Penn State Housing and Food Services utilizes eLiving, an online housing system, to manage all functions of a student's Housing Contract and meal plan.
While all students will use eLiving, there are separate processes for incoming first-year students and current Penn State students. Housing is NOT guaranteed for ANY student, and not all students who request a Housing Contract will receive an offer.
Additional information about the processes are available on the eLiving Web site, or follow the specific link below.
First-Year Students
(Incoming freshman new to Penn State)
When a first-year student accepts the offer of admission by logging on to MyPennState using their Friends of Penn State (FPS account), they will be informed if on-campus housing is available at that time. If housing is available, the student must accept the offer of admission and submit payment for the fees ($200 non-refundable general deposit fees and $100 non-refundable housing reservation fee, for a total of $300). The student must then agree to the Terms, Conditions, and Regulations of the Housing Contract and the housing and financial statements. Upon completing those steps, the student will have successfully accepted the offer of admission and the Housing Contract. A confirmation email will be sent to the email address on file.
The Campus Meal Plan will automatically be defaulted to a level three; to modify the meal plan level or add housing preferences (building, roommate, etc.), login to eLiving using your FPS account. Preferences can be modified until May 1.
Please note, housing fills quickly — even though you have until May 1 to accept the offer of admission, housing can be full by late winter. We are not able to accommodate all students who are interested in living on campus.
If housing is full when the student accepts the offer of admission, other available options will be provided. These may include adding your name to the Waitlist (although adding your name does not guarantee that an offer will be made), seeking off-campus housing, or changing to another Penn State campus that still has housing available.
- Additional process information
- Accept the offer of admission
- Waitlist information
- Off-campus housing
Returning Students
(Current Penn State students)
Current Penn State students who are interested in living on campus must follow the established timeline for requesting and accepting Housing Contract offers. Not all students who submit a request will receive an offer.
