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Renew Your Housing

The residential experience is an essential part of your education at McKendree University.

Renew & select your housing for the 2025-2026 academic year!

All full-time undergraduate students are required to live in University housing. Some exemptions apply.

Choose your room, meal plan, and roommates through the Housing Selection Process.

 

Housing and Meal Plan Selection Options

All current residential students who wish to live on campus for the following academic year must participate in the Returing Student Housing Selection Process.  For the rest of this page, we will refer to this process simply as the "renewal process".  

Housing Options

To see the spaces on campus, please check out our Housing Options and Rates page for photos.

Traditional Halls - Baker Hall, Barnett Hall, and Walton Hall
          • Double/Shared Room - $2,735 per semester - 1 dorm room, 2 students per room
          • Single/Individual Room - $3,640 per semester - 1 dorm room, 1 student per room - Baker and Walton Only
Suite Style Buildings
          • The Suites Double/Shared Bedroom - $2,735 per semester - 3 bedrooms in a suite, 2 students per bedroom, 6 residents total
          • The Suites Single/Individual Bedroom - $3,640 per semester - 3 bedrooms in a suite, bedroom A is a single, total residents will be 5.
          • Residence Hall East and West Double/Shared Bedroom - $3,590 per semester - 4 students to a suite, two students share a bedroom
          • Residence Hall East and West Single/Individual Bedroom - $3,735 per semester - 4 students to a suite, each has their own bedroom
Apartments - Only Students with 30+ Credit Hours
          • Hunter Street Apartments - $3,865 per semester - 2 bedrooms with 1 student in the smaller bedroom and 2 students in the other, 3 residents total
          • McKendree West Apartments Double/Shared Bedroom - $3,865 per semester - 2 bedrooms with 2 students per bedroom, 4 residents total
          • McKendree West Apartments Single/Individual Bedroom - $5,140 per semester - 2 bedrooms with 2 student paying to have a bedroom alone, resulting in 2 residents total per apartment
Requesting Housing Accommodations

If you believe you require specific housing accommodations due to a mental, emotional, or physical health condition, please reach out to the Office of Accessibility Services.

The Office of Accessibility Services will assess and determine the approval of your request.

          • Preferred Deadline: The Office of Residence Life can guarantee accommodations submitted by 3/10/2025 and which are approved by the Office of Accessibility Services. Students with approved accommodations will be contacted by the Office of Residence Life 7 to 21 days after 3/10/2025 to select their housing location.
          • After Preferred Deadline: After 3/10/2025, while we will endeavor to meet the student’s needs if space is available, we cannot guarantee requested space. If your documentation is received in full on or after 3/11/2025, the committee will not consider it until the April meeting.

Following guidelines from the US Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights, the University provides comparable, convenient, and accessible housing to students with disabilities as those provided to students without a disability.

For more detailed information, please visit the Accessability Service's website.

 

Single Room Reminder

A selection of rooms in the traditional halls, the Summerfield Suites, and McKendree West apartments will be held for single rooms.  You will not be able to select these locations during the renewal process, they are reserved for medical/ADA accommodations.  Students can place themselves on a waitlist on or after registration day via the ResLife Portal.  The Waiting Lists are found under "Rooms and Roommates".  If any singles remain after accommodations are completed we will contact student in July and August to offer them these open single room spaces.

The single-room spaces in Residence Hall East will be available during the renewal process. 

 

21+ Approved Housing

McKendree University encourages students to make responsible decisions concerning the possession and consumption of alcoholic beverages. The University recognizes that some students who are of the legal drinking age as determined by the State of Illinois (21 and over, e.g. 21+) desire to participate in the use of alcohol.  The university will continue to pilot the 21+ Approved Housing Policy for a 3rd year. Students who are 21+ will have the freedom to make their own choices regarding alcohol use while promoting responsible consumption and continuing to foster a safe and welcoming environment.

Students of legal age, 21+, who applied and are approved to reside in the 21+ alcohol-designated residential building(s) and their guests may possess and consume alcoholic beverages in their residential spaces, so long as all persons are 21+ during the time of consumption and all other policies are followed.  

