First-Year Student Housing
Residential Life offers you more than just a place to eat and sleep.
We offer you the place where you meet, live and interact with interesting people from interesting places; develop friendships; listen to music, read books, write papers and discuss assignments with your classmates. Creating a safe, cohesive living environment is what we strive for to help you grow as a student and human being.
Freshman Class of 2029 Housing
In order to create a smooth transition, we recommend taking a look at the items below before moving on to the required steps.
- Not sure about what you may need? All of your questions can be answered when you take a look at a list of What to Bring (and what not to bring!)
- After you take a moment to learn about the Freshmen Residence Halls available to you, you're finally ready to start your Housing Registration.
- If you have any questions or concerns, contact us!
Important Dates
- May 30: LLC applications due
- June 10-18: Orientation
- June 20: ADA Housing Accommodations requests due
- July 9: Housing registration due
- July 9: Roommate requests due (if applicable)
- Week beginning July 21: Housing assignments sent out in batches
- August 21 to August 24: Freshman Move-In Days and Welcome Weekend
More information on move-in will be available in June.
Freshman Housing Registration in 3 Easy Steps
Below are the three easy steps you need to take to sign up for housing at Sacred Heart University. If you run into any difficulty as you go through this process, do not hesitate to contact Residential Life at 203-416-3417.
When to consider this step?
Once you receive an activation notice through your personal email, which you will need to begin this process.
When is this step due?
Prior to registering for Orientation. No later than May 14, 2025.
When to consider this step?
After a student receives communication from Residential Life to their SHU email account regarding housing registration. Students can revisit this registration and make updates and changes through the deadline.
When is this step due?
July 9, 2025
- Visit your online housing portal
- Select Student Login
- On the login page, select “Sacred Heart – Student SSO Login”
- Use your recently created SHU username and password to log in to the Housing Portal.
- Your username is the first portion of your email address. If your email address is smitha@mail.sacredheart.edu, your username is "smitha". Using your entire email address will generate an error message.
- Your password will be the same password you created when you visited the "MySHU" site in step 1. From the menu bar, select “Housing Application – New Student.” There are additional active applications available on this page. Double check and make sure you select the correct application noted above.
- From the menu bar, select "FA 25 Housing Application - New Student."
- There are additional active applications available on this page. Double check and make sure you select the correct application noted above.
- Read through and complete the necessary items on each page until you get to the last page titled "Application Summary." Your application is not considered complete until you get to this page.
- If you are 17 or younger when you start your application, you will be asked to have a parent/guardian complete the "Residence Hall Contract for Student Housing" via proxy. You will not be able to continue with the remainder of the application process until this is complete.
- You will have the opportunity to rank each of the freshmen halls according to your preferences, but you are not able to ultimately select your hall. While we take into consideration your building preferences for housing placement, it is not a guarantee as many other factors play into your housing assignment location. You may rank up to three halls. It is wise to rank more than just one or two buildings and have your rankings match those of your intended roommates (we’ll touch more on roommate requests in step 3). Remember that first-year students are only eligible to live in Elizabeth Ann Seton Hall, Angelo Roncalli Hall, Thomas Merton Hall, Mother Teresa Hall, Pierre Toussaint Hall, McGivney Hall, or St. Catherine Hall. Select "Add" for each ordered preference. Due to many factors, specific residential hall preferences are solely requests (not selections) and do not guarantee placement in a particular hall.
When to consider this step?
In mid-May, students will be emailed information to their Sacred Heart account with instructions on how to sign up and use the housing portal to find roommates or how to request specific roommates they may already know.
When is this step due?
The deadline to select roommates is Monday, July 9, 2025.
Students will have three options for finding and requesting roommates. Keep in mind, requesting a roommate is not required at all. Additionally, any roommate requests made by students must match their exact room designation. Students will be emailed this information to their SHU email in mid-May. For example, a triple-designated student may only request other triple-designated students. More information regarding room designation is available at the bottom of this page.
