Living in Tutwiler
Most people’s opinions on Julia Tutwiler Hall is universally the same: you love it or you hate it, or in most cases, you love to hate it. For those who don’t know, Tutwiler, commonly referred to as ‘Tut’, is an all-girls dorm located at the University of Alabama. This 14-story building is hard to miss due to its extreme height, unique architecture, and the hordes of girls constantly walking in and out. This dorm is famously known for hosting hundreds of freshmen girls, mainly those in Greek life, and has accumulated several, rather vulgar, nicknames over the years poking fun at it. Tutwiler is also known for its’ criteria. For example, its’ cleanliness, amenities, space, price, and location. Despite the inconvenient circumstances, Tutwiler is still one of the most sought out dorms for incoming freshmen girls.
Tutwiler, as stated before, is an all-female dormitory for freshmen. This dormitory holds up to nine-hundred and eighty freshmen girls every year. (“Tutwiler.” Housing and Residential Communities, housing.sa.ua.edu/residence-halls/tutwiler/.) Tutwiler provides you with a small room for you and your roommate and communal bathrooms for each hall. The amenities provided are two bed frames with mattresses included, two desks, a microfridge, and each a closet with several drawers. The room itself is so small you might feel as if you live in a shoebox with concrete walls. With that being said, space is a definite factor to keep in mind when moving in. You will already be provided with eight drawers and a closet to store away belongings, but I highly recommend purchasing separate drawers, or even plastic bins, to place under your lofted bed for extra storage. The space of your room may not seem like a big deal, but it will be once you and your roommate are dead silent for hours on end with beds so close your feet are basically touching.
Not only does Tutwiler provide you with amenities for your room, but also the bathroom. You share a communal bathroom with all the female residents living in your hall, which is approximately twenty to thirty girls. The bathrooms include three toilets, four sinks, and three showers. This is where it can be rather tricky, considering you’re sharing all of this with over two-dozen girls. Typically during the school week it isn’t too bad since everyone has differing class schedules and the bathrooms are cleaned every morning, but the restrooms during the weekend is a whole different story. The weekends here at UA are dedicated to fraternity parties, football games, and tailgates. Clearly, all of the occasions have a well-known starting time and majority of girls residing in Tutwiler typically attend said events. This is where it goes to show that the early bird gets the worm. Due to the fact that majority of residents here attend these occasions, being able to shower or use the restroom on your own time is rather difficult and you will find lines forming to use these amenities. With that being said, I urge you to use whatever is needed as early as you can.
Other than the bustling bathroom on the weekends, the other factor at play is cleanliness. Tutwiler restrooms are only cleaned on weekdays, which leads to dozens of females over the weekend to contaminate the bathrooms. The cleanliness of your room is solely up to you and your roommates cleaning habits, whereas the cleanliness of the bathrooms depends on what day it is. A key aspect you find in these weekend activities is the consumption of alcohol. I found out quickly that some of the female residents can’t handle the effects of alcohol and will regurgitate whatever was consumed earlier, wherever they please. If you’re not a fan of being out a shower, toilet, or even a sink because of someone’s hardly-absorbed mix of stomach bile and bagged wine for three days, then I highly recommend choosing a dorm without communal bathrooms. Other than that, Tutwiler bathrooms are a pleasant place Monday through Friday.
Although many of the criteria listed before seem negative, not all are. For example, the location of Tutwiler is exemplary and has received a great amount of praise since its opening. The all-female dorm is located on campus directly across the street from Bryant-Denny stadium and sorority row. This has been greatly convenient for sorority members, considering all their meals are served at the Greek houses, but also for everyone residing in Tutwiler. It takes no longer than fifteen minutes to walk to some of the farther buildings on campus, and is only a five minute walk away from the nearest dining hall. Location is definitely one of Tutwiler’s best features and one of the main reasons people choose to live here.
Parking at Tutwiler is a hit or miss. You are given the options to park at either the Tutwiler parking lot or the Magnolia Parking Deck, which is located across the street. It seems to have become blatantly obvious that the number of university parking passes given and the number of actual parking spots ratio is extremely off. You’re basically paying three-hundred and eighty dollars to race the car behind you so you can acquire an over-priced spot before they do. It has also come to my knowledge that the cars parked in the closest spots literally don’t move, so when racing the car behind you, I recommend saving the disappointment of no close spots and to just browse the back rows. Another dilemma Tutwiler residents face is the students who don’t live at Tutwiler taking up parking spaces. I can tell you whole-heartedly that there is nothing more aggravating than witnessing an off-campus resident take up a parking spot that you spent a small mortgage on. On the contrary, UA has parking police drive through the lot several times a day to check for vehicles parking passes, so hopefully the parking tickets bestowed upon them will teach them not to park there. If parking isn’t a big ordeal, then Tutwiler shouldn’t be such a bad place for you.
Being a college student, money is almost everyone’s biggest struggle. If you’re someone who isn’t looking at the cleanliness, atmosphere, or amenities of a dorm, but rather the price, than Tutwiler seems rather fitting. Tutwiler is one of the cheapest room and board prices UA has to offer. Residing in Tutwiler costs roughly around five-thousand for the year and the suite-style dorms are usually around eight to ten-thousand dollars. Incoming freshmen girls have to decide whether they’d want to sacrifice paying double the price of Tutwiler for privacy, or to just simply live without it. Five-thousand dollars seems like an extremely obnoxious price to pay for a tiny, shared room and communal bathrooms, but in the long run it will save you money. Living in Tutwiler, all you need is to dust your shelves and make your bed to make the place seem brand new, while at the other dorms you have to clean not only your room, but your bathroom, living room, and kitchen. Also taken into consideration is the week-day bathroom scrub-downs the custodians provide, as well as the free toilet paper and paper towels you would otherwise being paying for.
Overall, Tutwiler at first may seem like the last place you want to live. Over the course of my first semester residing here, I’ve realized it isn’t as bad as it sounds. You still have to deal with the small room, parking lot races, and the horrible smells the bathroom entails, but you learn to look on the positive side of things. Living in Tutwiler has enabled me to cope with living with someone other than family and helped me appreciate privacy more. Another benefit is going to sleep with peace at mind knowing you’re saving five-thousand dollars. If you are someone who doesn’t get along well with others and sharing is a definite no, Tutwiler wouldn’t be the best place to call home for eight months. Although this dorm seems like an annoying place to live, I’ve come to love all of its impurities and the crazy memories it’s provided. Living in Tutwiler is an experience on its own and I recommend this dorm to anyone looking for an amusing freshmen year. Tutwiler is truly the place that people love to hate.
Works Cited:
“Tutwiler.” Housing and Residential Communities, housing.sa.ua.edu/residence-halls/tutwiler/.
