Incoming First-Year Students
Interested in living in a vibrant community where your classmates are right down the hall? Want the convenience of living close to your classes, dining locations and study spaces? If you answered yes, then Campus Housing is here to help you find the perfect on-campus home! Check out your housing options on our Residence Halls page. If you would like information about housing accommodations, please visit the Center for Disability Services. To view policies and procedures for students living in on-campus housing, visit Residence Life's Policies and Procedures. For additional questions, review our helpful FAQ page, and feel free to email Campus Housing or call us at 843.953.2015.
- Fall housing applications (which are for the entire academic year) open February 1.
- You will be able to start your application 12 hours after paying your CofC enrollment deposit once the housing application opens.
- Housing is guaranteed for incoming first-year students who complete their housing application by 11:59 p.m. EST on May 1, 2023.
- After May 1, 2023, students may still apply for housing on a first come, first served basis. (After May 15, students will not be able to form a roommate group.) Once we reach capacity, students may add their name to a housing-application waitlist through the MyHousing/Dining portal. We encourage you to apply for housing as soon as possible.
How to Apply for Fall Housing
Housing Options
Roommates
Room Selection
Cancellation
Housing Accommodations
Summary of Important Dates
How to Apply for Fall Housing
Please review the 2023-2024 Housing Contract (PDF or HTML). You will sign this contract during the housing application process. Housing contracts are binding for the entire academic year (both fall and spring semesters).
Step One: To access the housing application, you’ll need to first pay the $400 College of Charleston enrollment deposit, either online through MyPortal or in person at the Treasurer’s Office. If you have concerns about making the $400 enrollment deposit, you may request a financial need-based waiver by emailing the Office of Admissions at admissions@cofc.edu.
How to pay your enrollment deposit online:
- Log into MyPortal.
- Click the eBill tile.
- In the pop-up window, select Deposits at the top. Find the term (2023 Fall) and click Select.
- In the drop-down menu that will appear to the right, select Fall Deposit Incoming Students. The system will prompt you to submit the $400 enrollment deposit.
Step Two: The 2023-2024 housing application opens February 1, 2023, at 9:00 a.m. If you just paid your CofC enrollment deposit, you'll be able to take this next step 12 business hours after making your deposit. To begin the housing application, log into MyPortal and click the MyHousing/Dining tile. Once in the housing portal, click the Apply for Housing/Meal Plan button. You will be prompted to pay the $50 housing application fee. During the application process, you will designate your housing emergency contact, answer profile questions, select a meal plan, create a roommate group (optional), and sign your housing contract. For students under the age of 18, your parent or guardian will also be required to sign the housing contract. Housing is guaranteed for incoming first-year students who complete their housing application by 11:59 p.m. EST on May 1, 2023. After May 1, students may still apply for housing on a first come, first served basis. Once we reach capacity, students may add their name to a housing-application waitlist through the MyHousing/Dining portal.
Step Three: In June, after you have completed your housing application, you will get to select your room based on the date you completed your housing application – please complete your application as soon as possible once it opens! If you are in a roommate group, your date/time will be based on the earliest completed application date in your group. More information on this process will be emailed to you leading up to room selection.
Note: You may return to your completed application until May 15, 2023, to select a roommate or make roommate changes, if you choose.
Housing Options
Not sure where you want to live? Don’t worry, Campus Housing is here to help you find the perfect home away from home. Studies show that students who live on campus in residence halls are more likely to stay in school and graduate than those who choose to live off campus. Plus, it is way easier to get up 10 minutes before class and make it on time if you live close to your classes. We encourage all incoming students to check out the Residence Halls page to learn more about housing options, including pictures of buildings, sample floor plans, room amenities, and so much more! Just remember that wherever you end up, we have amazing Residence Life staff members to answer all your questions and help develop your new community.
Roommates
One of the first connections college students make is with their roommate. Many students are nervous about living with a new person and sharing a room. This is totally natural, and that is why Campus Housing has a state-of-the-art system where you can search for roommates and message each other directly.
Note: Plan to complete your housing application and then return to search for roommates once more students have also applied for housing. Potential roommates will only show up in the search function once they have completed their housing application.
Within the housing application, you will be asked several profile questions that our system can use to match you with a compatible roommate. It is very important that you fill out these answers honestly. Family members can be very helpful, but they will not be the ones living in your new room. The questions you will answer cover areas like sharing of items, cleanliness, bedtimes, noise, and the relationship you’d like between you and your future roommate. We encourage you to answer these questions based on who you are today, not who you think you will become in college. Trust us, if your room is a mess now, it is unlikely that this will change with your busy college schedule. Just be honest and say you aren’t organized!