Within the Housing Portal, students have three ways to search for roommates:
- Search for roommates who you know that match your room designation in the Housing Portal
- Someone you know from home, met at an admissions event, orientation, or over social media
- Use the Housing Portal to search for roommates who have specific living characteristics
- You can then message students through the portal to learn more about them and connect over social media, phone, email, etc.
- Have the Housing Portal suggest students based on overall living compatibility
- You can then message potential compatible students through the portal to learn more about them and connect over social media, phone, email, etc.
Check back into the system every few days to find potential matches. Students will be joining every day! Look at other student’s profiles, send messages and then request each other as roommates!
Additional Information on Housing Selection
Room Designations: Double or Triple
Students who are double-designated will be assigned to a double room. Students who are triple-designated will be assigned to a triple room. We do not assign “forced” triples, rather our triple rooms are natural triples. All of our rooms are commensurate in size to accommodate the amount of students assigned to them. It is important to know your specific room designation, so that you are correctly prepared to select roommates with the same room designation.
How students are assigned to doubles or triples
A student’s double/triple designation is based on a number of factors including but not limited to a student’s specific admissions status, enrollment deposit date, and any potential acceptance and participation in the a Living Learning Community.
Double-designated students are:
- Students who have accepted through the Early Decision Program (not Early Action or Regular Decision). This is the largest portion of the double-designated students.
- Students who have accepted and will participate in the Honors Program & Honors housing. This makes up the second largest portion of the double-designated students.
- Students who are accepted and will participate in one of our Living Learning Communities.
- Any remaining Early Action or Regular Decision students ordered by their exact enrollment deposit dates. This is based on the amount of Early Decision & Honors students and the subsequent amount of remaining double beds to assign. Said another way, if 100 beds remain available in double rooms, the final group of double-designated students will be identified by the next 100 students who deposited in order earliest to latest. This is the third and smallest portion of the double-designated students.
- The total number of double designated students will closely match the number of beds available in eligible double rooms.
- Double-designated students cannot request a change in status to become triple-designated.
Triple-designated students are:
- The number of remaining Early Action or Regular Decision students based on the number of available beds in eligible triple rooms in our freshmen areas.
- The total number of triple-designated students will closely match the number of triple beds available in eligible triple rooms.
- Roughly 25% of the incoming class will be triple-designated.
- Triple-designated students cannot request a change in status to become double-designated.
Honors Students
The Honors Program is already determined at the time of your enrollment. Those who are accepted into the Honors Program are entered into Honors Housing. Honors students living in Honors Housing must live with Honors roommates. Honors housing is located in one of our pod-style freshman residence halls (McGivney Hall, Catherine of Siena Halls, Mother Teresa Hall, or Toussaint Hall). Honors students will receive instructions regarding selecting Honors roommates in mid-May.
Living & Learning Communities
At Sacred Heart University, we have several themed Living & Learning Communities (LLC) for our first-year students:
Those who are accepted into an LLC program will be sent specific instructions after the LLC application deadline.
- Exploring Business & Technology LLC
- SHU-WELL LLC
- Serving from the Heart LLC
- Start Strong LLC
- Leadership: A Work of Heart LLC
- Faith in Action LLC
LLC students must live with other students accepted into the same LLC. Once accepted into the LLC, we will provide you with more information on selecting a roommate.
If you request a roommate prior to being accepted into the LLC, your roommate request will be denied if the other person is not a part of your LLC. It is recommended that students wanting to live together should apply to the same LLC. Regardless of your participation in an LLC, your double or triple designation stays the same.
Space is limited. All LLC Applications are due by May 30, 2025.
Substance Free Housing
Substance Free Housing is an opportunity for students who are looking for an environment they will know is free from alcohol, non-prescribed drugs, misuse of prescription drugs, and tobacco products. Students who apply to this community also agree to maintain a substance free lifestyle in all aspects of their life, not just in the residence hall.
