The Association of Indian Students takes this opportunity to congratulate you on your acceptance for admission to University of Louisiana at Lafayette, popularly called ULL. We will be very happy to encourage and guide you in every step. In anticipation of your acceptance, we would like to give you a brief description of University of Louisiana and Association of Indian Students here. The Association of Indian Students at University of Louisiana, or AIS, as it is better known, represents the Indian student community at the University. Throughout the year, AIS organizes programs to celebrate Indian festivals and national days. To assist you in preparing to leave, planning your travel and arranging your stay here, we have thought of a few things that will be important to you in the coming days.

     
    Moving into Lafayette 

The Best way to get to Lafayette is by Air. The Lafayette Airport is served by connecting flights to all major international airports in US. The next alternative is to come by air up to Baton Rouge or New Orleans (nearest cities to Lafayette). From there one can arrive to Lafayette by Greyhound Bus Service, which is not preferred by new students & also not advisable.

AIS arranges for the transportation of the new Indian students from the airport to a temporary accommodation. Please note that we will be able help with this transportation only if you arrive at the Lafayette airport (Airport Code: LFT). Please let us know about the arrival date, time and flight details as soon as you know these details. Fill the online Pick up form.

      Housing  

Initially all the new students are given temporary accommodation by the AIS. They are put up with the seniors for some days within which they need to look for roommates and move in to new houses. AIS will help you in finding and shifting to new apartments.

There are many apartments available nearby the university. Mostly all the students prefer to stay in these off campus apartments, as they tend to be cheaper. The apartments are University Placement Apartments (UPA), Lamar Apartments, Garden Apartments, Lee Avenue Apartments. Each Apartment consists of about 10 - 15 blocks. AIS can book apartments for students if they inform well in advance. Normally 4 -5 students stay together. As the turnout of girls is also reasonably good, 4-5 of them can also share an apartment and stay together.

If one wants to stay alone and does not like to stay with a group, it is advisable to stay in the hostels (dorms) provided by the University. But it is always better to stay with the other Indian students atleast during the first semester. The details about the university dorms can be found in the university website.

    Rent and Other Expenses 

For a double bedroom apartment, rent may vary from $450 - $550 per month. So for strength of 5, it would approximately cost $90 - $110 per head per month. For a single bedroom apartment, rent may vary from $250 - $ 400 per month. Generally 2 to 3 students stay together in a single bedroom apartment. It would cost approximately $ 50 to $80 per head per month for food, $ 20 to $ 40 for electricity and water and minimum phone bill of $10 per month. Generally international calls are made using phone cards, which can be purchased on the internet. On an average basis a talk time of 30 minutes will be given on a 10$ phone card. But phone cards to major cities will generally cost less. Phone card expenses will vary from person to person. So on a monthly basis one can expect the total expenses to be around $ 250 excluding the phone card expenses.

      Climate 

The climate in Lafayette is very pleasant for living. During winter, it resembles some of the cold places in North India and Rest of the year it resembles to that of South Indian Climate. As you can see, it is pretty easy to get on with Lafayette climate. The climate here ranges from 35`C in summer to -2'C in the winter with the temperature around the 15`C - 30`C during the rest of the year. The new students may initially find it little difficult to get accustomed to the cold climate but later on they would love it [most probably!!]. So, if you could not withstand cold plz bring appropriate clothing with you other than the normal stuff that we suggest.

     
    Medical Information 

We advise you to go on a complete body check-up, especially eye and dental check-ups since they are very very expensive here, before filling the form out. If you happen to be wearing glass or contact lens, bring around 3-4 pairs with you since it will cost you like anything.

Ensure that you have taken all the important and necessary immunizations as mentioned in the immunization record sent to you from University of Louisiana, Lafayette. It is advisable to get MMR, Hepatitis B vaccines. These are very expensive over here. Remember to bring the medical certification or endorsed proof of your completed immunization. This document is important since without it you might not be able to sign up for courses and you have to go through vaccination once again.

All non-immigrant international students enrolled at the university are required to be insured. The insurance premium is included in the tuition fees. Insurance is covered semester by semester. Students not enrolled for a semester is not covered in any insurance plan. Should a student decide to buy just the insurance for the semester he or she is not enrolled can purchase the accident and sickness insurance by contacting the Office of International Affairs.

In addition to covered insurance UL Lafayette students can access the services provided at the University Medical Center at free of charge. However this service is based on emergency basis, meaning that the patients with minor illness may have to wait longer time than the patient with severe medical conditions. In addition to this the students can access the Clinic on-campus at the Student Health Services , which operate during limited office hours.
Bring medication for common ailments like Combiflame, Cronin, Aspirin, Vicks, Iodex, cough syrup, antacids etc., as they can be expensive here. Also, be sure to get the prescription for all the medicines that you get along with you.

   
     Miscellaneous 

At University of Louisiana it is not just studies. We have many other events going on around us. Two Indian (Hindi) movies screened per month at the University Theatre.Every friday evening you get a chance to meet and mix up with other International students at coffee hour organized by the International students organization (ISO). Indian Independence Day, Republic day and major festivals like Diwali are organized by the AIS every year.For cricket lovers, tennis ball cricket is played late in the nights in the parking lot on the weekends and summer holidays.