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 be 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)
First-year students can request a Housing Contract online when they accept the offer of admission using MyPennState, provided housing is available at that time. Once the offer of admission is accepted and the fees have been paid, the student can then login to eLiving to accept the Housing Contract offer. This is a two-step process: request and accept. Failure to complete the second step will result in the offer expiring, and possibly loss of housing. You typically have 14 days to accept the Housing Contract offer. Students must have accepted the offer of admission and paid the fees in order to login to eLiving.
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.
- 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.


