Housing

Living On Campus

Housing provides information about on-campus residence options. The University’s residences range in size from small, converted brownstones, with as few as 12 residents, to high-rise complexes, with 1,700 students. Most residences are coeducational, featuring single- and multiple-occupancy rooms arranged in suite and corridor styles.

Students assigned to a dormitory-style residence must choose one of the six dining plans available. Various dining locations are conveniently situated throughout the campus. Students residing in an apartment-style residence equipped with a kitchenette have the option to contract for a dining plan. For further assistance, please contact BU Housing, 25 Buick Street, Boston, MA 02215; 617-353-3511; or housing@bu.edu.

Residence Life administers the residences through its experienced residence directors and student resident assistants. These specialists collaborate to create supportive and challenging living environments oriented toward personal growth and community awareness. Residents spend leisure and study hours in the various common areas, such as late-night cafés, study areas, lounges, and music rooms.

Student residence hall associations work jointly with residents to create an active program of social, cultural, and intellectual events to supplement the living experience of the residence community.

Specialty communities encourage personal contacts among small groups sharing similar academic or cultural interests. Current specialty communities include Engineering floors, College of Fine Arts floors, College of Communication floors, Management floors, Premedical/Accelerated Medical floors, Wellness House, Writers’ Corridor, Sargent College House, Common Ground House, Community Service House, Core Curriculum floors, Hospitality Administration House, Chinese House, French House, German House, Italian House, Japanese House, and Spanish House. Contact Residence Life, 25 Buick Street, Boston, MA 02215; 617-353-4380.

Living Off Campus

Off-Campus Services is an online function that provides apartment listings and web links to relevant information about renting apartments in Massachusetts. New listings of privately owned apartments, houses, rooms, and roommates are available. Access to the online function is for members of the Boston University community. You must have a valid BU Login and Kerberos password. Contact information: 617-353-3523 or Off-Campus Services.

Housing Policy and Regulations

All freshmen are required to live on campus, as are all students who received University-funded scholarships equal to or greater than tuition.

Freshmen may request an exception to the freshman-year residency requirement if they reside locally with a parent (whose principal place of domicile is within a 20-mile radius of Boston University’s Charles River Campus and has been for at least 12 consecutive months immediately preceding registration as an entering freshman), child, or spouse; or if they are 21 years of age or older by October 1 of their entering year. To request an exception, send a letter, accompanied by a written statement of parental consent, to:

Boston University Housing
25 Buick Street
Boston, MA 02215

The University Housing Committee must give written approval for a freshman or full-tuition merit scholar to be released from the requirement to live on campus and occupy a residence other than one in University housing.

Students (including full-tuition merit scholarship recipients) who are under 16 years of age as of October 1 of their entering year are not eligible to live on campus, and thus not required to meet freshman-year residency requirements.

Note: “Principal place of domicile” means a person’s true, fixed, and permanent home and place of habitation, to the exclusion of all others. It is the place where the person intends to remain permanently. “Parent” means a person’s father or mother. In the case of legally separated or divorced parents, “parent” means either a parent with legal custody or a parent providing more than one-half of a student’s total financial support.

The University reserves the right for its designees to enter and to inspect a student’s room, to reassign students in the University’s residential system, to revoke and terminate a student’s Residence License Agreement for any reason set forth in that agreement, and to implement any other measures necessary and advisable for health, safety, or in the interest of the residence program. Any resident whose conduct does not meet the standards established by the University may be denied on-campus residence accommodations.

Housing (Graduate)

Most graduate students choose to live in apartments off campus. There are offices at the University that will assist you in your search for housing. Off-Campus Services, located at 775 Commonwealth Avenue (617-353-3523), provides listings of available apartments in the area. You can also check for off-campus listings on the Boston University web page by selecting Orientation & Off-Campus Services.

Rental Property Management, located at 19 Deerfield Street (617-353-4101), offers University-owned apartments, most within a 5- to 10-minute walk to campus facilities.

Rental Property Management offers furnished and unfurnished apartments for full-time graduate students, faculty, and staff. Monthly rents start at: Rooms—$675 and up; studios—$1,150 and up; one-bedroom apartments—$1,275 and up; two-bedroom apartments—$1,900 and up. Most are inclusive of heat and hot water. For more information, contact Rental Property Management, 19 Deerfield Street, Boston, MA 02215; 617-353-4101, or visit Rental Property Management.

Harrison Court is an elegant nineteenth-century building providing 60 modern apartments for graduate students at the Medical Campus. In the heart of Boston’s South End, Harrison Court is located across the street from the Medical Center campus, which includes the School of Medicine, the School of Public Health, the Goldman School of Dental Medicine, the Boston University Alumni Medical Library, and the Boston Medical Center. The building consists of secure and convenient studio, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom apartments. Each unit has a modern kitchen and bathroom. A coin-operated laundry is located in the building. For more information call Rental Property Management at 617-353-4101 or visit Harrison Court.

Residence Life

Resident Assistants  Resident assistants are Residence Life student staff members living within campus residence areas. Each resident assistant is responsible for working twenty hours each week as a community manager, role model, peer advisor, and resource and referral agent to students. Resident assistants are selected for their intellectual and interpersonal skills, their leadership capabilities, and their willingness to meet the challenges and expectations of the position to the best of their abilities. The position is enjoyable and educational, but it is very demanding in terms of the time and energy that a successful candidate must commit.

Qualified juniors, seniors, and graduate students receiving resident assistantships may receive room and board as compensation. Additional information is available from Residential Education, 19 Deerfield Street, Boston, MA 02215; 617-353-3540.

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Published by Trustees of Boston University
One Silber Way
Boston, MA 02215

9 October 2009
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