New Student FAQ

1. How do I apply for housing?
   a. Incoming students are directed by Admissions to fill out their housing contract via the Admissions Enrollment Pathway at http://admissions.rutgers.edu/pathway.
2. Where is the best place to live?
   a. We’ve heard from our students that they love wherever they live, and for various reasons. Each campus offers something different. Busch is a suburban campus with many first-year students as well as special living options related to the many science and engineering academic departments on campus. College Avenue is the most urban campus and is close to downtown New Brunswick and student-centered shopping and dining. Cook/Douglass offers a wooded landscape and is home to programs in biology, environmental studies, animal sciences, and the arts. Livingston is a suburban but rapidly growing campus with many modern amenities and brand-new spaces for hanging out with friends.
3. How are incoming students assigned housing?
   a. Housing for new students is assigned on a first-come, first-served basis, so students should apply as early as possible. Although students have the ability to indicate their housing preferences within the application, based on available space at the time of submission, there is no guarantee a student will be assigned to the campus/building of their choice.
4. Can I change information on my housing application?
   a. You can change anything on your application as many times as you want before the deadline in July. Changing information does not affect your application submission date used when making room assignments.
5. Can I request a roommate?
   a. Yes. All roommate requests must be mutual, so please guarantee that each roommate has applied accordingly. It is also highly recommended that roommates submit their housing applications on the same date to ensure their applications are processed together.
6. How am I assigned a roommate?
   a. Students submit their lifestyle preferences when filling out the housing application. These factors are used to best match appropriate roommates.
7. I am a first year student. Can I room with my friend who is an upper class student?
   a. First year students can only request to room with other first year students.
8. I am a transfer student. Can I room with my friend who is an incoming first year student or who is an upper class student?
   a. Transfer students can only request to room with other transfer students.
9. I am a transfer student. How do my housing application preferences work?
   a. Transfer students preference their campus and their housing type (single, double, suite-style, apartment) in their housing application. This is different from first year students who can only preference their campus.
10. I have a disability or non-medical special housing request. What can I do?
    a. Rutgers provides reasonable housing accommodations to students with documented disabilities. If you have a disability and want to request housing accommodations you should contact Jeff Broggi at 848-932-4371. You may be required to provide medical documentation from your treatment provider documenting the medical necessity of your request.
11. If I am requesting special accommodations, do I still need to fill out the housing application?
    a. Yes. All students must apply using the housing application. This will add you to the housing assignment system so we can place you accordingly.
12. What special accommodations does Rutgers provide?
    a. Example of special accommodations include: Modifying rooms, bathrooms, doors and common areas to accommodate students with mobility impairments. Offering visual room alarms for fire alarms, phones, etc. for hearing impaired students. Assigning students with psychiatric disabilities to appropriate living situations. Permitting use of service dogs within residence halls/apartments. Providing access to air-cooling and uncarpeted spaces.
13. What if I need to live on College Avenue because I need to live near Chabbad or Hillel?
    a. These students should contact the assignments office at 732-445-0750 to notify them of the special need, and then apply through the housing application as usual, giving preference to College Avenue Campus.
14. Are there any special living options?
    a. Yes! Rutgers has over forty different on-campus communities for students of all academic backgrounds and special interests. Learn more at http://RUoncampus.rutgers.edu/options.
15. What does my confirmation e-mail mean?
    a. After you fill out the housing application, you will receive a confirmation e-mail. This e-mail guarantees that you have a space on campus and are awaiting a specific assignment.
16. When will I find out my housing assignment?
    a. Assignments for first year and transfer students are released the first week of August. Students receive an email directing them to a website to view their assignment and roommate information.
17. Will there be assistance during move-in for students?
    a. Housing and Residence Life will have staff will be on each campus to help guide and direct students and families where to drop off belongings, where to park, and provide any other assistance that may be needed. Various student organizations are recruited to help carry belongings and assist students moving into their rooms. Housing and Residence Life advises that any fragile boxes or valuable materials be transported by the students and their families instead of the student assistants. Campus police will be around each campus to direct cars and traffic to appropriate unloading and parking zones.
18. Are the amenities of the bathroom provided by Rutgers?
    a. Most first year students will live in a community with a shared bathroom on the floor where they will reside. This shared bathroom will be cleaned daily and hand soap and toilet paper will be provided. Students living in suite style housing (such as first year students in B.E.S.T. or McCormick) and apartment style housing are responsible for the cleaning of and toiletries supply in their bathrooms for the unit.
