Off Campus Living at Brown
All current undergraduate students wishing to live off-campus must apply for off-campus permission by completing an Off-Campus Application and submitting it to the Office of Residential Life by the required deadline, this includes all undergraduates wishing to live in Brown-owned off-campus residences. Off-campus permission is not granted automatically and is granted for one academic year at a time. Married students or students commuting from the home of a parent or legal guardian are not required to apply for off-campus permission.
Priority for off-campus permission is given to applications received by the deadline from next year's rising seniors. Applications will be processed in order of students' semester levels, with priority given to those students with the greatest number of semesters and who have submitted applications by the deadline. Rising juniors and sophomores who receive permission for off-campus residency must reapply each academic year they wish to live off-campus.
Undergraduates applying for permission to live off-campus are subject to the following:
- Undergraduates who study away for a semester or year in a Brown approved study program, for which academic credit is given, will receive on-campus residency credit equal to the number of semesters of tuition credit awarded.
- Undergraduates who have taken a leave of absence for any reason other than a Brown approved study program will not receive on-campus residency credit.
- The University reserves the right to deny an application for off-campus permission to a student who has a record of a violation of the Student Disciplinary Code or other University Rules and Regulations.
Undergraduates receiving permission to live off-campus are subject to the following:
- The formal acceptance of off-campus permission on the part of the student is final and binding for the next full academic year.
- All students living off-campus are required to pay the non-resident fee.
- All seniors who are granted off-campus permission must view the off-campus video.
- Commuting: Commuting students are students living at home with their parent or guardian (within a 30-mile or 30- minute radius) who choose to commute to the University. This is not the same as living off campus, and does not require off-campus permission. All commuting students are required to register with the University and to pay the non-resident fee.
Married Students
Any undergraduate who will be living with his/her spouse in the Providence area must register at the Wayland Office of Residential Life. All married students are required to pay the non-resident fee.
BACH/Commuter/Non-Resident Fee
The operating budget for the Residential Life Office includes expenses for a number of institutional activities that are not strictly speaking "housing related." However, as a residential college, these activities are for all students regardless of where they live. The operating expenses for the Haffenreffer Estate and Outing Reservations Facility, the operating budget for the Student Activities Office and the building expenses for Faunce House are all included in the Residential Life budget. In addition, a significant portion of the operating budget for the Office of Student Life is funded through the Residential Life budget. Because of this, the current non-resident fee is included in every resident student's room fee. All students who live outside of the University Residence Halls, such as commuters, Brown Association of Cooperative Housing residents, and off-campus students have this fee posted to their bill as a separate line item. Brown University established this budgeting process over 20 years ago in order to support these important student activities and services.