All About Your Room - Residence Halls

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Your Room

Each Residence Hall room type varies in size and layout. Room sizes, shapes, and layout vary from building to building—even room to room—on any given floor.

  • Double rooms in the residence halls come in two basic shapes. These are approximations.
    • Rectangular, measuring approximately 18’ long by 10’ wide. These rooms are generally located in the high-rise sections of the residence halls.
    • Square, approximately 12’ long by 14’ wide. These rooms are generally located in the low-rise sections.
  • Approximately 120 triple rooms are located throughout the residence halls.
    • These rooms are larger to comfortably accommodate three students. Triple rooms have a wide variety of shapes and vary in size.
  • Quadruple rooms are scattered among the other rooms in the Residence Halls and house four students.

We advise waiting until your arrival to determine the dimensions of the room and the furniture. Students who are unsure about whether an item will fit in their new space are advised to move-in first and then add additional items.

All rooms have window shades and are carpeted. A small number of residence hall rooms have no carpeting in anticipation of meeting an ADA accommodation. Students without accommodations may be placed in these rooms. 

The room you are assigned to may be different than the room shown during RIT Housing tours. We are not able to accommodate tours to specific individual rooms.

As-Is Room

a residence hall room with two beds and two desks
a residence hall room with two beds with blue mattresses
a residence hall room with two beds, two desks, and two dressers
a residence hall room showing two closets and a door

Technology

All residence hall rooms have wireless network access. Additionally, an Ethernet jack is provided for every student, which allows you direct access to the RIT network and the internet. To access the RIT network, you must have an RIT computer account and agree to abide by the RIT code of conduct for computer and network use. Students are responsible for protecting their own computer systems with UL-approved surge protectors.

An ethernet jack is provided for every student, which allows you direct access to the RIT network and the Internet.

Room Details

We have four different varieties of furniture throughout the residence halls. For each student, bedrooms come with a:

  • bed
  • desk with drawers
  • chair
  • dresser
  • closet/wardrobe
  • microfridge
  • one recycling can and 7-gallon wastebasket per room

All beds rise approximately 28 inches from the floor, and if you feel as though you need more space, you can purchase bed risers to place underneath the beds. Bed risers should follow these standards:

  • Square in shape
  • Approximately 3"x3"
  • No greater than 5-7 inches in height

A microfridge (microwave/refrigerator/freezer) is provided in each room. Additional personal microwaves or refrigerators are not allowed.  

To comply with fire-safety regulations, we limit appliances to clocks, televisions, personal computers, printers, surge-protection outlet strips, stereos, record players, fans, hairdryers, curling irons, electric razors, and electric toothbrushes. Any beverage appliance that has an automatic shut off can be used in a student room. All appliances must be UL-approved.

Cooking meals in residents’ rooms is not allowed. Appliances that are intended to be used for cooking are prohibited; examples are, but not limited to, rice maker, toaster, toaster oven, instant pot, air fryer, etc. No appliance may have an exposed heating element.

Our mattresses have a vinyl covering for health and sanitary reasons. Due to safety requirements, only RIT mattresses can be used. We recommend that you bring a cotton mattress cover to place over the vinyl covering. Mattresses in all rooms are twin XL (extra-long). All rooms have window shades. Curtains are not needed and prohibited. 

All rooms have an overhead light, but we suggest that you bring your own lamps. Torchier or any style lamp(s) that use a halogen bulb 300 watts or more are prohibited. Torchier style lamps that use a compact florescent or incandescent bulb are permitted.

You are welcome and encouraged to express yourself and decorate your room! Posters, and other combustible decorations cannot exceed 10% of the aggregate area of the walls. Items must be placed directly against a wall and should not interrupt the operation of the smoke detector. Nothing can be attached in any way to or on the ceiling, or to fire sprinkler heads where that equipment is provided. Items may not cover outlets, emergency switches, or safety equipment. Fabric materials, such as curtains, banners, flags and tapestries are prohibited.. Please review the terms and conditions for a list of prohibited items and fire safety regulations.

Telephones and phone lines are not provided. If you require a phone line to be activated in your student room, contact the ITS Service Desk at 585-475-5000 or help.rit.edu to request a line be activated.

No pets are allowed except for fish. Piranhas, oscars, and other carnivorous fish are not allowed. The tank size may not be larger than 10 gallons. 

Building Details

The post office is located in the tunnels underneath Fredericka Douglass Sprague Perry Hall. It is a fully functioning post office for mail and package pickup. Mail is delivered once a day and picked up twice a day at posted hours. You can ship some of your items prior to arriving on campus if you live far away.

The mailing address format for the Residence Halls is as follows:

Your Name
Building, Room #
43 Greenleaf Court
Rochester NY 14623

There are seven free laundry rooms throughout the tunnels connecting the residence halls. Students should provide their own detergent and dryer sheets. 

Storage space is not available. We suggest that at the beginning of the year you attempt to send home as much of your excess luggage, boxes, and crates as possible.

Your Responsibilities

Room care and cleanliness are the responsibility of the students who share the room—one reason we ask students about their cleaning preferences. Rooms must be kept clean for health and safety reasons. The common areas of the buildings (bathrooms, lounges, etc.) are cleaned regularly by Facilities Management staff.

  • RIT strongly encourages all students to maintain insurance coverage for their personal possessions while attending school. RIT assumes no responsibility for losses of students' personal belongings.
  • RIT is pleased to offer Personal Property Insurance through Gallagher Student Insurance. The College Student Property & Renters Insurance is underwritten by Allianz and offers several different limit and deductible options providing students greater flexibility to select the type and amount of coverage that best serves their needs. All GSI policyholders are automatically eligible to purchase ALL risk coverage for photography related equipment that is rented or borrowed for short term periods up to an additional $25,000 in value per occurrence.
  • The plans are available through Gallagher Student Insurance (888-411-4911). Please refer to their website for additional details and exclusions. Also included are annual rates, additional general information about the program, and an application form.

Accommodations & Services

Strobe light warning equipment is provided in each room where a deaf or hard-of-hearing student might live. All deaf or hard-of-hearing students will be assigned to fire-strobed rooms.

All residence hall buildings have ADA-accessible bathrooms on every floor. Some residence hall rooms and bathroom facilities have already been adapted to support wheelchair users and others with mobility needs. Other room or floor accommodations may be made for those who have various types of disabilities.

Any student needing disability-related accommodations will work with the Disability Services Office (DSO). The process to apply for accommodations is detailed here. DSO encourages students to reach out about their access needs as soon as possible.  While students may apply for accommodations at any point during their time at RIT, the Application for Services for Students with Disabilities must be submitted to Disability Services by May 1. Housing accommodations approved after this deadline will stipulate they are “pending availability.” Any housing accommodation requests made in the Spring term will also be pending availability. Please contact the DSO with any questions. RIT Housing will make all efforts to accommodate your needs based on the availability of resources.

Students with disabilities who wish to have a service or assistance animal on campus must register with the Disability Services Office (DSO). For more information on service and assistance animals at RIT, review this policy.  Reach out to the DSO with any questions.

Resources and Guides

What to Bring