Returning Mustangs: Room Intentions & Selection

Each spring, the Mustangs currently living in on-campus housing will go through the Housing Intentions and Room Selection Process for the upcoming academic year. This reapplication process allows students to choose their own room and meal plan for the following academic year. This process is in two parts: the Housing Intentions form and the Room Selection process.

All students currently living on campus will indicate whether they plan to return or leave housing at the end of the Spring 2024 semester by completing the 2024-2025 Room Intention form on the Housing Portal. This form is your way of letting us know your plans for the 2024-2025 academic year and will allow you to sign up for a room assignment and meal plan. 

Note: Returning Mustangs do NOT need to complete a Fall housing application. The Housing Intentions form replaces that application process and does not require an advanced payment.

Students will receive an email on January 23, 2024 with instructions for declaring your housing intention for the Fall 2024 – Spring 2025 academic year. 

As a reminder, room selection is a two-step process.  Submitting your Housing Intention is the first step.  Based on the information provided in the Housing Intention Process, students are then assigned to a room selection group where they complete the second step and pick their space for the Fall semester.

For Mustangs planning on returning, your room intention form is your way of saying, "assign me a time to pick a room!" Based on your credit hours, you'll be able to begin selecting your fall room assignment based on the Room Selection Timeline. 

If you want to return to your same room, you’ll be able to do this on the room intention form by selecting "Stay in Same Room".  If you’re staying in the same place, you will be automatically assigned by February 19, 2024. Once assigned, your room number will be visible in your housing portal and you can choose your meal plan for the upcoming year.

1. Log onto the housing portal before February 19
2. Under the Fall 2024 heading, select "I am returning to housing"
3. Complete the short application as instructed
4. Make sure to select "Stay in the Same Room"
5. Sign up for a meal plan
6. Check the housing portal by February 19 to confirm your room assignment and meal plan
   • No Assignment? Check your email for displacement information.

Many students love their room and building but want to choose their future roommate. This is the section for you. If you know who you want to live with, select your preferred roommates as part of your intention process. Remember that roommates selection must be mutual, and if you are already living in the building y'all want to room in, you will be amongst the first to pick their rooms.

1. Have a Plan!
   • Research your housing options
   • Talk to your future roommates and come up with plans A, B, and C. This will cut down on confusion during the process and give you many options to choose from when room selection opens up.
2. Log onto the housing portal before February 19 and complete the Housing Intentions form.
3. Under the Fall 2024 heading, select "I am returning to housing"
4. Complete the short application as instructed
5. Make sure to select your preferred roommates
   • Remember that both you and your future roommates have to select each other or you will not be able to see their names during the room selection process. 
6. Write down your room selection date:
   • If you want to remain in the same building:
     • Seniors/Juniors - February 21, 2024
     • Sophomores/Freshman - February 22, 2024
   • If you do not sign up during the same building selection time, you can still choose a room during open sign-ups:
     • Seniors/Juniors - March 1-27, 2024
     • Sophomores - March 4-27, 2024
     • Freshman - March 6-27, 2024
7. Sign up for a meal plan
8. Select a room on your designated room selection date 
9. Double-check before March 27,2024 , that your room selection and meal plan are correct.
10. You are done!

1. Have a Plan!
   • Research your housing options
   • Talk to your future roommates and come up with plans A, B, and C. This will cut down on confusion during the process and give you many options to choose from when room selection opens up.
2. Log onto the housing portal before February 19 and complete the Housing Intentions form.
3. Under the Fall 2024 heading, select "I am returning to housing"
4. Complete the short application as instructed
5. Make sure to select your preferred roommates
   • Remember that both you and your future roommates have to select each other or you will not be able to see their names during the room selection process. 
6. Write down your room selection date:
   • Seniors/Juniors - March 1-27, 2024
   • Sophomores - March 4-27, 2024
   • Freshman - March 6-27, 2024
7. Sign up for a meal plan
8. Select a room on your designated room selection date 
9. Double-check before March 27, 2024, that your room selection and meal plan are correct.
10. You are done!

• Students currently living in an LLP community need to follow the Same Room section above. 
  • If you would like to make any changes to your current assignment, please let us know on the Return to LLP (2024-2025) form on Mustangs Link. You will be placed in your room by February 19, 2024.
• If you would like to be a part of a Living Learning Program and are not currently, select which program you would like to be a part of on the room intention form by following the instructions below. You will be placed in your room by February 19,2024 , if space is available.

1. Log onto the housing portal before February 19
2. Under the Fall 2024 heading, select "I am returning to housing"
3. Complete the short application as instructed
4. Make sure to select which Living Learning Program are interested in under "Join LLP"
5. Sign up for a meal plan
6. Check the housing portal by February 19 to confirm your room assignment and meal plan
   • No Assignment? Spaces are limited. Check your email for more information.

