First-Year Student Housing

Residential Requirement

Vanderbilt University is a residential campus for undergraduate students, and the residential experience is understood to be an integral part of a Vanderbilt education. This commitment to residential education is clearly expressed in the University’s residential requirement:

“All unmarried undergraduate students are required to live in residence halls on campus during the academic year, May session, and Summer sessions. Authorization to live elsewhere is granted at the discretion of the Director of Housing Assignments in special situations or when space is unavailable on campus.” (Student Handbook)

The Martha Rivers Ingram Commons

The Ingram Commons is part of the Residential College system. All first-year students are randomly assigned to one of the ten first-year houses on the Martha Rivers Ingram Commons. While the majority of spaces are double rooms, several of the houses contain triple rooms and a limited number of single rooms. For more information about the houses, please click here.

First-Year Student Housing Application

The First-Year Student Housing Application will be available in the Student Housing Portal between April 8, 2019 and June 1, 2019.  All incoming first-year students are required to submit an application.

How Roommates Are Assigned

The Martha Rivers Ingram Commons is an inclusive community that embraces and honors people of all backgrounds and experiences. We promote the idea of incoming students accepting new experiences and find a great starting point to be roommate matching done by the University. The housing application asks questions pertaining to sleeping patterns, study habits, etc. and roommates are matched based upon their responses to these questions. We cannot guarantee that a student’s preferences are met. You may submit a request for a specific roommate, but we believe strongly in the value of a diverse community, and we do not guarantee that roommate request will be met. If students do request a roommate, we encourage them to select roommates who will enhance their worldview by embracing new experiences and exposing themselves to a myriad of cultures and viewpoints.

First-Year Student Move In

First-year student move-in is scheduled for Saturday, August 17, 2019.  Students will be provided with a specific move-in time between 7 a.m. and 12 p.m. with their room assignment information.  Room assignment information will be emailed to all incoming first-year students on or before August 1, 2019.  Prior to August 17, we will be preparing the halls for your arrival and as a result, will not be able to accommodate early move-in requests.  Please plan your travel to Nashville accordingly.