Gender-Neutral Housing

Students have the option to live in mixed-gender housing groups. The free exchange of ideas and ability to make your own decisions extend beyond the classroom to all aspects of campus life, including University housing.

Some Guidelines

  • No student will be required to live in a gender-neutral room, suite, or apartment.
  • Students in gender-neutral housing can choose their roommates and those they share their dorms, suites, or apartments with.
  • Students do not need to indicate their reasons for wanting to live in gender-neutral housing.
  • Dormitory-style residences with shared community bathrooms cannot accommodate gender-neutral housing.
  • BU Housing works with new students who do not identify with their birth gender.
  • BU Housing will work with all transgender students individually on their room assignments.

Some Specifics

In keeping with the above, we’ve set the following parameters:

  • Students selecting gender-neutral assignments agree to the rules established regarding the filling of vacancies. For more information on vacancies, check out our FAQs page.
  • When creating a gender-neutral unit during the room selection, students need to fill all of the spaces within the room, suite, or apartment.
  • Gender-neutral housing is not a specialty program and does not require programmatic approval.
  • Due to shared common area bathrooms, rooms in Claflin, Rich, and Sleeper Halls; the Warren Towers complex; and The Towers cannot have gender-neutral rooms.
  • Rooms within Specialty Communities and Living-Learning Communities (except Global House) are not eligible to be gender-neutral.

How to Participate

If you want to live in a gender-neutral room, suite, or apartment, you will create a multi-gendered room selection group in the Continuing Student Housing Application section. During room selection you will have the following options:

  • Same Room Pull-In: Want to stay where you are? Pull in other students from your mixed-gender roommate group to the room you currently occupy. For more information, read our room selection overview.
  • Gender-Neutral Community Room Selection: Looking to create a gender-neutral living space somewhere else on campus? Once the Same Room Pull-In period ends, you and your roommate group can choose from a select number of bed spaces across campus area, room size, room type, and price range. For more information, read our room selection overview.
  • First Year and Transfer students who want to live in gender-neutral housing should contact BU Housing at housing@bu.edu, or via telephone at 617-353-3511. We also offer a Zoom or Teams meeting option.  To schedule a video consultation before making any housing decisions, please email us.

If you want to change rooms or if there is a vacancy in a gender-neutral unit, there are options to fill the unit. For more information, see the gender-neutral housing room change overview.

Questions?

Check out our Gender-Neutral Housing FAQs.

Read more about Gender-Affirming Housing.