Housing Selection for New Grad Students

To fill out and sign your housing application, select housing and roommates, and complete other necessary forms, go to our housing portal.

We will work with you if you have a financial need for a specific room price. Here is what you can do to select a room that meets your needs:

1. Sign your housing license and, if one is available, select a room within your range.
2. If a room within your range is not available, put your name on the waitlist (available following the end of room selection).

If you need to join the waitlist, we will do everything we can to move you into a room in your range.

To update your personal information, log into the housing portal do the following and then proceed to make updates:

1. Click on the hamburger icon at the top-left corner
2. Click on your name

If you are a first-year student or rising sophomore, we encourage you to select a room. If you do not, you will be placed in one. (Remember that you are required to live on campus during your first two years at RISD.)

Upperclass and grad students must select a room in order to live on campus.

If you are not able to secure a room you prefer, you may submit a room change request via the housing portal. You will be able to start this process two weeks after the first day of school. If a room that meets your preferences comes available and you reach the top of the room change list, we will contact you to proceed.

Yes, for any student who does not participate in room selection but wishes to live on campus. Following housing selection, we will post the waitlist on the housing portal.

During the summer we only process room changes for emergency, financial, or gender-related purposes via the waitlist. Otherwise we won’t process room changes until after move-in.

We do not permit pets in the halls, with the exception of fish that live in aquariums 10 gallons or fewer. (Note that we do not permit lizards, turtles or other tank animals other than fish.) Guests cannot bring pets into a residence hall.

If you need an emotional support animal (ESA) or service animal, you must complete a medical accommodation form before doing so. See the medical accommodations overview below for more about our pet policies.

We do not allow overnight guests until you complete a roommate agreement via the housing portal. If you live in a single room or studio apartment, then you need to follow our guest policy.

No, we do not require on-campus residents to acquire renter’s insurance, but we highly recommend it. Follow this link to learn more about renter’s/property insurance.

RISD does not provide student parking. Off-campus parking in Providence is generally expensive, but if you need to park a car in the city, you can do so via Metropark, the Arcade Garage or DownCity Parking.

Whether you’re moving out of the dorms or leaving an apartment, you can donate items to RISD Flips. At the end of each year, this program takes unwanted clothing and other items to help generate scholarship money via an annual summer yard sale, support international students and community organizations, and lessen RISD’s environmental impact.

Please consider donating any of the following items to RISD Flips: 

• lightly used clothes, shoes and accessories
• art supplies
• clean kitchen items
• lamps, fans, hangers, storage bins and shower caddies
• and anything else that helps raise funds and support new students

If you have questions or want to donate, email RISD Flips.