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Student Housing

All residential students have access to computers in the Hawkins-Conard Student Center. For a complete list of hours and locations of all computer-related services, please consult Information Technology.
If you should experience technical problems with anything computer-related (e.g., a residence room jack that does not work, problems accessing e-mail) you should contact the Information Technology Help Desk at 419-289-5405. You may also submit a work ticket online at https://kbox.it.ashland.edu/.

• Internet access is available in all students' rooms.
• You will be provided with an Ashland University e-mail address. You are required to use the email address and mailbox (if assigned). Only correspondence sent to students using these mediums will be considered a legitimate attempt to contact a student. 
• You are encouraged to bring your own personal computer.
• For more information, refer to Information Technology.

Laundry Services are available to AU students at no cost. There are 27 buildings with washers and dryers at Ashland University.  A certified technician provides preventative maintenance weekly, ensuring efficient and quality service. 

Laundry Service Locations

• College Avenue Apartments
• Dwight Schar College of Nursing and Health Sciences
• Fraternity Houses
• Six Residence Halls
• Senior Apartments
• Theological Seminary

Dry Cleaning Services Available
Students can drop off and pick up their dry cleaning items at the Ashland University Campus Store, located on the first floor of the Student Center.

To park on campus, you must purchase a parking permit from Safety Services. You will need your license plate number to do so. Once your car is registered, the Safety Services Office will provide you with a map that designates spaces where you are allowed to park.

For more information about student parking, see the AU parking policies for students.

Vacuum cleaners are available in each hall office. You may check one out by contacting the Resident Assistant (RA) on duty. You will need to leave your student ID in the office at that time. There is no charge for this service.

Residence Life staff members are trained and experienced in helping roommates resolve conflicts and can offer advice, support and formal or informal assistance. Staff members in the Counseling Center are also available to assist with mental health. Personal counseling services are free to all students and are designed to enhance the quality of their university experiences.

• Resident Assistants are on duty Sunday – Thursday from 8 p.m. until 7 a.m. and Friday and Saturday from 9 p.m. until 7 a.m. Their contact information is posted in each building.

• You may also contact on-duty professional staff members by calling Safety Services. Staff members in Residence Life are on-call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to respond to emergency situations involving students.

For details, including emergency information procedures for each building, go to Safety Services. You’ll also learn how to download the Campus Shield app, which will send you instant alerts regarding emergency situations, severe weather advisories, school closings and major event cancellations.

At the beginning of each semester and during break periods, the residence life staff will inspect all students’ rooms to address any health, safety, sanitation and maintenance issues that may be present.

Student mailboxes are located in the Mail Center, which is on the ground floor of the Hawkins Conard Student Center, and can be accessed 24 hours a day. Incoming mail is picked up from the post office in the morning and is usually distributed by 10:30 a.m. Monday – Saturday (excluding university and postal holidays). Outgoing mail is taken to the Ashland Post Office at 3:30 p.m. each business day.

Each student is assigned his/her own mailbox that opens with a three-digit combination assigned by the Mail Center. Student mailboxes are for post office and campus mail.

An envelope or parcel sent to an Ashland University student should include the mailbox number and not the room number. Here is the proper format for addressing incoming mail:

First and Last Name

Box #

Ashland University

401 College Avenue

Ashland, Ohio 44805

The Mail Center Office is open Monday – Friday from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. On Saturdays, the service window is open with only limited services available. During weekdays, postal services include the following:

• The sale of stamps, envelopes and parcel postage.

• Processing and shipping first class, express and standard mail. (Note: the Mail Center may use more than one vendor such as UPS and FedEx for shipping express parcels and mail.)

Facilities Management and Planning provides routine and emergency maintenance for residence halls. If you experience a maintenance problem, such as a clogged drain, a light that does not work or difficulty opening a desk drawer, please report them by submitting a work order at housing.ashland.edu.

If you have an emergency maintenance concern, you should report it to Safety Services immediately. Examples of maintenance emergencies include losing electrical power in a room, experiencing the strong smell of gas, losing hot water, not receiving heat, noticing a water leak or discovering an elevator has become stuck with passenger(s) onboard.

Residence Life staff regularly offer programs to members of the Ashland community. These could be social, educational or spiritual in nature. The Office of Residence Life also actively supports the programming efforts of Student Activities, Athletics, Religious Life, Fraternity/Sorority Life and the Department of Recreation and Wellness, in addition to other departments on campus.

