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Information and resources for

Student Housing

Rental Agreement Highlites

Your occupancy in campus housing has come about as the result of a contractual agreement between you and New Mexico State University. Although the contract is a fairly lengthy document, it is important that you are familiar with its contents. Set forth below are a few items we wish to highlight.

1. This contractual agreement runs the full academic year (August through May). Residents are expected to fulfill their contractual obligation for the duration of the contracting period. Students who feel that there are extenuating circumstances which would warrant early termination of the contract may petition for release through the Contract Termination Procedure, available in the Housing and Residential Life Office. Extenuating circumstances include, but are not limited to, December graduation, withdrawal or nonattendance, participation in a recognized outbound student program such as NSE or co-op, student teaching with an assignment outside of the local area, or marriage. Proper documentation must be submitted along with your petition. The burden of proof for substantiation lies solely with the student. In the event of contract termination approval, refund amounts are provided in the contract. There may be financial penalties associated with contract termination. Be sure you have been formally and officially released from your housing contract prior to arranging for other housing accommodations.

2. Students who no longer qualify for campus housing have the obligation to notify the Department of Housing and Residential Life in a timely manner. This includes, but is not limited to, students who fall below the credit hour requirement, students who do not receive full admission status after being tentatively admitted, students who are disenrolled from school for nonpayment, or students who fail to re-enroll for a given semester.

3. Students who are withdrawing from the University must properly check out of campus housing as part of the withdrawal process. As a general rule, students may not complete the withdrawal process prior to checking out of their campus housing assignment. It is our expectation that check-out occur within 24-hours of initiating this process.

4. Students who attend the University in the fall semester and are then academically suspended for the spring semester must notify the Department of Housing and Dining Services and properly check out of campus housing prior to the first day of classes for the spring term. Students who fail to follow this procedure may incur financial penalties.

5. It is not our policy to move students from one assignment to another unnecessarily. However, situations do arise which warrant relocation. Students are expected to cooperate fully in all occasions where moves are required such as the consolidation process, reassignment due to maintenance requirements, administrative moves or other similar circumstances.

6. With the exception of the prepayment, all charges related to campus housing and dining services are placed on the student's university account. These charges, including rent, meal plan charges, damages, cleaning fees, and other penalties, must be paid according to the payment policies established by Student Accounts Receivable. Failure to pay charges as outlined may prevent future registration for coursework, may hold up requests for transcripts or diplomas, and may preclude future housing and dining opportunities. Every effort is made to load charges in a timely manner. Errors in this process do not relieve the student of his/her responsibility to make full payment on the account.

7. Your prepayments for housing and dining services will be held during the fall term to ensure compliance with the terms of the contract. During the spring semester, this money may be used to reapply for the next academic year, or it may be applied to your student account to assist in covering spring semester charges.

8. Information concerning housing for academic breaks that are not covered as part of your housing contract, (i.e. winter break, interim prior to summer classes) will be distributed to current residents via their housing mailboxes. If you anticipate needing to stay in your room on campus during one of these times, remember to check your mail for break housing information.

Single Rooms

Many residence hall students are interested in having a room to themselves. Because of space limitations, we are not always able to honor every request. In order to ensure that as many of these requests are granted as possible and in the fairest and least disruptive method possible, the Department of Housing and Residential Life has adopted the following methods of awarding single rooms once occupancy has occurred. (Singles are offered during the initial assignment process on a first-come, first-served basis.)

Accidental Singles

Some residents find that although they have signed up for a double-occupancy room, they are without a roommate. Maybe your roommate never arrived, has moved to another room, or has withdrawn from school. When this happens, your Hall Manager will contact you about possible options. If single rooms are being awarded in your hall, your first option will be to keep your room as a single-occupancy room. If you choose this option, you will be asked to sign a single room agreement card. By signing, you agree to accept the additional cost of a single room and to have that amount added to your student account.

If you decline the offer to keep the room as a single, and decide to remain in a double, you will be given information about the consolidation process. Consolidation means that you will be paired with a new roommate so that additional space may be freed up in the facility to accommodate new residents or single room requests. Consolidation necessitates someone moving in with you, or you moving in with someone else. When this occurs, you will be notified of either the date that someone will be moving in with you, or the date by which you need to be moved to your new assignment. Although details of this process may vary slightly from hall to hall so you'll want to check with your Hall Manager every effort is made to give you the opportunity to meet a potential new roommate via "consolidation meetings." All residents of the hall who are looking for a new roommate are invited to attend scheduled consolidation meetings so that they can meet, have the chance to talk to and get a little acquainted with potential new roommates. It is up to you to attend.

Important Note: If you fail to attend the consolidation meetings, or otherwise fail to follow through with the consolidation process, your assignment will automatically default to single occupancy and your student account will be billed the appropriate additional amount seven days after the original notice about options was sent.

Single Room Lottery

During the first two weeks that the residence halls are open, students not yet assigned single occupancy who are interested in having a single room may officially enter the Single Room Lottery. Lottery forms may be obtained from, and are to be returned to, the front desk of your residence hall. On the date specified, each Hall Manager will draw from the lottery entries and award single rooms based on the number of available spaces in his/her hall. Single rooms are awarded for the full academic year (although we will bill your student account on a semester's basis). A list of those students drawn for singles will be posted at the front desk. Additionally, a letter will be sent to each of these students detailing how they go about accepting the single. Students awarded singles will be given a very short period of time to respond to the letter and complete the move. Single rooms will continue to be awarded from the lottery list each time a single becomes available until approximately mid-semester. Residence halls with an overabundance of single requests and those areas that have open spaces will cooperate to ensure that as many requests for singles as possible can be honored. A new lottery process will begin in January for the spring semester.

NOTE: All information found on this page or any of the pertaining pages/documents within are subject to change without notice or alteration to this web site. For additional information please contact the Housing and Residential Life Office at 646-3202