If you have already found someone you wish to live with, you can create a roommate group in your housing application. In order to select one another, both students need to have completed the housing application. Roommate groups for incoming students should be an even number, with a max of eight people (our largest suite style for first-year students has four rooms). You will be able to form a roommate group until May 15, 2023. After that date, no one can be added to or removed from a group and any students not in a group will need to select spaces individually. (Reminder: You must have completed your housing application by 11:59 p.m. EST on May 1 but may return to your completed application to make qualified changes after that date.)
Important note about roommate groups and private rooms: If you are in a roommate group, you will not be eligible to select a private bedroom. If you are not in a roommate group and there are no private rooms available once it’s time for you to select a room, you will live with whoever else selects into your same room during room selection. There is no way to form or be removed from a roommate group during room selection. What that means is, you need to decide if your priority for housing is to potentially have a private room or to pre-select your roommate. There are very few private bedrooms available. (For 2022 we had 80 private bedrooms for more than 2,000 students.) If you have already formed and verified your roommate group and would like to try for a private room instead, you may delete your group in the portal until May 15.
Watch our 2023 "How to Find a Roommate" presentation and Q&A about finding the best roommate for you. We show you how to use the roommate search functions in the College of Charleston MyHousing/Dining portal and go over things you should consider when looking for a roommate. (The presentation is 10-minutes long and the Q&A starts around 10:14 in the video.)
For more information and tips on finding the right roommate for you, please read Residence Life's guide to living with a roommate.
Room Selection
Please read all email from Campus Housing carefully for details about your specific date and time to start room selection. You can find general instructions for how to select your room on our Room Selection page and you can watch our presentation below.
Room selection starts in June. Reminder: You will be assigned a time to select your room based on the date you completed your housing application. If you are in a roommate group, your time will be based on the earliest completed application date in your group.
- Honors College students who wish to live in Berry Hall select first. (If you are in a roommate group with fewer than 50% Honors students, you will select in the next phase.)
- All other incoming students and Honors students who do not select in Berry select shortly after that.
- Bridge and Honors ELLC students are assigned rooms and do not participate in the room-selection process.
The deadline to select a room is 48 hours after your room-selection time begins. If you do not sign up by then, you will be moved to the last day of room selection.
Note to students in a roommate group: If you are not the group leader, you will need to log into the MyHousing/Dining portal to acknowledge that you have seen your housing assignment within 48 hours. To do this click on the Apply for Housing and Meal Plan button and select the current term. You will be directed to the Application Status page where you will check the button under "Acknowledge your housing assignment."
Watch our 2023 Get Ready for Room Selection presentation, where we walk you through building selection, understanding the room setups before you select one, and selecting or assigning beds (if you’re in a roommate group).
Cancellation
If necessary, you may cancel your housing application and bed space online using the CANCEL APPLICATION button on the homepage of the MyHousing/Dining portal. The cancellation will be timestamped and processed as soon as possible. Cancellation penalties will apply based on the date of cancellation.
February 1 – June 30, 2023: Students may cancel their housing contract during this time; however, a cancellation penalty of $200 will be charged to the student’s eBill account. The cancellation must be received via the MyHousing/Dining portal by June 30, 2023.
July 1 – July 31, 2023: Students may cancel their housing contract during this time; however, a cancellation penalty of $500 will be charged to the student’s eBill account. The cancellation must be received via the MyHousing/Dining portal by July 31, 2023.
August 1 – August 18, 2023: Students may cancel their housing contract during this time; however, a cancellation penalty of $1,000 will be charged to the student’s eBill account. The cancellation must be received via the MyHousing/Dining portal by August 18, 2023.
Housing Accommodations
Campus Housing recognizes the needs of students with disabilities. We work in conjunction with the Center for Disability Services to coordinate proper facilities and arrangements for students with a documented disability. Incoming students must apply for housing accommodations by May 1. Please contact Disability Services at 843.953.1431 to learn how to apply. You can also find more information at Center for Disability Services.
Summary of Important Dates for First-Year Students, 2023-2024
Please read above for detailed information regarding these deadlines.
February 1 housing application opens
May 1 deadline for guaranteed housing - 11:59 p.m. EST
May 15 deadline for roommate selection/changes
June room selection begins
If you have any questions regarding the housing application process, please feel free to contact Campus Housing via email at housing@cofc.edu, by phone at 843.953.2015 or in person at 40 Coming Street.