Housing Deposits are a thing of the past!

In past years, all students were required to pay a $100 housing deposit fee in order to participate in any facet of the Housing Selection Process.  This meant that students needed to come up with $100 and submit it with their Housing Registration Forms.  If you were paying with cash or credit you needed to take your forms to the Cashier's office before dropping them off at RLH, and if you didn't pay your deposit you were unable to participate in Lottery and could end up on the waitlist.  What a nightmare!

For 2008, RLH will not collect Housing Deposits.  In order to still ensure that students take the Housing Selection process seriously there is a $100 cancellation charge for any student who applies but does not actually end up living in housing for any reason.  Now, instead of signing Housing Contracts at Housing Lottery (a slow and tedious chore), students submit signed contracts along with their registration forms.  These contracts are binding unless you do not have to live on campus (you have completed your 4 semester requirement) in which case you may elect to back out of Housing Selection for the $100 cancellation fee as long as you have not yet selected or been assigned to a space.  If you choose a space or go onto the Housing Waitlist you will not be able to cancel your contract without a granted Housing Appeal.

While this cancellation fee is doing the same thing the housing deposits did (helping to ensure students are serious about Housing Lottery and not taking spaces just as a backup), we believe that eliminating the deposit will make everyone's life easier overall.

Questions? Comments?  Please contact Kevin Forti, Director of Residential Life and Housing at 508-793-7453, or via email.