Fall 2021 Housing FAQ (Updated July 28, 2021)

Yes, but please be aware that we are currently running waitlists for on-campus housing. The demand for living on campus is strong and we’re processing room assignments as quickly as we can. Processing continues all summer so don’t be alarmed if you don’t receive an assignment from us right away. If you’re waiting, we’ll send you an update every week to keep you informed of where we’re at with assignments.

At this time, we intend on reducing our inventory by a small number of beds to set aside space for use by students who need to self-isolate during the fall term. This won’t reduce our space dramatically but will allow us to ensure that we have rooms available if and when students need to distance themselves from the community.

Yes. As was the case during the 2020-21 academic year, and after consultation with medical and public health experts, we’ve decided to continue double and single room occupancy. We’ll be following the recommendations of the CDC to reduce the risk of exposure and spread of COVID-19. Each student will also need to follow CDC and university guidelines for community living as detailed in our housing license agreement addendum and community standards.

We collect your preferred room type when you apply for housing at Boise State. While we take those preferences into consideration when making your room assignments, we make those assignments based on the date and time you completed your application. Assignments are made on a first-come, first-served basis, and we can’t guarantee that you’ll be assigned to the specific room type you requested.

Yes, in compliance with our guest policy in our community standards, residents are allowed to have guests provided that your roommates agree.

We provide programming, events and activities, as well as educational and professional opportunities only available to on-campus residents. We’re committed to providing you with a fun and engaging place to call home.

Each community has an assigned Resident Director (RD) responsible for the operations and residential health of that community. Reporting to the RD is a team of Resident Assistants (RAs) who live in the communities as embedded resources for our residents. Our maintenance and custodial staff handle the cleaning and support our physical infrastructure. Our desk staff provides extended hour assistance to students who need to pick up packages and mail, submit maintenance requests or ask questions. Our department has on-call staff available 24/7 to support residents if any issues arise outside of normal business hours.

The latest guidelines from the CDC are being incorporated into our day-to-day dining operations. Information about these new protocols can be found on the Dining Services website. Meal plans are mandatory for first-year students. You are automatically enrolled in the Big Blue All Access meal plan but can change your meal plan through your Housing Portal until September 3. Questions about food and meal plans can be directed to diningservices@boisestate.edu or (208) 426-1259.

Throughout the 2020-21 academic year, even with increases in students logging into virtual class sessions, our residential network provided steady access. You’ll have access to the Help Desk at the Zones, the campus support system with phone, email, and in-person support. Support staff can even conduct remote sessions with you to walk you through processes, install software, and solve any problems you may have with your personal computer.

If the university decides to close the residence halls in order to protect the health and safety of the campus, we will coordinate decisions on prorated refunds with the State Board of Education. Future decisions like this one will be made with the best information available at that time and with the input of state and local officials.

We started sending community assignments on April 12 and room assignments on June 1. We continue to make assignments on the basis of availability. Visit our Important Dates page for other important dates and deadlines.

You may email your request to housing@boisestate.edu. While we do make note of these requests and do our best to accommodate them, the strong demand for on-campus housing severely limits our ability to process room or community changes during the months of June, July, and August.

If you decide to live elsewhere this year, it’s extremely important to let us know to avoid additional fees. You can cancel your application for housing through your Housing Portal. If you need help with that, you can contact our main office. Important dates for your calendar:

June 14: last day to cancel your application and receive a refund of your down payment

July 14: last day to cancel your application and avoid a buyout fee of $300

The on-campus license agreement signed at the point of application is for the full academic year. While we do accept requests for early release, the approval of those requests is not guaranteed. There are events that qualify for release defined in our license agreement. Without an approved release request, you’ll need to pay a buyout fee equal to half of the housing fees due for the remainder of the academic year. After February 1, 2022 you’ll be responsible for 100% of the remaining fees after that date.

Our expectations of our student residents are spelled out in your Housing License Agreement and in our community standards. Your live-in support staff (Resident Assistants and Resident Director) can provide additional information or clarification about hall policies.

The safety of our students is our highest priority. Therefore, we take COVID-19 guidelines seriously. Violation of these standards may be treated as formal conduct violations and repeated offenses will constitute a formal violation of your housing license agreement, which could result in removal from on-campus housing. We want to be up-front with students about these expectations so that they can make individual decisions about committing to living on-campus this year.

Cleaning supplies are not provided. We encourage you to bring a supply of cleaning and sanitizing products with you to campus.

We are ensuring that our custodial and maintenance teams will have ample cleaning supplies on hand to clean community bathrooms and common spaces in accordance with current CDC guidelines.

Community bathrooms and common spaces in our buildings will be cleaned and disinfected as often as physically possible while covering the entirety of our on-campus facilities. Cleaning crews have the necessary and approved chemicals in healthy supply, to ensure the effectiveness of these cleanings. Please note that some common areas may have restricted access or be shut down entirely as deemed necessary to limit physical contact or exposure in those spaces.

Yes, unless you live in a residence hall with community bathrooms. Most bathrooms in residence halls are located within the private suites of residents and our custodial staff does not enter those spaces to clean them. You’ll need to coordinate the cleaning of your suite’s bathroom and common area to ensure that it remains clean and sanitary. Community and public bathrooms throughout our residence halls will be cleaned by our staff.

Our Public Health Office is maintaining a separate FAQ to answer any and all questions you may have on COVID-related topics. If you have questions regarding vaccinations, testing, or quarantine and isolation protocols, please contact their office at publichealth@boisestate.edu or (208) 426-2968.

All of the guidance in this FAQ is based on current information and current guidance of public health authorities. The answers given here may change, based on changes in circumstance, updates to guidance, or otherwise at the discretion of the University.

We’ve got a whole separate page of information about Move-In Days. You can check that out here.