At Ashland University we are committed to maintaining a safe environment that inspires peace of mind and educational growth. To see specific security services we provide as well as a list of measures you can take to help maintain the security of our facilities, go to Safety Services.

Returning students need to submit a housing application by 11:59pm on February 13th in order to participate in the housing lottery.  New students need to submit a housing application by June 16th in order to receive their assignment by mid-July.  You can create an account and find the housing application at housing.ashland.edu. 

You will need to complete a roommate group at housing.ashland.edu.  One person needs to create the group and invite desired roommates to join (must use AU email to invite).  Students must accept the invitation for the group to be valid.  A guide on roommate groups can be found on this webpage for assistance!

Make your needs known as soon as possible, preferably before classes begin:

• Complete the appropriate section of your housing application.
• Contact the Student Accessibility Center by phone at 419-289-5904 or via Ohio Relay Dial 711 or email Silvia Henrissat shenriss@ashland.edu.

For more information, see the detailed information on requesting accommodations or visit the Student Accessibility Center.

You should know by the middle of July. Look for an email from the Residence Life Office in your Ashland email account inbox.

Move-in for new students will be Thursday, August 24, 2023 for residents of an even floor and Friday, August 25, 2023 for residents of an odd floor.  Room assignments with move-in details will be sent out mid-July.  Room keys will be available outside/in the main lobby of the residence hall.  Move-in for returning students will be on Sunday, August 27, 2023.

Unfortunately, you cannot see your exact room, but when you come for your orientation drive-in, we can show you a mock room in your hall.

First take a look at Preventing and Resolving Conflicts with Roommates. If none of those suggestions yields a resolution, talk with your Resident Assistant about the conflict — with or without your roommate.

Complete the room change request form at housing.ashland.edu. However, during the first two weeks and the last 40% of each semester, there is a room freeze, which means we don’t allow any physical room moves at that time. You can still submit a request for a change during a room freeze and we’ll work with you to make arrangements for a new assignment, but you can’t physically move — or have someone else move in or out — until after the freeze is over.

An “RA” is a Resident Assistant who has been trained in community development, conflict resolution and crisis management. Each RA is responsible for organizing social and educational floor events, engaging in conflict resolution, responding to crises, serving as a referral source and assisting with the adjustment issues that students may face.

An “RLC” is a Residence Life Coordinator and member of the professional residence life staff who supervises RAs and oversees the day-to-day operations of a residence hall. In addition, RLCs serve as student conduct board members for residence hall incidents that may require disciplinary action and take turns being “on-call” to assist with crisis situations. An RLC is someone who has sensitivity to the needs of others and an understanding of what it takes to build a community of respect.

If you are interested in becoming an RA or learning more about what the role requires, attend your building’s hall council meeting and/or talk to an RA. Then complete and submit the RA selection materials that become available each October.

All students in the Physician Assistant program, Accelerated Nursing Program and other graduate-level programs at Ashland University College of Nursing and Health Sciences will be eligible for graduate housing in the 1071 apartment building, as well as any student with a family (“family” for the purposes of this housing constitutes an Ashland University student, a legally married spouse/partner (partner), and/or dependent children, if applicable).

The Ashland University College of Nursing and Health Sciences student will be billed for housing each semester to their student account. Apartments will be charged at a unit rate of $4,995 per semester. If there are non-student residents living in the apartment, the student will be billed for housing and is financially responsible for covering the cost of all housing charges. If there is more than one student living in the apartment, the cost of all housing charges will be split equally between all students.

Apartments will be provided unfurnished, available furniture may be requested at an additional charge. All apartments will include a full-size refrigerator, microwave, oven, stove, pantry, and patio/balcony. Furniture available for request includes: XL twin bed, XL twin bed frame, desk, desk chair, bedside tables, dressers (2-drawer), couch, coffee table, and/or dining room table set. 

Applications are due by June 16, 2023. Application requests are fulfilled on a first-come, first-served basis, so the earlier you submit your application, the better your chances are of getting an apartment.

Since you are living on campus, housing charges would be applied to your student account. You can pay for your housing charges in the same way that you would pay your tuition charges. You can reach out to Student Accounts for any specific questions regarding paying your bill. 

