURCES

College Resources page has a Gluten-Free College Survival Guide and additional advice for college students.


 

Follow on Instagram: @menutrinfo


MenuTrinfo is a commercial certification and training company focused on food allergy safety and transparency. Erica Nehrling, MenuTrinfo’s Director of Client Relations, explained that students are eager for their colleges to offer allergen-free dining stations with AllerCheck™ or Certified Free From™ status, and notes that the “Certified Free From™ designation, in particular, ensures that the station is free from specific ingredients through a more comprehensive, nationally accredited audit covering 120-130 standards. This process also includes monthly allergen testing and quarterly reviews.”


Educate college dining managers about this great resource!


Don’t Miss  


 

Jasmine Hou is a freshman at the University of California, Berkeley. She has been a GFF Student Advocate since June 2023, acting as the @gfreefriends Instagram Posting Manager and cartoonist.



Other Helpful Resources:


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GFF College Dining Survey responses come directly from students and do not reflect the viewpoints or opinions of Gluten Free Friends.

The information provided on this site is intended for your general knowledge only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice or treatment for specific medical conditions. You should not use this information to diagnose or treat a health problem or disease without consulting with a qualified healthcare provider. Please consult your healthcare provider with any questions or concerns you may have regarding your condition.  Always read labels on mentioned products as ingredients may change without notice.

©2018 by Gluten Free Friends

LOGO credit:  Claire Harpel

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