19. What is the policy regarding hanging things in the room?
    a. We want you to decorate your room to make it feel as comfortable as possible. Nothing can be hung from the ceiling or any sprinkler or fire suppression equipment. All posters and wall hangings should be hung with non-permanent tape or hooks and should cover no more than thirty percent of the wall space in the room for fire safety reasons. Decoration lights can be hung if they are UL approved and unplugged when no one is present in the room.
20. What is the policy regarding guest visitation?
    a. Guests are allowed in the room with the approval of all occupants of the room/suite/apartment. Overnight guests must be approved to be in the room by both roommates, and they can stay for a maximum of three consecutive nights. Guests in the halls after 8PM must sign with the community assistant desk in areas where these desks are available. To read the full guest policy please follow this link.
21. How can a student get in contact with their resident assistant (RA) or a professional Housing and Residence Life staff member?
    a. Each residence assistant will post information on how to contact him/her and other Housing and Residence Life staff members in community areas. Every campus has a Housing and Residence Life Student Services Office that is staffed from 8:30AM to 5:00PM. Walk-ins are welcome in each office or students can call these offices with the following numbers:
    Busch: 732-445-2561
    College Avenue: 848-932-7209
    Cook/Douglass: 732-932-9363
    Livingston: 848-445-4086
    Each campus office has an Assistant Director (AD) who oversees the residential communities on that given campus and the Residence Life Educators (RLE) who oversee smaller residential areas on each campus. If a student needs to contact any staff after 5:00PM, an emergency number will be posted in each residence hall or the students can call 732-932-7111 and campus police will assist them with an emergency.
22. Do students need to move out over breaks?
    a. Students do not need to move their belongings out of residence halls over Thanksgiving, Winter Break, and Spring Break, but most residence halls close and students cannot be in these buildings during these breaks. Some residence halls remain open over breaks for students who need to remain on campus for these periods of time; visiting international students are an example of students that would be eligible to take advantage of this opportunity. All students must move out of their rooms after the academic year is complete, typically in early May.
23. Are students guaranteed housing?
    a. No student is guaranteed housing, but Housing and Residence Life has never had an issue housing every student (first year, transfer, or continuing) that has requested housing.
24. Is there wireless access in the residence hall rooms?
    a. Some of our residence hall rooms have wireless access and some are still being installed. Every residence hall lounge does have wireless access for residents. For a full schedule of completed and upcoming wireless installations please follow this link.
25. Are all residence halls co-ed?
    a. Most of our residence halls are co-ed by room, meaning that male students will live next door to female students on the same floor or house. Housing and Residence Life offers an all-male building, Mattia Hall, which is a community of engineering majors that students must specifically request. Davidson Hall, on Busch campus, has four separate buildings, and building A is all male. There are four all-female spaces through the Douglass Residential College (DRC) on the Cook/Douglass campus, as well as a floor of all female engineering students on the Busch campus. Davidson Hall, on Busch campus, has four separate buildings, and building D is all female. Building a in Davidson is all mall. All of these single-gender living options can be requested through the special living options portion of the housing application.
26. Are there laundry facilities in each residence hall?
    a. Each residence hall has laundry facilities that cater to those communities. The cost is $1.25 to wash and $1.25 to dry a load of laundry. Students can pay using quarters or their RU Express account attached to their student ID card.
27. Can I bring a microwave?
    a. Housing and Residence Life provides each room with a microwave. No other microwaves are allowed.
28. Can I bring a small refrigerator?
    a. Housing and Residence Life provides each room with a refrigerator with a freezer. No other refrigerators are allowed.
29. What comes standard in every room?
    a. Every room has an extra-long twin bed, dresser, desk, desk chair, wardrobe/closet per person living in the room. There is also a microwave and refrigerator/freezer for the room to share between roommates.
30. Is it possible to move in after the date designated for them?
    a. The date provided for move in is the earliest students can move into their assigned spaces. Students can choose to move in at this time or at any time after this timeframe.
31. What security measures are in place in the residence halls?
    a. All entrances and exits are equipped with cameras that are linked back to the Rutgers Police Department. These cameras are also monitored by undergraduate student supervisors during evening shifts. We have undergraduate students, Community Assistants (CA), that sit at a night desk and sign in guests of residents in most of our buildings. All buildings require students to swipe their ID cards to enter, and only residents of a building have access to swipe into that building.
32. How do students gain access to their halls?
    a. Students’ access will be activated as part of their Rutgers Student ID card. Students will use these cards to swipe at boxes to gain entry to their residence hall. In order to visit another residence hall, a student must be let in by a resident of that hall and (during evening hours) signed in at the front desk.
