Three-Year Residency Requirement

Stetson University is proud of both its residential campus and its tradition of a vibrant campus community. The on-campus experience provides residential students with a number of benefits not available to commuter students, including support from residential staff that live and work in our buildings alongside our residents, access to university resources and academic buildings just a short walk from their home on-campus, and opportunities to build relationships within the large campus community.  In addition, national research shows that students living on campus have higher grade point averages, higher graduation rates, and greater involvement in university and student organizations. Therefore, Stetson has a three-year residency requirement in which all students are required to live on campus for the first three years of their enrollment at the university.

All students enrolled at Stetson are expected and required to live on campus within their first three years of attending the university. Students attending Stetson in their fourth year and beyond have satisfied the three-year residency requirement and may secure housing off campus or may request to live on in their final years at Stetson.  However, we understand that not all students are the same, and unique circumstances should be taken into consideration.  Therefore, students who meet one or more specific criteria can receive an exemption from the residency requirement before they have attended Stetson for their first three years.

A student will have satisfied their residency requirement after living on campus for three consecutive academic years. We consider an academic year Summer term through the following Spring term.  However, if a student lives on campus for any term within that academic year, that will count as one year of the requirement satisfied.  For example, a student who is admitted to Stetson in the Spring would only live on campus for one term during that academic year.  This one term on campus will count as one full year satisfied of the three-year requirement. Another example is a student who is admitted for and lives on campus for the Fall term, then requests a Leave of Absence during the Spring term.  Again, this student will have satisfied one year of the three-year requirement even though they only lived on campus for one term during the academic year. 

Therefore, the three-year residency requirement is based on a student's admission term and not based on credit hours.  However, students can request an exemption to the residency requirement if they meet one or more of the exemption criteria outlined in the Living Off Campus webpage by submitting the Request for Residency Exemption found on the Housing Central home page.

Students within their first three years of attendance at Stetson University must submit a request to live on campus or a request for a residency exemption. Requesting to live on campus is as simple as submitting a Housing Application on Housing Central.  Students attending a university or college for the first time (not including dual enrollment in high school) should review the New Incoming First-Year Student Housing Application webpage.  Students who have attended another university prior to joining the Stetson community or who are attending Stetson as part of an Exchange program should review the New Incoming Transfer and Exchange Student Housing Application webpage.  Students who are currently attending Stetson and would like to review or learn more about the application process should visit the Continuing Student Housing Application webpage.

Those students who would like to request an exemption to the three-year residency Requirement can review the exemption criteria and exemption request process and should visit our Living Off Campus webpage for more information.  Please remember that students who have not satisfied the three-year residency requirement will not be approved to live off campus until a Request for Residency Exemption is submitted and approved by RL&L.  A Request for Residency Exemption must be submitted every year until the student has attended Stetson for three academic years.