Services | Residential Life

All residents living in residence halls are required to have a mimimum of a 10-meal plan with the college Dining Services per the Dining Services and Board Policy. Students living in on-campus cottages, apartments or off-campus residences often choose to have a meal plan, but it is not required. An enchanced meal plan, called the 7+ meal plan, is available for these students. Find more information about meal plans.

Meal plans can be change up until the close of Drop/Add period at the beginning of each semester. If you wish to make a change to your meal plan you can do so by following the steps below:

Enter your Hope Housing Portal
Select “Dining” from the left hand menu
Click on “Dining Plans”
You will need to select the correct term (e.g., “Fall 2023”)
Once the correct term is selected you will be able to add/drop or change your meal plan. Reminder all students living in a residence hall must be on a meal plan.

Hope College has a centralized mailroom (Print and Mail Services) that accepts all mail and packages and distributes them to students. An email will be sent the day you receive any type of mail. You may stop by Print and Mail Services during business hours with your Hope ID to claim mail and packages.

The Print and Mail Services website has specific address information to use when sending items to Hope (and sending mail to Hope students). Your student mailing address will also appear in your Hope Housing Portal. Select “All about me!” from the left hand menu and you will find your current address under “Addresses/Contacts.”

You can connect to wireless internet in every residential unit and every bedroom (residence hall, cottage and apartment). You can even pick up Wi-Fi in the Pine Grove! Information on the wireless internet can be found through CIT.

Learn more about campus Wi-Fi information

There are laundry facilities in every residence hall and most other on-campus residential units (cottages and apartments).

Find detailed information about laundry cost and payment

Hope College offers limited on-campus storage for actively enrolled students who live outside of the Midwest (no students from Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio or Wisconsin will be approved) that are extraordinarily burdened by bringing all of their belongings with them when leaving campus. Due to the limited availability of storage, larger furniture items such as futons, couches, living room chair, desk chairs, bed/mattresses, dressers or outdoor furniture, etc., cannot be stored on campus.

For on-campus spring semester storage, the application will become available in early November. For on-campus summer storage, the application will become available in early March.

Due to the limited availability of on-campus storage, Hope College has connected with a variety of off-campus storage options to provide a discount for Hope College students. Below is information about both options.

Off-Campus Storage
Each off-campus storage facility provides different storage options and costs. Learn more about off-campus storage options. Pricing is established by the storage company and subject to change.

Area storage facilities we are connected to include:

Boers Transfer Storage (units and vault)
M40 Self Storage
Village Self Storage
Cross Creek Storage

On-Campus Storage
Filling out this form serves as a request to utilize the storage units on campus for the entirety of the period you are asking for. Once an item is stored, it is locked away until the academic year is in session.

There will be posted times during opening weekend of each semester for students to retrieve their belongings from storage. Do not pack essential items that you will need immediately when you arrive on campus (e.g., bedding, personal items, etc.). For students who arrive early prior the start of the academic year, we will be unable to let you into storage until the opening weekend, as we will not have the staff available due to training commitments, so please plan accordingly or consider utilizing off-campus storage options where you have more flexibility regarding when you can pick up your belongings.

For on-campus spring semester storage, the application will become available in early November. For on-campus summer storage, the application will become available in early March.

To submit a request for on-campus storage, please complete the form below. The deadline to apply for spring semester storage is Friday, December 6, 2024.

On-Campus Storage Application

Procedure to store belongings on campus

Once it has been decided that a student’s application meets the qualifications for on-campus storage and it has been determined space is available, the student will receive an approval email with further storage instructions.

When storing items in the residence hall, students must have their belongings in a box or tote that can be sealed. Each box or tote must be labeled and include the following:

Students first and last name clearly printed
Date of storage
Students cell phone number

We will be providing the student 5–7 labels, meaning the student will only be able to store 5–7 items, and they all must have their appropriate label attached. If the student has more than 5–7 items, they will need to find alternative storage for their remaining items.

Students will no longer be able to store furniture, including but not limited to: futons, couches, desk chairs, living room chairs, bed/mattresses, dressers or outdoor furniture.

How and When to Retrieve Belongings from Storage

At the beginning of each semester, students will be able to retrieve stored belongings during opening weekend through the first two weeks of the semester. Instructions will be provided in the student’s confirmation email about how to retrieve their belongings at the beginning of each semester. There will be signs posted on each residence hall with on-duty phone numbers that students can call for assistance to be let into the storage rooms to collect their items. Students may be required to show their ID to verify their name matches the label on the belongings. Students may not pick up belongings for other students without the advance approval of the Residential Life and Housing Office.

At the end of the first two weeks of the semester, all belongings left in storage beyond the second week of classes will be donated to Holland Community Action House or disposed of if the item(s) are not able to be donated (unless previous arrangements have been made with the RD or the Housing Office).

All items are stored at your own risk. Hope College is not responsible for any damaged or missing items. Storage is not climate controlled.

What happens if a student does not return to Hope College?

For students who graduate or make the decision to not return to Hope College, but still have items in storage, the following procedure for notification will take place.

For items left behind, a student will be contacted by the Housing Office (housing@hope.edu) via their provided cell phone number and/or Hope email (if active). They will be given seven days to respond to arrange a time that must be within 30 calendar days to collect their belongings.
If the student fails to respond within seven days after the initial contact a second attempt will be made via cell phone and/or Hope email (if active). They will be given an additional seven days to respond to arrange a time that must be within 30 calendar days to collect their belongings.
For students that fail to respond within 14 days after the first attempt to contact to arrange a time to collect their belongings, the college will donate all belongings to Holland Community Action House or dispose of the item(s) that are not able to be donated.

All students are eligible for requesting parking permits to park in Hope College parking lots. However, parking on campus is administered through Campus Safety. You can find all the information you need on Campus Safety's website.

Students are welcome to bring bikes to campus. There a number of bike racks throughout campus and most residence halls have a bike room that residents can choose to use for inside storage. Space is limited in the bike rooms, so we suggest, if you are able, to bring your bike home for the winter months. The City of Holland requires that all bikes be registered and have a identification tag. Use the online bicycle form, and pick up stickers at Campus Safety after submitting the form.

Each residential hall community has a lounge equipped with a large-screen TV and cable. However, cable is not provided in individual student rooms, cottages or apartments. Our wireless internet system supports online TV and movie streaming. Many students access TV through independent subscriptions to online sources (Sling TV, Hulu, Netflix, etc.).

Learn more about streaming media on campus