Housing

View our residence information on the Residence Life webpage or check out Messiah's Residence Life playlist on YouTube.

Incoming First-Year Students: All first-year students live in one of three first-year buildings. See housing plans and preferences at messiah.edu/deposited.

Incoming Transfer Students (sophomores through seniors under age 23): Upperclass students are assigned to live in upperclass student halls. See messiah.edu/residence-life/view-our-residences.

See the housing rates page for complete, updated information.

Incoming first-year students are assigned housing based on their enrollment deposit date and will be closely matched to other roommates according to the answers on the preferences and housing contract. The Office of Residence Life attempts to meet as many requests regarding housing preferences and mutual roommate requests as possible. For additional information on housing and move-in, please visit incoming students at messiah.edu/residence-life.

Incoming (upperclass) transfer students are assigned to a room in a designated transfer residence hall unless the student has requested to live with a specific current student in upperclass housing.

New, First-Year Students and First-Year Transfer Students: Yes; although, first-year students (0-23 post-high school credits) can only room with another first-year student. This process is completed using the information from the roommate-preference section of the Housing Contract. All roommate requests must be mutual to be granted.

Upperclass Transfer Students: Possibly. Incoming transfer students (24 or more post high school credits) are assigned to live either on a transfer floor or in open/available spaces in an upperclass residence hall. A student can request to live with another incoming transfer student (who is not a first-year transfer status) or a current student. Assigning incoming transfers together can have some challenges since an empty room is not always available to put two transfer students together. We will make every effort to put transfer students with another transfer student.

Roommate Requests: All students seeking to room with another person (acquaintances, friends, fellow athletes or others pairs) should request each other in the roommate-preference section of the Housing Contract. Non-mutual requests will not be assigned together.

Yes. All students will have at least one roommate unless they live in a single. Some students could have between one to four roommates depending on the type of room they are assigned. Messiah has the following room types: singles, doubles, designed triples, quads, quintets, supplemental triples and three-person or five-person apartments.

First-Year Students: Depending on the size of the incoming class and the availability of rooms reserved for first-year students on campus, there is a possibility that you will begin your college experience with three people in a supplemental triple room. Students in supplemental triples have three beds, desks and dressers provided in the room, but will need to share the two closets and bookshelves. As open spaces become available during the semester (through cancellations, withdrawals etc.), one person in the triple may have the opportunity to consider a move to a permanent space. 

As an educational institution of the Anabaptist tradition, Messiah University seeks to educate its students concerning the responsibility that Christian men and women possess as instruments of peace. The principle of living in a community with roommates provides Messiah students with opportunities to learn how this spiritual posture is lived out on a daily basis. When a problem arises amongst roommates, the University believes that it must seek to surround those in conflict with opportunities that possess reconciliation as the end goal. The Housing Change Form is designed to facilitate this process in collaboration with your Residence Life Educator. Learn more at messiah.edu/residence-life/incoming-students.

Please visit messiah.edu/residence-life/incoming-students/move-in-faqs for specific definitions of these important residence life leaders.

Each residence hall and apartment building is equipped with a laundry room, which contains HE (high efficiency) washers and dryers. Laundry costs are included in your housing cost. The University does not provide personal laundry services.

Please watch for information notifying you of your address and ship dates in early August. Learn more at Move-In Guide.

For technology recommendations visit messiah.edu/its.

Yes. For a comprehensive list of what you can and cannot bring to campus including a recommended packing list, refer to the Move-In Guide.

Please refer to the Student Handbook for an explanation of our housing policies.

The University does not take responsibility for students' personal belongings even in the event of fire, flood or appliance failure. Please refer to insurance information under incoming students at messiah.edu/residence-life.

If you have any additional questions, please visit messiah.edu/residence-life/incoming students or email at housing@messiah.edu or phone at 1-717-796-5239.