All students, regardless of their housing assignment, are expected to comply with the University’s alcohol and drug policies; students who choose to live in substance free housing agree to comply with the substance free housing policies as well (students will be required to sign a Substance Free Housing Contract upon move-in). Students who are found responsible for violating the substance free policy of the community will be relocated to other freshmen housing.
The deadline to apply is Friday, May 30, 2025. The application for Substance Free Housing can be found online. Students who are accepted into the Substance Free Community will be notified by email the week of June 9 with further instructions related to finding fellow Substance Free Community roommates if they choose. Space is limited.
ADA Housing Accommodations Information
Disability housing accommodations at Sacred Heart University can be considered for a student with an identified disability that significantly impacts one or more major life functions. A student seeking disability housing must provide documentation that clearly indicates the functional limitation(s) that supports the requested accommodation. This documentation must be provided by a qualified health care provider whose continued care the student is under. The provider must be qualified to provide treatment and care for the student’s diagnosed disability.
If you are a student who requires consideration for ADA (Americans with Disability Act) housing accommodations (i.e., medical conditions, mobility issues, etc.) please follow the steps below. An ADA housing request must be fully complete by Friday, June 20, 2025, to be considered for ADA Housing Accommodations by the Disability Housing Accommodations Committee (DHAC) including:
- A completed online Housing Accommodation Request From
- If not registered with the Office of Student Accessibility, a completed intake form
- Up to date documentation, uploaded via the intake form, that meets university guidelines
- Meet with a university representative from the Office of Student Accessibility to discuss your housing accommodation request
- Schedule a Meeting with Kathy Radziunas. Select Accommodations Support as the meeting type on the booking page.
You must submit a new request each year, regardless of your previous accommodations, assignments, or requests made in the past. Completed requests must be submitted by June 20, 2025, to be reviewed by the Disability Housing Accommodations Committee. A completed request process does not indicate or guarantee a student has been approved or will be provided an accommodation. Responses to all properly submitted requests will be made in June prior to the roommate matching deadline. Students do not get to select their housing through this process; the committee will decide the housing assignment for the upcoming academic year based on all information provided. Submissions for ADA Housing Accommodations Requests received after June 20 might not be honored. All information or inquiries regarding this process are available through the Office of Student Accessibility.
All requests must be received in full by June 20, 2025. Partial or incomplete requests will not be reviewed.
Housing Assignment Notifications
As you can imagine, configuring housing assignments for an entire class is an exhaustive and detailed project. We appreciate your patience throughout the entire process. Housing assignments will go out in multiple batches starting in mid-July. These batches will continue to be sent over the course of several weeks to your SHU email address with all the information pertaining to how to check your housing assignment, roommate(s), when to move in, what to bring, etc. Your room assignment will also be posted online in the Housing Portal. Please do not call about your assignment until you have been emailed to view your assignment in the portal. This process will begin in mid-July and span until mid-August.
Change of Plans? Commuting from Home Instead?
If your plans have changed and you would like to commute from home, rather than live on campus, simply contact our office. We can help you modify your residential status and adjust your billing statement to remove housing and meal plan charges. An adjustment in residential status, will not prevent you from being eligible for housing in future semesters.
Timeline & Deadlines
| Deadline | Is this Required? | When? |
|---|---|---|
| LLC Application Due | Optional | Friday, May 30, 2025 |
| Substance Free Housing Application Due | Optional | Friday, May 30, 2025 |
| ADA Housing Accommodations Request Due | Optional or N/A | Friday, June 20, 2025 |
| Online Housing Registration Due | Required | Wednesday, July 9, 2025 |
| Roommate Requests/Acceptances Due | Required if Requesting Roommates | Wednesday, July 9, 2025 |
| Assignment Notifications Sent By Email | N/A | Mid-July - Early-August |
Email us at reslife@sacredheart.edu if you have questions about housing, move-in or anything else related to residential life.