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The mission of the Department of Residence Life and Student Housing (RLSH) is to advance the goals and objectives of the University by creating residential communities that empower residents to value learning, citizenship, and leadership. In a very real sense, the residential experience needs to enhance the University's efforts to recruit and retain great students. Doing this requires more than a housing operation that manages a series of dormitories. To support SMU's mission, goals, and objectives, RLSH must develop and sustain the residence halls and apartments as communities that support the broad range of student needs. To this end, RLSH seeks opportunities to promote an intellectual culture in residence halls that complements an already flourishing campus social culture. The University prides itself on offering a full living and learning experience for its resident students.
RLSH is responsible for the campus residential community, including all residence halls, approximately 215 SMU-owned apartments, and 10 SMU-owned Greek chapter houses. This responsibility includes making sure facilities are well maintained and safe, and that students have opportunities to grow personally and excel academically.
All first-year undergraduate students are required to live on campus. Exceptions may be granted at the discretion of the director of Residence Life and Student Housing to those students who plan to live with a parent or legal guardian in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. For housing purposes, "first-year" means the first two terms of college and successful completion of 24 SMU credit hours. Upperclass, transfer, and graduate students have no on-campus living requirements.
Applications for on-campus housing for new undergraduate students are accepted when a student has been admitted to the University. New undergraduate students should request campus housing when applying for admission to the University. The housing application/contract form will be sent from the Division of Enrollment Services with the notice of acceptance for admission to the University. The application/contract should be completed and returned to Enrollment Services, together with a check or money order in the amount of $500 to cover the Advance Tuition Deposit, the Matriculation Fee, and the Housing Deposit. These fees are nonrefundable.
New graduate students should submit the completed application/contract to the Department of Residence Life and Student Housing, together with a check or money order for $100 for the nonrefundable Housing Deposit, when accepted by their graduate school.
Priority of assignment is based on the date on which applications are received by the Department of Residence Life and Student Housing. Notification of assignment will be made by Residence Life and Student Housing. Rooms are contracted for the full academic year (Fall and Spring terms). Rent for the Fall term will be billed and is payable in advance of the term for students who register before August 1, and rent for the Spring term will be billed and is payable in advance of that term for students who register before December 1. Students who register after these dates must pay at time of registration. Rent for the full academic year will be due and payable should a student move from the residence hall at any time during the school year. Accommodations for shorter periods are available only by special arrangement with the director of Residence Life and Student Housing before acceptance of the housing contract. It is important that applicants become familiar with the housing contract, since it is a legally binding contract.
First-year halls include Boaz (first-year honors floor), McElvaney, and Perkins (Hilltop Scholars program). Four-class halls are designated for first-year, sophomore, junior, and senior students and include Morrison-McGinnis, Cockrell-McIntosh, Virginia-Snider (honors house), Shuttles, Peyton (fine arts community), Mary Hay (fine arts community), Smith (wellness community with a substance-free pledge), the Multicultural House, and the Daniel House (transfer student community).
All rooms are furnished with single beds, dressers, desks, chairs, and closets or wardrobes for clothes. Each student is expected to furnish a pillow, bed linens, bed covers, bedspreads, towels, mattress pad, and study lamp. Mattresses in most buildings are of twin-bed size, 80 inches long.
Four halls are designated for upperclass students (sophomores and above), graduate students, and students with families (married couples with or without children, or single parents with children).
The Service House is a small upperclass hall with a thematic focus of community service. This hall is run in conjunction with the SMU Office of Leadership and Community Involvement.
Moore Hall is designated for sophomores and above and consists of two-person efficiency apartments. Each apartment has a kitchen/sleeping area and a bathroom. The kitchen area contains an electric stove, refrigerator, sink, garbage disposal, and dishwasher, as well as built-in cabinets, table, and two chairs. The bedroom area contains two single beds, two desks and chairs, two dressers, two closets, and a bookcase.
Martin Hall, an efficiency apartment hall, houses single and married graduate students, and married undergraduate students.
Hawk Hall, a one-bedroom-apartment facility, houses married students (graduate and undergraduate) with families. Families with no more than two children may be housed in Hawk Hall.
SMU Apartments adjoin campus, and are located in the Highland Park Independent School District. All apartments are unfurnished, and tenants must be students (sophomores and above), faculty, or staff.
Students having special housing needs because of a disability should contact the Department of Residence Life and Student Housing prior to submitting the housing application. Whenever possible, the housing staff will work with that student in adapting the facility to meet special needs.
In the residence halls each room or apartment is equipped with a telephone, local telephone service, voicemail system, and Ethernet and wireless connections to the University's computer system. Renovated halls also have in-room cable television programming. All residence halls are air-conditioned, and rooms have individual climate control. The SMU Apartments are unfurnished and telecommunication services (i.e., telephone, cable, Internet connections) are not provided. Coin/card-operated washing machines and dryers are located in all residence halls and adjacent to SMU Apartments, Multicultural House, and Daniel House.
Undergraduate students living in traditional residence halls are required to participate in a meal plan offered by SMU Dining Services. Like the residence hall contract, the meal plan obligation is for the entire academic year and is billed and paid for on a semester basis. Students living in Moore, Martin, and Hawk Halls as well as the Multicultural House, Daniel House, and SMU Apartments are exempt from the meal plan requirement. With the exception of Daniel House, Martin, Hawk, and Moore, all residence halls are closed during the winter break between Fall and Spring terms. SMU Apartments are on 12-month leases and open throughout the term of the lease.
For more information, contact the Department of Residence Life and Student Housing, Southern Methodist University, PO Box 750215, Dallas TX 75275-0215; telephone 214-768-2407; fax: 214-768-4005; www.smu.edu/housing; e-mail: housing@smu.edu.
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