Displaced students are students unable to return to the room they are currently living in.  Most often, this occurs when a community is designated for a specific living-learning program or the gender of a particular community or apartment unit changes. 

Students will be notified via email if they are classified as “displaced” by February 19, 2024.  Displaced students will not be able to select their same room, but they will have a special room selection date starting on February 28, 2024.  At this time, displaced students may select a new room in any available space.

• All Resident Assistants, Peer Educators, and roommates of these positions

1. Have a Plan!
   • Research your housing options
   • Talk to your future roommates and come up with plans A, B, and C. This will cut down on confusion during the process and give you many options to choose from when room selection opens up.
2. Log onto the housing portal before February 19 and complete the Housing Intentions form.
3. Under the Fall 2024 heading, select "I am returning to housing"
4. Complete the short application as instructed
5. Make sure to select your preferred roommates
   • Remember that both you and your future roommates have to select each other or you will not be able to see their names during the room selection process. 
6. Write down your room selection date:
   • Displaced Students Open Sign-Ups:
     
     • February 28 - March 27, 2024
7. Sign up for a meal plan
8. Select a room on your designated room selection date 
9. Double-check before March 27, 2024, that your room selection and meal plan are correct.
10. You are done!

Students who have documentation on file with the Office of Disability Support Services for housing accommodations will need to complete their room intention form online. Should you need assistance with the room selection process, please contact the Office of Residence Life & Housing prior to February 19, 2024.

1. Contact the Office of Disability Support Service to complete the DSS application and submit any supporting documentation.
   • For questions on this process, please call the Office of Disability Support Services at 940-397-4140 or email disabilityservices@msutexas.edu 
2. Complete the Housing Intentions Form
   • Log onto the housing portal before February 19 and complete the Housing Intentions form.
   • Under the Fall 2024 heading, select "I am returning to housing"
   • Complete the short application as instructed.
3. Contact the Office of Residence Life and Housing for assistance with the remainder of the room selection process prior to February 19, 2024, via phone at 940-397-4217 or email at housing@msutexas.edu.

Graduating in May? Congratulations!

• Complete the "I am Leaving MSU Texas Housing" intention form and indicate you are graduating in May.

If you plan on returning to pursue your Master's or Doctorate Degree and would like to remain in on-campus housing, please contact the Office of Residence Life and Housing and complete the "I am Returning to Housing" intention form. 

STOP: Ensure you have met the parameters of the residency policy before completing the next step. Before signing an off-campus lease, we strongly recommend that students wait until their cancellation has been approved by the Office of Residence Life and Housing.

Campus Residency Requirements

Update: *You must have accumulated 60 semester hours of college academic credit prior to the first day of classes for the housing agreement period. Hours achieved while in high school are counted (e.g. concurrent or dual credit)*

Information about canceling housing

1. Log onto the housing portal before February 19
2. Under the Fall 2024 heading, select "I am Leaving MSU Texas Housing"
3. Continue through the short application as instructed.
4. All cancellations will be processed prior to the start of the room selection process if they are submitted on time. If additional documentation is needed to process your cancellation, we will be contacting you using your MSU Texas student email address.

After these steps are completed, Residence Life and Housing staff will verify your off-campus eligibility. They may get in contact with you to verify documentation and ensure that you meet the qualifications to move off-campus. Do not sign an off-campus lease until your cancellation has been verified and approved. 

If you do not meet the requirements, you will be asked to take part in the Open Room Selection process under the Choose a New Building section above. If you do not have a room assignment by the end of the room selection process, you will be assigned to a Killingsworth Hall room and charged that room rate. Do not sign an off-campus lease until your cancellation has been verified and approved. 

Mark your calendars and be ready to sign up starting at noon on your designated date.

Reminder! If you have selected the "same room" or a Living Learning Program during the room intention process, you will receive your room assignment by February 20, 2024. If you have selected “same room” during the room intention process and change your mind about where you want to live, you must visit the Office of Residence Life & Housing before you are able to select a new room. After your same room assignment is released, you will be able to see other housing options. Once your “same room” assignment is released, you cannot be guaranteed the availability of your same room. 

1. Log onto the housing portal after 12:00p on your designated date
2. Under the Fall 2024 heading, select "Fall 2024 Room Selection"
3. Click on the link and follow these simple steps to select a room:

