Application Guide

The housing application will be available in the Apply for Housing section of the My Housing Portal starting Wednesday, February 5, 2025 in the afternoon and will close at 5 p.m. on Friday, February 28, 2025.

The application does not require an application fee. All rising sophomores, juniors, seniors, students enrolled in a 4+1 or 3+2 program, and Associate in Arts students transitioning to Newark in the fall are welcome to apply. The application is not first-come, first-served, but any student wanting to be considered for on-campus housing next year must complete this application by the deadline.

Students may also apply for an optional Theme or Living Learning Community through the Housing Communities process and request roommates through the Roommate Manager process in the My Housing Portal during the same application timeframe.

There are three sections of the returning student application process in the My Housing portal. Completing a valid basic application in the Apply for Housing section is required of all applicants, while the Roommate Manager and Housing Communities sections are optional for students to either request a specific roommate or apply to live in a specific in-hall community.

Steps of Basic Application

• Review application instructions
• Sign the housing contract (if under 18, parent/legal guardian must sign)
• Agree to the cancellation fee policy
• Your application is valid! Receive confirmation email
• Confirm demographic and emergency contact information
• Provide optional identity details
• Get instructions to submit housing accommodations if needed
• Answer lifestyle questions
• Complete the room interest poll
• Submit the basic application and learn about next steps

Steps of Housing Communities

• After submitting basic application, students gain access to this optional process

• Read about the optional upper division communities being offered for next year

• Indicate which type of community you want to apply to: Honors Housing (Honors Program students only), Living Learning Community/Experience (LLC), or Theme Housing Community

• Select the specific community you want to join

• Complete required essay questions or sign required community agreement

• Receive email confirming submission

Steps of Roommate Manager

• After submitting basic application, students gain access to this optional process

• Review instructions to either create a new roommate group or join an existing group with specific students, or search for roommates and view suggested roommates if unsure who to live with

• Accept or decline pending invitations or requests to join a group

• Receive emails confirming new group members or other changes to the group

• Verify your group

Returning students are not automatically guaranteed housing, and we may not be able to guarantee all students who apply - it will depend on the number of applications received. The priority for getting guaranteed a space on campus for 2025-2026 as a returning student will generally be based on the term a student was admitted to UD with most recently admitted students receiving highest priority. Rising sophomores (any current first year student admitted during the 2024-2025 academic year regardless of credits completed), Spring 2025 transfer students, and students transitioning from the Associate in Arts program for Fall 2025 will receive highest priority to be guaranteed, followed next by students admitted in 2023-2024, and so forth. All students with a valid application on file by the deadline will receive an email within one week after the application closes indicating whether or not they've been guaranteed housing.

Note that priority to be guaranteed housing differs from priority during the room selection and assignment process, which is explained below. 

Students who apply by the deadline and get guaranteed a space on campus will then have their room selection priority determined (different from guarantee priority). Based on room selection priority, some students will be offered a date and time (timeslot) to self-select their space during online room selection while others will not. 

Priority for room selection/assignment will be determined by term admitted to UD and roommate group size. Students admitted earliest (typically rising seniors) are given the highest priority to select/be assigned while students admitted in 2024-2025 have the lowest priority. Priority will be averaged for groups where members have different admit terms. Within each admit term grouping, roommate groups will be given priority by size with the largest groups having the highest priority and individuals having the lowest priority.

We anticipate that most, but not all, students who are guaranteed a space on campus will have an opportunity to select their own room in the spring. The room assignment process is expected to begin in mid-March 2025. Guaranteed students who do not get the opportunity to self-select their space will be manually assigned by our staff with assignment notifications continuing throughout the summer - this is expected to mostly impact rising sophomores.

Once a student’s basic application is complete, they may create verified roommate groups of 2-4 with other applicants in the Roommate Manager section of the My Housing Portal through February 28 at 5pm. While most students in roommate groups are able to be assigned together somewhere on campus, forming a roommate group does not guarantee assignment together nor in a specific room type, which will depend on space availability at the time of assignment.

Students applying to live in a Living Learning or Theme Housing Community may only create a group with other students who have also applied to that community. That means all group members must apply to the community separately, and groups may be separated who don’t meet this criteria as of the application deadline.

Once a student’s basic application is complete, they may also apply to live in a specific in-hall community through the Housing Communities section of the My Housing Portal through February 28 at 5pm. On-campus Theme Housing Communities and Living Learning Communities (LLCs) provide students with unique experiences designed around academic programs, personal interests or identities. LLCs are typically supported by an academic department while theme housing is not.

