Living On and Off Campus

Housing Process

New Students

Welcome to the Hope College! We are excited that you are joining our community! 

For fall semester enrollment: On May 1 or after your deposit is received, the Admissions Office will mail out information on how to activate your Hope email and complete your housing application. 

For spring semester enrollment: Once your deposit is paid, you will receive information from the Admissions Office on how to activate your Hope email. In addition, you will receive seperate communications from the Registrar's Office about scheduling for classes and from Residential Life and Housing about completing your housing application.

If you have any questions, please contact the Admissions Office.

Returning Students

The returning student housing process occurs during the spring semester. An email detailing the process is sent to students in January. Our housing system offers several diverse options for you to choose from as well as the ability for you to choose who you would like to live with. Housing assignments are for both semesters unless you plan to study abroad during the academic year.

Please email housing@hope.edu for any returning student housing questions.

Living On Campus

Hope housing is designed to grow with you as a student. Our hope is in your first and second years at Hope, you live in a residence hall. This allows you to meet new people, understand what it’s like to live in community, and solidify a smaller group of people to transition into a cottage or apartment with. Most of our housing is based on a double and triple room occupancy in facilities without air conditioning. Additionally, we house students by floor or unit based on biological sex.

In your third year and beyond, many students transition into a cottage or apartment. This allows students to move into an environment with their smaller community of friends and live more independently with the security of the college staff and facilities to support them. In cottages and apartments, students learn to clean and care for a home. Many make some or all of their meals. They experience living with a group of people with whom they are friends. This living helps them grow in knowing how to support people, give feedback, and work through frustrations and differences together.

On-campus housing is for currently enrolled students only.

Residence Halls

Remaining cottage and residence hall spaces are assigned in our Open Room Draw process. This process is held in April 4, 5 and 6, 2023 (dates subject to change). To be signed up for this process, you must submit an On-Line Housing Application prior to March 17, 2023. In this application, you will need to indicate your intended roommate as well.

After all the applications have been received, you will randomly be assigned a Room Draw number based on how many years you have been in college attendance. This number will dictate the day and time you will be selecting your room. Find more details on the Open Room Draw process.

A note about roommates in Open Room Draw… When you select a room, you name your roommate. After receiving your room draw numbers, you and your roommate should select your room using the lowest number assigned to you.

Room Draw Information

Apartments

Apartments are distributed to students based on the group’s cumulative earned credit score. Because of the varied sizes of apartments we have, there are multiple due dates to be considered for different apartment configurations. If you would like to apply for an apartment:

1. Identify the people you want to live with.
2. Submit the appropriate housing application from the listing below. Only one application must be submitted per group.
3. The application must be complete (ie. 10 students on a 10-person application, etc).
4. You will need to list the earned credits for each student listed on the application. You can view your earned credits on your plus.hope.edu account. Credits you are currently taking during the spring semester do not count towards this total.
5. DO NOT apply for an apartment if you:
   • Have been named to live in a cottage
   • Received off-campus or parent commuter permission or
   • Are planning to attend an off-campus study program for the fall semester

The Housing Office will then:

• Distribute apartments to the top credit bearing group and will continue down the list until all apartments have been distributed.
• If you receive an apartment, your group will be sent an email stating the apartment you received and each student will then need to complete an On-Line Housing Application

If you do not receive an apartment, you can reconfigure your group and re-apply for a different allotment of apartments. If you do not get an apartment assigned to you, you will need to register for Open Room Draw by March 17, 2023.

Apartment Applications and Due Dates
Please submit only one application for your group

Apartment Applications	Typical Credits (based on previous year applications and subject to change year to year)	Due Date
10-Person Apartment Application	471–690	February 21, 2023, by 5 p.m.
8-Person Apartment Application	525–558	February 24, 2023, by 5 p.m.
2-Person Apartment Application	168–202	February 28, 2023, by 5 p.m.
3-Person Apartment Application	254–322	March 3, 2023, by 5 p.m.
6-Person Apartment Application	142–588	March 7, 2023, by 5 p.m.
4-Person Apartment Application	152–450	March 10, 2023, by 5 p.m.
5-Person Apartment Application	101–290	March 14, 2023, by 5 p.m.

Cottages

In most cottages, the RA of the cottage names the people who will be living with them. There are some cottages that are duplexes (two units in one house). Although these are cottages, they are assigned in the above apartment application process.

In the larger cottages, the RA will name some of the people who will live in the cottage with them. The rest of the rooms will be listed in the Open Room Draw process outlined in the “How Do I Live in A Residence Hall” section.