1. First, select the building from the drop-down box
2. Select a room type (i.e. 2 BR, 4 BR, etc.)
3. Click on the “search” button
4. Room results will appear on the next page.
   1. Please note that there may be more than one page, depending on the number of available spaces
   2. If no rooms appear, this means there are no spaces available meeting your search criteria.
5. Click on the name of the room number you’d like.
   1. If there are other occupants in the room, it will appear here.
   2. If you don’t want to select this room, click on the “Room Search Results” next to your name. This will take you back to view a different room.
6. Once you have the room you want, click on “Select This Room” and you’ll be assigned to this room.
7. You may continue to look for rooms and change your room assignment throughout the room selection process by repeating the steps above. You have until March 31 to finalize your room selection.
8. Your final room assignment will be emailed to you after March 27, 2024.
   • Students are encouraged to update their housing portal with preferred contact information to ensure this information is received. 
   • If changes need to be made to your Fall 2024 room assignment, the Office of Residence Life and Housing may get a hold of you to discuss consolidation or other changes. 
   • For more information on any of the following topics, please click on the corresponding link:
     • Private Room Waitlist
     • Apartment Waitlist
     • Fall 2024 Room Change Request form

Once you have been assigned a room, select a meal plan by clicking on the “Meal Plan Selection” link below your assigned room. You have the option to change your meal plan online as many times as you wish through July 15, 2023.  The final meal plan change period will open between August 22, 2023, and September 8, 2023.  Students living in a residence hall who do not select an eligible meal plan by July 15, 2023, will be assigned the Platinum All-Access plan. 

Students may select from the following meal plans:

1. Residence Halls (Killingsworth, Legacy, and McCullough-Trigg Halls):
   1. Platinum Unlimited
   2. Gold 200
   3. Silver 150

Note: Students living in Residence Halls are not eligible to choose the Bronze 75 or commuter plans

1. On-Campus Apartments are NOT required to choose a meal plan due to having access to a full kitchen. However, students may select from the following plans:
   1. Platinum Unlimited
   2. Gold 200
   3. Silver 150
   4. Bronze 75

For more information about meal plans and costs please see our Meal Plan webpage.

Information about changes to room assignments that occur after March 31, 2023. Students are encouraged to update their housing portal with preferred contact information to ensure this information is received. 

If you choose to go through room selection without a particular roommate choice, we encourage you to sign up for spaces with one person already assigned.  You are not required to do so, however, the Office of Residence Life & Housing reserves the right to move a resident from one room to another when the university determines the need.  Following room selection, such room consolidations are often made on the same floor or within the same building initially selected.  Consolidation of returning students allows us to accommodate roommate requests for new student room assignments.  During the summer months, efforts will be made to notify students via email of such changes. Students are encouraged to update their housing portal with preferred contact information to ensure this information is received. 

Legacy, McCullough Trigg, Sunwatcher Village, and Sundance Court feature single-occupancy rooms by design. Please note that double room buyout options in Killingsworth and Legacy will not be considered until after the new student room selection process, held over the summer.  Students requesting a room buyout option in Killingsworth or Legacy may complete the Private Room Waitlist on Mustangs Link.  Requests will be honored in the order of receipt, based on availability.

Private Room Waiting List

Apartment spaces in Sunwatcher Village and Sundance Court are exceptionally popular and makeup approximately 35% of the total housing offered on campus.  Even more popular are our two-bedroom units.  These makeup less than 10% of the housing available to students on campus. 

Many students return to their same room in the apartments, further decreasing the number of spaces available to other students who wish to live in Sunwatcher Village and Sundance Court.  Year after year, we are unable to accommodate all requests for apartment-style housing during the initial phases of our room selection process.  The longer you’ve lived on campus, the more likely you are to secure a space in an apartment. 

For our first and second-year students, selecting an apartment during the room selection process is rare. If you are considering an apartment, please review the following tips:

• Have a backup plan available for your housing choice in the event you aren't able to get your number one housing choice.
• If you log into the housing portal to select a room and don’t see any apartments listed, this means there are no options that meet your criteria.
• Some students have found it easier to select a single space, rather than search for a unit with a specific roommate or group of roommates.
• Residence Life & Housing will continue to update the room availability list as we receive cancellations. You may log into the housing portal throughout the room selection process to check and see if additional space has opened up. 

In early May, students who have signed up for Fall 2023 housing will have the opportunity to sign up on an apartment waiting list by submitting an Apartment Waiting List form on Mustangs Link.  We will begin working through the apartment waiting list as cancellations are received throughout the summer until August 1^st.  After August 1^st, any subsequent room changes will occur after the first two weeks of the Fall Semester.

Students are encouraged to check the housing portal for updated room assignment information and to ensure an updated email address is listed in the event we need to contact you prior to the Fall 2023 semester.

We will receive cancellations over the summer months and will often be able to accommodate most requests from the waiting list.  In fact, nearly 75% of requests are able to be honored most years.    

Apartment Waitlist

Students wishing to make changes to their room assignments after March 31 will be asked to submit a Fall 2023 Room Change Request form once they become available on Mustangs Link in early April. Many requests will not be considered until after the New Student Room Selection Process in June. These requests will be processed in the order in which they are received, based on the availability of the request.

Students are encouraged to check the housing portal for updated room assignment information during the summer and to ensure an updated email address is listed in the event we need to contact you prior to the Fall 2023 semester.  

Fall 2023 Room Change Request form