You can learn more about the communities being offered for upper division students on our In-Hall Communities webpage or in the portal.

If in a roommate group, each group member must complete their own Housing Communities application since you can only select roommates who have also applied to the community. If guaranteed a space in the community, you'll only be able to select from, or be assigned into, available spaces within that community's designated location. If you request to leave that community prior to the room assignment process, you may lose your guarantee for housing and be placed at the end of the non-guaranteed wait list.

Traditional, suite, and apartment-style housing will all be available to returning students for next year with each type making up about one third of our returning student inventory. Single rooms are limited. Final housing placements will depend on what kinds of spaces are available at the time that you select your space or are assigned to a space. We cannot guarantee assignment to any specific type of space.

When you apply for housing, you are applying to live on campus in general. We do not guarantee a particular style of housing, specific room, or roommate as part of being guaranteed housing on campus. Apartments only make up about 30% of our housing inventory for returning students, so we cannot guarantee placement in an apartment. If you only want to live in an apartment, you should consider off-campus housing options.

Students with a medical, psychological or physical condition that substantially limits one or more major life activities and may impact their housing can request reasonable housing accommodations by submitting documentation directly to the Office of Disability Support Services (DSS) no later than February 28, 2025. Documentation consists of an evaluation by an appropriate healthcare professional that explains the condition and how specific housing accommodations would mitigate its impact on the student. Questions about this process should be directed to DSS. 

Students with specific dietary restrictions, allergies or intolerances should contact the university Dietitian at Dining Services to discuss what dining accommodations can be made during their time at UD. Dining Services works very hard to accommodate students in the dining halls, and a housing accommodation is often not necessary, but any documentation for consideration should be submitted to the Dietitian for review by February 28, 2025.

Students who already have requested housing accommodations on file from a previous year must submit updated paperwork to the appropriate office each year by the posted deadline in order to be considered for the upcoming year.

Submitting documentation does not automatically qualify a student for housing accommodations. Staff from Disability Support Services and Dining Services will review documentation submitted and make a recommendation to Residence Life & Housing if necessary. Roommates are not considered a reasonable accommodation, and a student may be removed from their roommate group in order to meet their recommended accommodation. 

Documentation received late may result in receiving a room assignment that does not meet the recommended accommodations, and our ability to provide an accommodation after the deadline will be extremely limited.

You can cancel your application without fee up until the point that you are guaranteed housing. We expect to send out initial housing guarantee notifications within one week after the application closes. Once guaranteed and before your contract binding date, you can still cancel your application with just a $200 cancellation fee.

• If you are initially guaranteed housing, you have from that point through 11:59 p.m. on June 24, 2025 to cancel with a $200 cancellation fee. Beginning June 25, you become legally bound to the contract and can no longer cancel your application.
  
• If you are not initially guaranteed housing and are placed on our non-guaranteed waitlist, you can continue to cancel at any time without fee up until the time you are guaranteed housing. Once guaranteed and before your binding date, you can cancel with a $200 cancellation fee. If guaranteed prior to June 25, your binding date will be June 25. If guaranteed beginning June 25, you will have five business days from guarantee notification before your contract is binding. Once your contract binding date occurs, you may not cancel your contract.

To cancel your application before becoming legally bound, log into the My Housing portal, go to the Application Status section, select Cancel Application/Request for Release from the menu dropdown and follow the steps for your 2025-2026 application.

The Undergraduate Student Housing Contract is like a lease in that it is a legally-binding financial agreement. Before you sign your contract and validate your application, please be sure to review the terms and agreements outlined, as release from your contract after the binding date is very unlikely.

The housing application is considered valid when a student signs the Student Housing Contract and agrees to the fees associated with the cancellation. Students under the age of 18 will need a parent/guardian to sign the contract for them.  

Housing rates are determined by the Board of Trustees in their spring meeting, and are generally released in June or July for the upcoming year. We typically see a 2-7% increase to the previous year's rates but changes can vary year to year. Current year rates can be viewed here for reference.

The returning student housing application for next year closes on February 28 at 5 p.m. at which point we will not be accepting additional applications. Depending on space availability, we may open a late application closer to the summer for students who missed the deadline to apply. Keep an eye on our website and in the housing portal, or contact our office toward the end of the spring semester for updates if this impacts you.

For students interested in pursuing off-campus housing options, you can find resources to assist with your search on the Moving Off-Campus webpage.