As a reminder, if you are named to a cottage by an RA, please be sure to complete your On-Line Housing Application to March 17, 2023

Staying in Your Current Room

If you are electing to stay in your current room (squatting), you can fill out the On-Line Housing Application. In the application, you will indicate that you would like to stay in your current location. You will also indicate the roommate that you would like to live with. This can be your current roommate, or you can name a new roommate to join you next academic year.

Note: Staying in your location is not permitted in Apartments, Cottages, Dykstra, Lichty, Scott, or single rooms in residence halls.

Finding a Roommate

Before Open Room Draw, you can post information on Looking For A Roommate. You can also look at other students’ postings. If you do not have a roommate when you select your room, the Housing Office will look at your housing preferences and match you with a current student who does not have a roommate or an incoming transfer, new, or exchange student who does not have a roommate.

Housing Accommodations

Some people need specific types of housing or specific amenities in their housing because of a personal condition. If you have a condition that substantially limits major life activity (including allergies), you may be eligible for specific housing accommodations. To inquire and/or request housing accommodations, you must contact Disability and Accessibility Resources (DAR). DAR works with you to understand your needs, compile any necessary documentation, and make accommodation determinations. These determinations are given to Housing, and we identify housing that meets the accommodations.

If you are concerned about the housing structure and do not have a condition that limits major life activities, please contact housing@hope.edu.

In order to guarantee an approved accommodations, the above processes must be completed for cottage and apartments by February 1, 2023 (*please note that the deadline has passed), and for residential halls by March 1, 2023. Any accommodations approved after these dates will be fulfilled as space becomes available.

Request an Accommodation

Service or Assistance Animals

Assistance animals must be requested and approved as a reasonable accommodation through Disability and Accessibility Resources (DAR). All animals living in campus housing must be registered with Student Development prior to coming to campus. Please contact DAR to get started with this process.

Service and assistance animal definition

You will receive an email notification from Disability and Accessibility Resources if your request is approved or denied. You will then need to meet with Dr. Jobson before an assistance and/or service animal is brought into on-campus housing.

Living Off Campus

Hope College is a residential college, where students are required to live on campus their first three years. We are committed, by choice, to be a living learning community. However, the college recognizes that there may be students who live locally or are upperclass students in their third or fourth year at Hope and who may be interested in living off campus or commuting from their parents primary residence.

Students who started Hope College prior to fall 2022 and are interested in living off campus or commuting from their parents’ primary residence must apply annually. Students who meet the criteria below are eligible to request off campus or parent commuter permission.

• Student is in their fourth year or has earned 75 credits or more by January 31, 2023 (credits you are taking spring semester do not count towards this total)
• Student is 23 years old by the start of the academic year
• Student is married with proof of marriage
• Student is the custodial parent of a minor child
• Student is commuting from their parent/guardian’s primary residence which must be within 35 driving miles of campus (for parent commuter permission only)

Beginning with the 2022–2023 academic year, current freshman and incoming transfer students fall under the new Residential Living Policy. The new policy states that students who are enrolled and pursuing an on-campus degree and taking 12 credits or more (including online courses), must live in college-owned housing their first three years. There are conditions where an exemption may be considered, however, the college will no longer offer the option for off campus permission based on credits or parent commuter permission.

Questions regarding the off campus/parent commuter application process can be directed to housing@hope.edu.

The off campus/parent commuter application process for currently enrolled returning students begins in January 2023. Information will be emailed to students in early January. Please use the link below to apply.

Apply to live off campus

Possible Impact on Financial Aid

Choosing to live off campus or commuting can change your financial aid package. We encourage you to contact the Financial Aid Office, 616.395.7765 or finaid@hope.edu, to verify any potential impact to your financial aid package before applying.

Considerations Before Signing an Off-Campus Lease

The Community and Neighborhood Services Department of the City of Holland provides information, referrals and assistance regarding tenant and landlord rights and responsibilities with regard to security deposits, evictions, leases and rental agreements.

Off-Campus Study Programs

If you intend to participate in an off-campus study program in the fall semester of the 2021–2022 academic year and wish to live off campus during the spring semester, please email housing@hope.edu.  You must meet the criteria (listed above) to be approved to live off-campus.

Off-Campus Rentals

Contact the landlords listed on inHope to look for off-campus housing. Any communication and agreement is between you and the landlord. Please make sure your lease dates coincide with your academic year housing needs.

Landlords

Property owners can advertise rentals on a private listing of off-campus rentals available for students. Begin the process here.

The college reserves the right to reject off-campus applications submitted by students who have been subject to college disciplinary action.

If you have any questions about the application process, please feel free to contact the Housing Office at 616.395.7943 or housing@hope.edu.