33. What do I do if I lock myself out of my room?
    a. During normal business hours, Monday through Friday – 8:30AM to 5:00PM, students can go to their campus Housing and Residence Life office to sign out a key for their room. After 5:00PM or on the weekends, students can contact the staff member that is on call (numbers will be posted in each hall) to gain access to their room. If necessary, steps will be taken to change locks to inhibit anyone who should not have access from entering the students’ residence hall rooms.Students can also access a lockout application on their phone via our mobile site, ruoncampus.rutgers.edu/mobile. This application will provide them the phone number to call to help them get back into their rooms.
34. What do I do if I lose my ID card and cannot get into my building?
    a. During normal business hours, Monday through Friday – 8:30AM to 5:00PM, students can go to their campus Housing and Residence Life office to purchase another ID card. After 5:00PM or on the weekends, students can contact the staff member that is on call (the on-call schedule and phone numbers are posted in each hall) to gain access to their building and discuss solutions until they can get a new ID card. If necessary, steps will be taken to remove access from the card to inhibit anyone who should not have access from entering residence halls.
35. Are there a landline phones in residence hall rooms?
    a. There are no landline phones in the residence hall rooms.
36. Is it possible to request a room change? If so, how?
    a. Students can begin requesting room changes during the third week of each semester. Students can follow this link and login to the room change form. A staff member will contact you via email or in person to review options. Housing and Residence Life will also try to work out any issues between roommates by having the RA and other staff members hold discussions before granting a room change.
37. Is there cable TV in the rooms?
    a. Yes, and it is included in the cost of housing. A list of the channels available via RU-TV can be found here. Students must bring their own coaxial cable to connect to the cable outlet in the room.
38. Is there Internet in the rooms?
    a. All rooms have high-speed Internet access. Students must bring their own Ethernet cables to connect computing devices to the Internet port. All residence halls also have wireless access in the common area lounges, and some residence halls have wireless access in the rooms. For more details about the progress of wireless access in residence hall rooms, please visit this link.
39. Is there summer housing for students?
    a. Summer housing is available for students enrolled in courses or involved in academic research at the University. Applications will go live in mid-March. Information will be advertised via ruoncampus.rutgers.edu and facebook.com/resknights.
40. What happens if immunizations and other medical documents have not been submitted by the move-in date?
    a. We take the health and safety of our residents very seriously. If students are not medically cleared through health services with immunizations and other medical documents they will be unable to move into the residence halls. Once clearance is granted, students may pick up a key from their campus office.
41. What is the cost of living on campus?
    a. The cost of living on campus can be found here. Costs differ between on-campus residences, with apartments typically costing more than traditional residence halls. Annual cost increases are announced around the first of August. If you are reading this prior to August 1st the costs are most likely from the previous academic year and should be expected to rise slightly due to tuition and cost increases.
42. What should I bring with me when I move in?
    a. A list of suggested items to bring with you when you move onto campus can be found here. Prohibited items can be found here.
43. Is there a curfew for students?
    a. Housing and Residence Life treats all of its residents all of our residents like adults and do not impose a curfew for any students. Students are free to come and go as they please in their own rooms.
44. Are pets allowed?
    a. We do not allow any pets in our residence halls.
45. Are the residence hall rooms air conditioned?
    a. We have a variety of residence halls on our four campuses. Some have traditional air conditioning, some are air cooled, and some do not have any air conditioning. If you are someone who requires air cooling due to a medical issue please email resident@rutgers.edu to apply for an accommodation.
46. Can I smoke cigarettes in my room?
    a. Smoking is prohibited inside buildings in New Jersey, and therefore smoking is prohibited within the residence halls.
47. Can I loft the bed in my room?
    a. Students can loft or bunk beds in their rooms if both roommates agree on the furniture arrangement. Students should contact their RA and he/she will help them complete a maintenance request to have the furniture lofted or bunked.
48. Can I cancel my housing contract?
    a. Housing contracts are signed for an academic year. Select reasons qualify for release from the contract, including long-term hospitalization, death of an immediate family member, withdrawal from the university, induction into active military service, and other extenuating circumstances. Students can request cancelation of their contract by emailing oncampus@rci.rutgers.edu to attempt to cancel their contract.
49. Does Rutgers offer any gender neutral housing options?
    a. Yes. Rutgers is one of over 50 universities with gender neutral housing options. At Rutgers, it is a pilot program created in response to requests from the LGBTQ community and is intended to create accepting living environments, not spaces for romantic couples. Gender neutral bathrooms are secured for use only by those living in the community, and include latchable shower doors instead of curtains for additional privacy.