Some students complain about the quality of food on campus, frequently as a joke, but most dorm residents can still eat it. It's not often that the food makes them sick, but one woman has a different story about UAF's food service.

"I ended up paying over $2,400 for food that made me ill and ended up on welfare to survive," said ex-Nerland Hall resident Randee Wilson.

Wilson said that during spring and fall semester 2005, the food she paid for in her required meal plan repeatedly made her sick to the stomach.

"Most of the time I'd just get tired, like immediately, just drained of energy," said Wilson, a senior biology major. "A few times it'd be just like cramps for three hours, and once or twice I actually did puke right afterwards, like five minutes after eating it."

"Every time I ate there was something I felt afterwards," she said.

Wilson is on government assistance now, after moving off campus in January.

"I work my ass off in the summer," she said.

Wilson first heard about a waiver to the required meal plan from another student in Nerland Hall and decided to check into it.

"Even though he had a nutritionist, he was ordering food, like he had food like Chinese food and Domino's coming in," she said.

Meal plans are only waived for students with severe dietary needs, says Dining Services. Robert Holden, associate director of Auxiliary and Business Services, said meal plan waivers are usually not approved because students do not obtain the necessary physician's note on time.

Wilson said she got a note from her alternative doctor in Kenai, R. Lynn Carlson, M.D., and gave it to Holden during the first week of fall semester.

"Randee should be allowed to eat off campus for health reasons," reads the note, which is dated Aug. 10, 2005.

Holden rejected the note and told Wilson to talk to Dining Services' own nutritionist. The nutritionist was in Anchorage at the time of their phone conversation, and she either disagreed with the severity of Wilson's dietary needs, or she simply failed to contact Holden about it. After that, Wilson was asked to go to the campus health center, where a doctor there also failed to provide a note.

Holden said that waivers are infrequent because UAF's agreement with food service provider Nana-Sodexo requires accommodation of all students.

"Our contractor is required to provide for any and all diets, so there's really no need for people to have a waiver," Holden said. "Anytime students are requiring stuff or needing stuff, the best thing to do is contact us so we can fulfill your needs."

Wilson said the cooks she talked to at Lola Tilly Commons went out of their way to try to prepare special meals she could eat, but it still made her sick enough that she kept cooking on her own.

Even though kitchens are provided in the dorms, Holden said residents are not really supposed to be cooking there.

"Our housing isn't designed to allow people to cook in, it's a fire, life-safety issue," Holden said. "If we allowed people to cook there, it's a safety issue."

Dining Services approved only one waiver all year, but they rejected Wilson's application for a refund.

"It's opening a door," Holden said. "Any time you open a door, you've got various people wanting out [of the meal plan]."

So Wilson moved off campus this past January, but after paying for separate groceries on top of the cost of her meal plan, she had to go on welfare to pay the bills.

"The thing is I was expecting them to pay me that money back. I was expecting to get that wavier off," Wilson said. "And when I didn't, and I realized I didn't have that money I was counting on for the bills, what money was still left, now I didn't have enough money. I had enough money to pay rent then and food then, but I knew for sure in May I would be broke, guaranteed."

She was approved for welfare support, and has received $180 each month on a welfare debit card, the maximum amount for a single person with no children. The money pays for all of her food expenses, said Wilson, who said she feels embarrassed to be getting government support and blames UAF for her predicament.

"The odd thing," said Wilson, on the verge of tears, her voice cracking, "is you can't get on the welfare if you have a combined $2,000 in your bank and cash and all that, and what I had was about 15 hundred. I was about $500 short from that, which is about what I estimated that I would've gotten back [from UAF]."

"It's not fun," Wilson said. "I don't enjoy being on welfare, it's kind of insulting."

"I had a friend call me lazy for being on welfare."

Wilson also stopped taking a full load of classes and is now taking seven credits, but she says she'll be back next fall to continue working on the 17 credits remaining for her degree in biology.

She wants to tell her story, because, for Randee Wilson, it's not about the money any more.

"At least I could tell it to you guys, and once I did that, I think that would give me a closure," Wilson said. "I'd still be a little pissed about them taking my money, but I would at least feel like I got some closure. I would at least feel like I did everything I could. I tried every option."