Additional requirements apply.

 

Meal Plan Options

All McKendree University students can purchase a meal plan with flex dollars; however, meal plans are required for students living in the following residence halls:  Baker Hall, Barnett Hall, Residence Hall East, Residence Hall West, the Summerfield Suites, and Walton Hall.

See meal plan rates on our Dining Services and Meal Plans page.

Students can change their meal plan, up and until the 2nd Friday of the semester, by emailing reslife@mckendree.edu.

 

Housing Selection Requirements

Automatic Housing Placement

Please remember that it is the requirement of McKendree University that all full-time, undergraduate students must live in University housing unless they have an approved residency waiver (see bottom of page). Thus, if the Office of Residence Life does not approve a waiver by July 1 but you are registered for classes, we will choose a housing placement and the lowest meal plan on your behalf.  

Other Agreements

Residents agree to abide by the McKendree University housing policies and procedures as stated in the Terms and Conditions of the McKendree University Housing and Meal Plan Contract as well as the McKendree University Student Handbook Student must understand and accept the responsibilities, policies, and processes contained within. 

 

Housing Selection Process

We have attempted to break down this process into steps ordered chronologically. 

Step 1. Choose your roommates, if you wish.

Housing Grouping

During this process, eligible students will have the opportunity to match up with a "Housing Group".  A Housing Group is a group of prospective roommates who are applying together for the Housing Selection Processprocess. 

Each person in the Housing Group must complete the Returning Student Housing Application. 

Housing Group Scoring

The renewal process is a seniority system based on credit hours.  The higher the Total Housing Group Score, the earlier your Housing Group registers on Housing Selection Day.  Every student currently in housing will receive an email from reslife@mckendree.edu with their personal information. 

Total Credit Hours = Achieved Credit Hours + Credit Hours Attempted for Spring 2025. 

          • We will not include Summer 2025 credit hours nor credit hours that were not accepted by the Academic Records Office. 
          • If you feel there has been a mistake in the credit hours, you must contact Academic Records.  Each roommate's individual Total Credit Hours are added together to get a "Total Housing Group Score".  

Step 2.  Decide who is choosing your housing.

You need to choose the person who is responsible for choosing your housing on Housing Selection Day.  On your application, for the last question of page 2, you will need to list one of the following: your email, a Group Leader's email, or a Proxy's (i.e. substitute's) email. 

You will need the email address that is firstname.lastname##@mckendree.edu (e.g. bogey.bearcat22@mckendree.edu).  If you mess this up, your selection will definitely be later than it should be.  This answer will be what we use to calculate your groups Total Housing Group Score.

Yourself

If you are selecting housing for just yourself, and no one else (you are going solo), you will put your email address in this field.

Group Leader

If you are part of a roommate group, you will list your leader's email address in this field. 

                  • Every person in your housing group (all roommates) should list the same person's McK email address.  Deviations or errors will be problematic.
                  • It must be someone who can go in-person to housing selection on Sunday, April 27th.  Everyone in the group is welcome to come together if they wish, but the Group Leader must be in attendance for the appointment.
                  • For example: If you are group leader, you will list your email address and all of your potential roommates will list your email address as well.   We will know you are not going through the process alone because other will have listed the same McK email address.
Proxy

If you cannot attend and no one from your Housing Group can be at the Housing Selection Day, you can give permission for another student to act as your group's Proxy.  If you put a Proxy down to represent your Housing Group, you will put "P-" infront of their email address (i.e. P-bogey.bearcat22@mckendree.edu).

                  • The Proxy would make decisions on your behalf in regards to selecting a housing assignment for next academic year.
                  • Please discuss alternate options with your Proxy in case your first preference in the housing selection is not available
                  • Any decision that the selected Proxy makes concerning your housing assignment is binding.  You are still welcome to add yourself to a Waiting List at a later time.

Any dissatisfaction with the final assignment is not grounds for a different assignment or permission to live off campus.

 

Step 3. Get academically registered for Fall 2025

Before choosing a housing assignment, students must be registered full-time for classes before they can choose a Housing Placement; thus, if one person in your Housing Group is not registered, it can result in delays to your ability to choose a Housing Placement.  The longer it takes a Housing Group to register, the less options are available.

