Philosophy & Policy

Residency Requirement

Messiah University is primarily a residential campus. All single, full-time students under the age of 23 are required to live on campus. Campus housing is generally limited to students who are registered for at least 12 credit hours.  Exceptions to the residency requirement are granted to students who meet the commuter criteria and have signed a commuter housing contract.  Commuters are those students who meet one of these criteria:

A commuter student is a student who is living locally (within a 50-mile distance) and at
least one of the following criteria applies:

1. The student is living locally with parents
2. The student is living locally with family members (i.e. grandparents,
   aunts/uncles)
3. The student is classified as having independent status by the Office of
   Financial Aid and is living locally.
4. The student has non-traditional status (23 years of age and over or married).
5. The student is married.