What to Expect Living On Campus

Resident Engagement

Student Housing for Student Success: Through intentional engagement with resident students, HRL focuses its efforts on developing students both personally and professionally throughout their time on campus. By living on campus, students are footsteps away from a variety of academic, cultural and social experiences that are hard to get elsewhere.

As a result of the residential experience, resident students can expect to:

Connect

Connect: Engage and connect with the campus community

  • Engage with fellow community members
  • Experience different people and ideas

Care

Care: Learn ways to take care of yourself

  • Recognize habits that promote a healthy lifestyle
  • Identify appropriate resources and interventions related to physical and mental wellness

Explore

Explore: Discover and discuss new ideas outside of the classroom

  • Interact with faculty and University leaders in the residential setting
  • Discuss intellectual topics with faculty and fellow community members

Thrive

Thrive: Develop skills to thrive beyond UM

  • Discover tools and strategies promoting the advancement of interpersonal skills
  • Recognize the resources and behaviors that promote academic, intrapersonal and professional success

Guide to Living on Campus

What to Expect During Your First Year Living on Campus

Living on campus during your first year is a signature part of the UM experience. Residential first-year students live within one of our five Residential Colleges: Coral, Eaton, Ibis, Mahoney, and Pearson. In the Residential Colleges, you will be surrounded by a supportive community of Residential Faculty, peer student leaders like First-Year Fellows and Resident Assistants, and a plethora of professional staff who are here to guide you during your transition to college. Click the link below to learn more!

First Year Experience

Residential Colleges

The University of Miami's Residential Colleges support and enhance student learning and engagement through interactions with live-in faculty and student affairs staff, as well as a wide range of programming, seminars, lectures, field trips, and recreational activities throughout the academic year.

View All Residential Communities

In-Area Faculty and Staff

Senior Area Directors and Residential Life Coordinators are the primary administrators of each residential area and strive to maintain an environment that promotes academic, developmental, and social success. This is accomplished through coordinating educational programming in each area, collaborating with live-in faculty regarding academic initiatives, responding to resident issues or concerns, and serving as a crisis manager and a judicial officer.

Office Supervisors are full-time staff members responsible for the oversight and management of the residential area reception desks. They serve as liaisons between the residential areas and a number of University offices, including Parking, Purchasing, Accounts Payable, Facilities, GCA, etc. These supervisors also supervise reception desk student staff and oversee desk operations including mail/package delivery and cart/vacuum check-out.

Resident Assistants (RAs) are live-in student leaders who serve as residents' primary resources for campus information and for students to transition into the next stage of their personal and professional development on campus. RAs are the ultimate, versatile students who can provide their resident students with the help they need in day-to-day college life.

Residential Faculty and Faculty Fellows are present in the Residential Colleges and serve as resources for students. The faculty hold office hours in the buildings, host dinners in their apartments, and work with the student staff to provide programming for residents that focus on current events, social issues, and faculty members' research interests.

First Year Fellows (FYFs) are upperclassmen student leaders living in first-year communities who build relationships with and support students as they transition into the college experience. FYFs develop and implement academic and personal development initiatives and programs for their residents throughout the year. FYFs, who report to the Office of Academic Enhancement, also work closely with the RAs to build a community that supports living and learning.

Safety and Security

In addition to the University of Miami Police Department, HRL Safety and Security staff utilize card swipe access so that only residents and properly credentialed staff have access to the non-public areas of the buildings.

Our reception desks are staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with our Resident Assistants and Desk Assistants from 8 a.m.-10 p.m. daily, and from 10 p.m.-8 a.m. with our Student Security Staff, who are responsible for signing in every guest and maintaining a desk presence in the event of an emergency. In addition to regular desk hours, RAs are on duty for crisis response should one occur.

Comprised of professional and student staff, the HRL Safety and Security team is responsible for maintaining a safe environment, educating residents, and responding to crises between the hours of 10 p.m. and 8 a.m. Security Assistants are student employees who operate the security posts in each residential college. SAs screen individuals who enter the building, check in guests, monitor fire alarms and access doors, and serve as first responders to emergency situations that may arise throughout the night.

Residential Life Night Managers are professional staff members who support RAs and Safety and Security student staff throughout the night, especially in crisis response. Together with Safety and Security staff, Night Managers plan semester programs and outreach initiatives designed to educate residents about on-campus safety and security.

Live-On Requirement

All non-local first-year students are required to live in University housing for two academic semesters, as long as space is available. This policy does not apply to first-year students living with parents or legal guardians in Miami-Dade or Broward counties.

Live-On Requirement Exemption Request

Housing Application

Ready to apply for on-campus housing? New students - excluding those transferring to UM from another institution - who have been admitted to the University are eligible to apply for housing via CaneLink under the "UM Housing" section. To activate access to the housing application link, admitted students must pay the $500 enrollment deposit to verify their admission acceptance.

Apply for housing: new students

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