If you show up to select housing, and any one person in your Housing Group is not registered for Fall 2025, you will need to decide if:

          1. the Housing Group splits up - registered students choose a placement and the unregistered students attempt to join later OR, *
          2. the Housing Group registers another day.

*Note: If option 1 occurs, we cannot guarantee that the spaces will remain open for the unregistered students.

 

Step 4. - Complete the Application 

Unlike for incoming students, the submission of your housing application does not matter for the renewal process, with the caveat that it must be completed by 5:00 pm on Wednesday, April 23, 2025.

You can either go to mycampus.mckendree.edu or click on MyMcK from the top right-hand corner of the McKendree home page.  As long as ths form is completed on time, you will have no problem choosing a placement on Housing Selection Day.  The application will open after Spring Break on your ResLife Portal.

Click Here to see instructions for getting to your Housing Application.

Applications can be revisited, edited, and submitted up to 5:00 pm on Wednesday, April 23, 2025;  after that date, please email reslife@mckendree.edu your requested changes.

 

Step 5. - Select Roommates in the ResLife Portal

Once the application is submitted, you will be able to search for a roommate or accepting a request from another to be roommates.  If you did steps 1 and 2, then this will be easy, but make sure you complete it by 5:00 pm on Wednesday, April 23, 2025. 

If you completed your appliation first, and then found potential roommates, you will need to go back and revisit your application to change the information from Step 2 above.

 

Step 6. - Select your Housing 

Housing Selection Day is Sunday, April 27, 2025.  Selection times will start around 1:00 pm in the Clark Hall Lobby.  As a reminder, all housing group members are welcome to attend, but only the leader or proxy must attend.  

On Saturday, April 26, 2025, your Housing Group will receive an email that has the time your group can select your space.  

On Sunday, April 27, 2025, students should come to Clark Hall Lobby for their appointment.  They will check-in with a staff member and then you will take a seat and wait for your name to be called.  A staff member will greet you, take you to an office, where you will select your housing placement.  They will apply your choices as they are able based on openings, and once the reservations are completed, you will be done.  While we will do our best to stay on time, please be prepared for delays.

A waitlist request can be completed with the Residence Life staff during or after your appointment if you are not able to get the housing placement you desired.

 NOTE :  If you are part of a Fall Early Arrival, you will be restricted from selecting housing at McK West that is for Summer Housing.  You will not be able to select apartments in McK West 1201, 1203, nor the summer housing buildings.  We know this can be disappointing, but is a requirement for our Physical Plant's maintenance and custodial teams to ensure that necessary work is completed before fall residents move in.

 

After the main housing selection process, all students who need to renew their housing for Fall 2025 will need to call the Office of Residence Life at 618-537-6855 and speak with the Assistant Director or Director of Residence Life.

 

Renewal Process Calendar

Selection Schedule

Returning Student Housing Application Opens - Monday, March 17, 2025

Question and Answer Zoom session - Monday, April 14, 2025

Returning Student Housing Application Due - 5:00 pm on Wednesday, April 23, 2025

Housing Select Day - Sunday, April 27, 2025

Each Housing Group, will be emailed a time when they can choose their housing.

Past this date, Housing Groups or individuals will need to book an appointment with the Assistant Director or Director of Residence Life to secure housing by calling at 618-537-6855.

 

Thinking about living off campus?

Don't forget about all the "pros" of living on!

    • It's convenient to be near other campus facilities - sleep in later!

    • No need to worry about utilities - it's included in the cost!

    • There's more opportunity to be involved in campus life

    • Studies show that students who live on campus get better grades

    • It's generally more safe and secure

    • Living on campus helps to develop interpersonal and leadership skills!

    • Your room comes furnished

    • There are more opportunities to meet people!

    • Living on campus exposes you to a wide range of interests, ideas, cultures, and perspectives

Still wanting to live off? Make sure to complete the Residency Requirement Waiver.

Once a student's waiver is approved they will be granted log in access to the Off-Campus Housing Market.