You will receive through the mail in July your copy of The Key, the student handbook. It is full of valuable information about student life, including information about the Housing Policy. You should read it carefully when it arrives.

General Information     Detailed Checklist
You may bring a refrigerator (no larger than 4.3 cubic feet) and a microwave oven (no larger than 1000 watts). Both the refrigerator and microwave must be UL listed. Only one refrigerator and microwave per room is permitted. The College does not rent refrigerators or microwave ovens. Hot pots, electric grills, or electric or gas heaters are not permitted, neither are pets. The college Bookstore will cash checks for you. Washers and dryers are located in the basements of Carpenter Z, Venable, the Hampden Units, East House and West House. Freshman will live in Cushing, Carpenter X or Y, or the Whitehouse complex. Transfer students will be housed in one of the Carpenter residence halls. You may review our Freshman Residence Hall floor plans and room dimensions on our website. Whitehouse Colonnade (NC/SC/WC) rooms consist of suites with a shared bathroom. Whitehouse Houses, Cushing, and Carpenter buildings have common bathrooms on the hall.

If you wish to have boxes or packages shipped to you by USPS, (FedEx and UPS deliver and pick-up at our post office), please address each package to:

Your name
Hampden-Sydney College
Graham Hall -- Your Box Number
College Road
Hampden-Sydney, VA 23943

Communication: The College employs your Hampden-Sydney college email account, your Hampden-Sydney College post office box and the voice mail technology on the room phone to communicate critical College information about which you should know and for which you are held responsible. You are encouraged to develop the habit of checking each at least daily.

Your room will be furnished with a bed, desk and desk chair, dresser, and wardrobe/closet. No college furniture may be removed from your room at any time. The beds are extra long, twin-size (36”x80”). All rooms to which freshman will be assigned have tile floors and are air-conditioned. All rooms are furnished with venetian blinds. Each room is equipped with a phone that provides voice mail for each occupant. The phone will be in your room when you arrive, and we will give you your phone number and voice mail box number at matriculation. Your room is equipped with basic television cable service, and you may add premium channels if you wish, at additional cost, once you arrive. All rooms are connected to the College’s computing services. If you have any questions concerning computers, please contact the Computer Center Help Desk at 434-223-6373 or the Computing Center web site.  Please read the Housing Contract and the Housing Policies printed in The Key (p. 73 see bookmark) carefully.  Make particular note of the policies regarding damage to your room or residential hall.

What you should bring
Detailed Checklist
You will need to bring your own bed sheets (extra long, twin-size (36”x80”), towels and pillow(s). The college provides an extra-long mattress cover. (Please leave it on the bed when you change rooms or move out.) You should also plan to bring a study lamp.  Halogen lamps are not permitted.  Former students suggest you may wish to bring a small set of tools: flat and phillips head screwdrivers, adjustable crescent wrench, hammer, pliers, etc.  Your posters and pictures may be hung by tape, but no holes may be made in walls or ceilings.  

When you move into your room, you and your Resident Advisor  will complete a Room Furnishings and Condition Report form indicating the condition of your room.  That form will be used to record the condition of your room when you move out.  Please read your housing contract carefully and refer to The Key regarding damages.

Residence Hall Closings
All residence halls are closed during the end of first semester/Christmas break and students living on campus must vacate their rooms within 24 hours of their last exam. Students may not return until the residence halls re-open the beginning of the second semester. Dates of openings and closings are listed in The Key. Students staying on campus during the Fall, Thanksgiving and Spring Break should inform the Assistant Dean of Students office and should make other arrangements for meals if the dining hall will not be operating. With the exception of graduating seniors, all students must vacate their rooms within 24 hours of their last exam in May.

Preparation in advance for your Sophomore Room Selection Process
New students who have not participated in our room selection process should pay special attention to this information. 
Hampden-Sydney College has two online housing selection procedures for upperclassmen. 

• The first is “Specialty Housing” in which students make selections of our traditional (32) off-campus slots (landlord pay) and our college-owned Blake apartments.    Eligible students select these assignments through an online process that takes place in February.  Students make these selections according to rank of cumulative hours and gpa earned through the Fall semester of the current academic year.  Included in this process, for rising Sophomores only, are apartments in Dickinson Hall and the Hampden House Unit Basement.  Groups of four rising Sophomores make application for these apartments in the Dean of Students office.  Awards are made according to the highest aggregate cumulative GPA of a group. Each student must have earned 15 credit hours or more.
• In late March and early April students participate in regular residence hall housing selections during our Online Room Choosing Process.  This too, is based on the cumulative hours and gpa earned at the completion of the Fall Semester of the current academic year. 

Freshmen will choose rooms according to their cumulative hours and gpa earned at the end of their first Fall semester at H-SC.  Therefore, the better your academic performance, the better choice you will have for your Sophomore year housing.  Any questions may be directed to Dean Wes Lawson in the Dean of Students office at x:6127 or x:6317.

Special note
Anyone choosing a double room during the online process must have a roommate at the time of your room selection.  You cannot secure a double room without a roommate. New in 2008, any student who is left without housing to choose from, or does not have a roommate to secure a double room must select the TBA (to be assigned) option online which will enable him to sign a TBA housing contract and select a meal plan.  Any student who fails to sign up for housing or contact the Dean of Students office (x:6317) concerning Fall 2008 housing, will be billed a $300.00 late registration fee.

Please call us if you have any questions regarding your housing.  You may call 434-223-6317.

Residence Hall Closings
All residence halls are closed during the end of first semester/Christmas break and students living on campus must vacate their rooms the day of their last exam. Students may not return until the residence halls re-open the beginning of the second semester.

updated 1-29-2008