On-campus housing at a Penn State campus is offered on a first-come, first-served basis. Housing is not guaranteed for all first-year students.

Accepting Your Offer
Before you accept your offer of admission online using MyPennState, you will be informed if on-campus housing is available. After you accept the offer of admission, you will be able to submit an electronic request for a Housing Contract. If housing space is still available, you will receive an email notification that a Housing Contract offer has been extended to you. You must accept the Housing Contract offer by the deadline date indicated by logging on to eLiving using your MyPennState User ID. When you submit the online Housing Contract, you will be able to identify your housing preferences, roommate request, and meal plan.

What happens when housing is full?
On-campus housing is a popular choice for students. Due to the high demand, not all requests for on-campus housing can be honored. If housing is no longer available, you will be provided with a list of options that you can review before accepting your offer of admission. This may include the following:

• Guaranteed on-campus housing
  Housing and Food Services recognizes that on-campus housing is a very important factor for many students. While some campuses have a greater demand for on-campus housing and are unable to fulfill all of the requests, there are some campuses that are able to guarantee on-campus housing for students. If you would be interested in a guaranteed on-campus housing space at another campus, please contact the Undergraduate Admissions Office at 800-331-7980 for further information.


• Off-Campus Housing
  Many students opt to live off campus. There are a wide variety of off-campus housing living accommodations from which to choose from within the local area. Click here for additional information about off-campus living options.


• Waitlist
  While many students pursue one of the options listed above, some opt to add their name to the Waitlist. As cancellations of Housing Contracts occur, students on the Waitlist will be contacted and offered a Housing Contract. However, there is no guarantee that housing will become available by the start of fall semester. The Waitlist option may not be provided to students who accept the offer of admission later in the process.

Due to the limited space for on-campus housing, the earlier that the offer of admission is accepted, the better chance that housing space will be available when the request for a Housing Contract is submitted. There is no guarantee that if you submit a request for a Housing Contract, that you will receive an offer. Not all students that submit a request receive an offer.

If on-campus housing is available and you submit a request for a Housing Contract when you accept the offer of admission, you will pay a non-refundable $100 Housing Deposit in addition to the acceptance fees. This fee is non-refundable, even if you do not accept the Housing Contract offer. Modifications to preferences can be made using eLiving until May 1, 2008. Students will be notified when room assignments will be posted on eLiving after July 10, 2008.