This week has been a crazy week thanks to my last article "11 Questions For Jacksonville State University." If you didn't read the article, here's the link: https://www.theodysseyonline.com/11-questions-for-... I suggest you read it before you continue on with this article, as this article will coincide completely and you might be a little confused otherwise. Anyways, I wrote this article in response to a huge amount of students who have had issues at JSU. It was meant to draw attention to and collect answers or explanations to the issues we have and was in no way meant as a "bash letter" about the University. And while some people might have misread that, all in all, I believe the article achieved its purpose as I have received responses from multiple departments on Campus and will share those with you now:

***NOTICE: If a question was not addressed by an employee of JSU I did not list it and/or discuss it below therefore numbers are skipped, also please READ THE NOTE AND DISCLAIMER AT THE END OF THIS ARTICLE***

1. Housing

The housing department was the first to respond by email from Brooke Lyon, the Director of University Housing Operations.

-- Housing assigns students by application submission date. The only time this is different is If there is a mutual roommate request and the student with the later submission date will be assigned with the roommate who submitted the application earlier. Ms. Lyon also offered to look into and give specific answers to the circumstance if I could give her details, with not being a story of my own I declined.

-- JSU runs their first group of housing assignments in May. During this first run, they were almost "100% occupied in our freshmen female spaces." There was a waiting list throughout the summer and then renovations had to be done on Daugette and Sparkman Halls in order to house students still on the waiting list.

-- If a student is not able to be housed in campus housing "can and will refund their application fee." This statement was followed with "If you know someone who we were not able to assign at all, then please send them my way so I can discuss the situation with them." The only time a student should not have been given a refund was if they did not want to take what housing was available and chose to cancel their application.

-- In regards to the rumors on campus about the increased one-time housing application fees and new freshmen living on campus regardless of what county they live in Ms. Lyon said this " The housing application fee was raised to $200 and went into effect for new applications for fall 2017. " However, as stated in an email and on JSU's website the latter part of the rumor is a misunderstanding. Students living at home with immediate family or their legal guardians are still eligible for exemptions if they live in the following counties: Calhoun, Cherokee, Cleburne, Etowah, St. Clair and Talladega Counties. More information on this subject can be found here: http://www.jsu.edu/housing/exemptions.html

3. 24 Hour Visitation

This issue was also addressed by Brooke Lyon.

-- In the past, JSU has had 24-hour visitation for all residence halls and apartments that would last all week for both males and females. There was a lot of feedback, as well as, complaints given about the issue in traditional freshmen halls (Crow, Curtiss, Dixon, and Fitzpatrick) which caused a change in the policy to the current rules. Visitation hours are evaluated each year with the SGA.

5. Parking!?

I did receive an email concerning the various parking situations from Shawn Giddy who is both the Director of Public Safety and the Chief of Police at JSU. Mr. Giddy also copied in Greg Seitz and James Brighman so that they are aware of our concerns about moving vehicles during athletic events and not being able to park in Central Station.

-- Meehan hall was built at the same time that JSU did the stadium expansion in order to "save funding." Floors 1-4 in Meehan Hall are apartment-style housing units while floors 5-7 are used for athletics. Floor five being the lobby area used for accommodating guests who hold season tickets.

-- The parking lot is shared with housing and athletics as well. The students get the south side lot on weekdays and Athletics uses it to accommodate fans on the 5th floor as well as those who lease the sky boxes. "These accommodations help to offset the cost of paying for the building."

-- It is written in the housing agreement that students are to vacate these spots during JSU home football games. The Gamecock Express transit systems are available to get students from/to their cars/dorms. If the Express is not running a student can call UPD for an escort at (256)782-5050

-- In response to the complaints about not being able to park on Trustee Circle and at the Central Bus Stop Mr. Giddy says that JSU made these rules with the guidance and assistance of Skipper Consulting after being given a Federal Grant for the transit system. After many weeks of Skipper Consulting watching and counting vehicles, the number of parking spaces, traffic, and keeping in mind that the Central Station is used for deliveries to the Cafeteria they advised JSU that the only efficient way the transit system could run is to have parking set up the way it is now. More information on parking rules can be found here: http://www.jsu.edu/police/traffic.html

6. Meal Plans

This was addressed by various students and faculty of JSU.

-- Although there was nothing said about the lack of choices or why meal plans didn't roll over from year-to-year it was stated that meal swipes and flex dollars should have rolled over semester to semester. I do know of a couple people who's did not roll over this semester but I'm wondering if that may have been a glitch in the system or something..?

7. Nothing To Do

This question and the issues attached were addressed in an email to me from Dean of Students, Terry Casey.

-- The Student Government Association plans events on campus and have not had the funds to plan and hold events on the weekends. However, the newly implemented Student Activities Fee the SGA is working on providing "more events for all students."

-- The SGA has just recently advertised some events such as A Night Of: Poetry, Singers, Dancers, and Confessions in the TMB Food Court on February 9th, 7 PM - 9 PM, the iceless Ice Rink in the TMB Auditorium on February 15th from 6 PM - 10 PM, and the Black History Month Concert February 10th at the Mason Hall Performance Center at 1:30 PM. All of which are free admission. (JSU ID required for Free Admission to the Iceless Ice Rink)

-- Recreational Sports is also working on developing programs that students can participate in on the weekends as well.

-- Mr. Casey also asked that if you have any suggestions for a particular event then please feel free to do so!

9. Concerns with Financial aid, scholarship, and loan offices

-- This past week President Beehler sent out an email to all students regarding and apologizing for the issues the student body has had with Financial Aid. In the email, he explained that the university has brought in outside consultants in order to evaluate "JSU processes, system, and personnel needs." If you have not read the email I suggest you do so, because while it may not address all of this issue it does a good job of showing how the University is trying to make changes on our behalf.

***DISCLAIMER: All of the answers in this article were given to me by employees of JSU excluding ones stated otherwise. I paraphrased the answers and did my best to show when I was making a direct quote***

****NOTE: This article was written only to give answers to the questions asked in "11 Questions For Jacksonville State University" neither article was meant to tear down, bash, or insult JSU or anyone affiliated with JSU, but to instead obtain answers for the students and their questions.****