Housing Contract Process

New Incoming Students 

New incoming students both first-years and transfer students will be invited to complete a housing application once they have accepted their offer of admission, completed the Single Sign On process and activated their ucsd.edu email account. The initial invite is sent to your personal email and your ucsd.edu email. After the initial invitation, all further correspondence is sent to your ucsd.edu email.

Students and their supporters should bookmark the site: Important Dates for critical deadlines and details related to the housing process. 

Continuing Students with a Housing Guarantee

Continuing students will participate in the Room Selection process typically in February. The first step of the process is to complete a housing application. 

If you successfully submitted your housing application by the deadline, you are eligible for the next stage, completing your housing contract and submitting your $450 prepayment.  Both of these steps must be completed in order to successfully finish the housing contract process.

Once the contract process opens you will access the process by logging into the Housing Portal with your User ID and password (for new incoming students this is the same login as the Enrollment Checklist).  You will be asked to complete the following:

• Complete your Personal History Form (roommate matching information).
• Sign your housing contract and make $450 prepayment.
• Select a dining plan.
• Indicate your gendered housing preference.
• Optional:  apply for a Living Learning Community or select interest in Gender Inclusive Housing.
• Incoming students can do the following: 
  • Select a facility, a facility type preference (limited by area) and/or select a room type preference (preferences are not guaranteed).
  • Create and manage roommate request groups (optional).

While we do encourage you to do this process sooner than later, there is no priority given to those who complete the process early.

Housing Contract Process

The Housing Contract process consists of completing a Personal History Form, electronically signing the housing contract, and submitting the $450 housing prepayment.

1. Fill out your Personal History Form (includes updating your address and emergency contact). Answer all required questions honestly. If you need to change your personal history form for any reason, you can do so throughout the process until the deadline date. Simply log back into the Housing Portal.
2. Electronically sign the Housing Contract. Please carefully review the Housing Contract and Cancellation Policy, paying particular attention to Sections 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 12, and 18 of the housing contract. We suggest you save a copy of your signed Housing Contract for your records.
3. The appendices referred to in the body of the Housing Contract include such items as the UC San Diego Housing Cancellation Policy, the Cost and Payment Schedule, and the Housing Calendar. A sample copy of the Housing Contract and Appendices are available by visiting our HDH website. We strongly suggest that you review, bookmark the pages and save copies of these documents for easy access.
4. If you are under 18 years of age, we will need an additional parent/legal guardian signature on the Housing Contract and if you are deferring your prepayment, they will also need to sign the Promissory Note. Your parent/legal guardian must be present when you electronically sign the Housing Contract. You will be prompted to send a confirmation code to your parent/legal guardian's email address, which will then need to be entered into the contract within 10 minutes to serve as the co-signer signature.

Housing Prepayment

Make the $450 prepayment. Decide whether you would like to pay via e-check (using your U.S. Bank account and routing number), credit card (VISA, Mastercard, American Express, Discover), or in-person via cash and check. Information about payment methods and associated service fees can be found here for e-checks and credit cards. Upon successful payment submission, you will receive an emailed confirmation of payment.

• If opting to pay in-person using a personal check, cashier's check or money order, please contact Housing Administrative Services for specific instructions on how to do so.
• This method is generally not recommended due to longer processing time and more limited hours than online submission.

Students who wish to cancel their housing contract must cancel prior to checking in, picking up keys or prior to your housing contract start date whichever occurs first. Students should consult the UC San Diego Housing Cancellation Policy for more information. 

Students must submit a termination request, once a student has checked in, picked up keys or after the housing contract start date, whichever occurs first. Students should review the housing contract for termination criteria.

Our housing program is an all-inclusive package with a Dining Plan, which is included in the cost of the room. As part of the housing contract process, you will be selecting a Dining Plan. The Dining Plan is required for all students who choose to live on campus and cannot be dropped, reduced, refunded, or transferred to another student account. 

Students living in Upper Division Housing: Pepper Canyon East and Matthews Apartments, The Rita and Pepper Canyon West may opt out of a dining plan.

Changing the Dining Plan

Once a student selects a dining plan during the contract process, they will not be able to make changes after the contract due date—this applies to both new incoming and continuing students. Dining Plan changes will reopen in late August when MyRoomAssignment becomes available and remain open until the final selection deadline for the academic year.

Note: Dining Plan change requests will be temporarily unavailable for from July 31, 2026 to approximately August 5, 2026 due to installation of new University wide software. 

Students must make a final dining plan selection by October 1, 2026. 

Housing Assignments and Roommate Requests

New incoming Students

Incoming students can provide their room type preference (single, double, triple, mini double) and roommate requests or set up a roommate group after the housing contract process is completed.

• Incoming First-Year Students: Assignments begin in the residence halls and apartments of the college of registration, then may continue to other on-campus residential housing communities as needed based on availability of spaces.
• Incoming Transfer Students: Assignments will begin in established Upper Division housing neighborhoods and continue into other on-campus housing areas as needed. Transfer housing assignments may include residence halls. 

New incoming students will be able to view their Room Assignment in late-August. 

Roommate requests for first year students are limited to students registered with the same college. 

Roommate request for and a roommate group cannot exceed more than three (3) students total. Students will want to select a group leader who will invite all interested roommates to the group.  All roommates must accept the roommate request from the group leader and the following fields must match: 

• Incoming Student Community
• Incoming Student Category
• Room Preference and
• Gendered Housing Preferences must match. 

Roommate groups cannot exceed the total number of beds within a room. For example:

• Students who preference a triple room can create a roommate group with up to two (2) other students (maximum of three students including the group leader).
• Two (2) students who both preference a double room as a roommate group of two (2) may still be assigned to a triple room based on availability. 

Roommate Requests for Incoming Transfers

Continuing Students

Returning students with a housing guarantee have the ability to self-select into a space via the annual Room Selection process which normally begins in February. Please review the Room Selection: Deadlines and Details page for more information on selecting spaces.

Students who do not select a space on their assigned selection date(s) will be assigned a space based on availability or have the option to cancel. Review the Continuing Student Cancellation Policy for a schedule of fees.

Continuing students can view their current apartment-mate/roommate information through Mid-May until MyRoomAssignment re-opens in Mid-August for the academic year. 

Housing & Dining Accommodations 

Students should contact the Office for Students with Disabilities for all student housing and dining accommodation needs. Students who are requesting accommodations related to on-campus housing and dining are encouraged to contact the OSD as soon as possible, particularly if modifications may need to be made to a physical space. Students must complete all paperwork and meet all housing deadlines; requesting accommodations does not exempt students from this process.

If you have questions about this process, please contact the Housing Liaison via phone at 858.534.8567or via email at housingliaison@ucsd.edu.