Apartment rent includes: all utilities (water, gas, electric, AC, internet, trash), access to community laundry facilities with no charge for use, and all general maintenance. Students are able to place work order requests for maintenance concerns, which will be addressed at no cost (unless determined to be the fault of the residents). 

Students will be permitted to have 1 pet, 50 pounds or less, in each apartment.  All pets must carry pet insurance, with verification submitted to the Office of Residence Life.  Pet owners must submit pet insurance, updated vet records, name & photo.  There will be a $200 pet deposit required for apartments with a pet and residents are subject to additional cleaning fees at checkout, as determined by the Director of Building Services. 

You should reach out to constudentservices@ashland.edu with any questions regarding graduate and family housing.

Communicating clearly does not just mean being direct and explicit; it involves listening, too — and letting the other person know that you’ve heard them. How do you do that? You take the time to say what you heard and check that you heard correctly rather than leaping ahead to your next point. Moving on without acknowledging what you heard can cause the other person to feel that you aren’t listening — even when you are.

Recommendation: Speak clearly and directly, always remembering that good communication also involves actively listening to what the other person is saying. Also, be sure to recap what you heard and to learn if you missed or misconstrued anything before you reply or move on.

If you don’t know what you’re each expecting the other to do — and not do — it’s virtually impossible to meet those expectations. So, if you are used to keeping quiet about your needs, expressing them via polite hints or, conversely, just getting your way, you will need to adopt a different approach to prevent conflicts from arising.

Recommendation: Establish some basic ground rules with your roommate early on — ways of living and behaving that you both agree are reasonable, comfortable and doable. Then let this “roommate contract” serve as your set of guidelines for living together. This should be a “living document,” though — one you can revisit and revise together.

To have a healthy relationship, you need to speak and act with respect for one another. That means accepting one another’s differences rather than making fun of them. It also means recognizing that your roommate’s property is not yours to use or borrow unless your roommate has given you permission to do so and then, if permitted, treating that property with care.

Recommendation: Observe the golden rule: Do [and speak] to others as you would have them do [and speak] to you. Then, if your preferences aren’t in sync with your roommate’s, discuss matters  respectfully.

Giving each other the “benefit of the doubt” often prevents small missteps from turning into big conflicts. Agreeing to trust that you are both honest and well-meaning also allows you to enter into discussions in a friendly, curious way, which is likely to yield a better result than one entered into with anger, hostility and suspicion.

Recommendation: Agree to give each other the “benefit of the doubt.” In other words, when one of you says or does something that bothers the other, assume no harm was meant. Then discuss the matter in an open-minded way.

Talking in person is almost always better than attempting to communicate via email, a video chat or over the phone. Why? Your tone — or attitude toward the person and/or topic — is less likely to be misunderstood when you’re face to face. 

Recommendation: If you have an issue that you need to talk about, tell your roommate that you’d like to set aside some time to talk — just the two of you. While this may seem unnecessarily formal, it is one of the best ways to prevent the other person from feeling attacked or blindsided, either of which can derail a discussion even before it begins.

Bringing a third party into your discussion of an issue, whether in person or by sharing that third person’s opinion of the matter,is not helpful It will almost certainly cause your roommate to feel ganged up on and potentially misrepresented or “bad mouthed” to others, which feels awful and may damage your ability to resolve the issue. So, out of respect for your roommate’s feelings and reputation, don’t involve others in your conflict.

Recommendation: Keep your issue with your roommate between the two of you, unless you or someone else will be put in harm’s way by doing so. If that is the case, seek professional help by contacting an appropriate resource on the Department of Recreation and Wellness Emotional Wellness Resources page.

Observing the same ground rules for communicating that you use to prevent a conflict can also help you resolve one. In particular, make sure that each of you feels heard and properly understood.

Recommendation: Be clear and straightforward when expressing your thoughts and feelings. Avoid name-calling, using loaded language and being reactive. If you start to feel too emotionally charged to talk calmly, pause to take a deep breath and focus your thoughts.

Begin your discussion by looking for matters on which you both agree to establish common ground. Do you both value the same things? Are you both interested in finding good solutions? 

Recommendation: Find common ground first. Once you start agreeing on the basics, you’ll both be more inclined to compromise on the tougher issues that you disagree on.

If you are very explicit about what you need, you may find that your needs aren’t mutually exclusive. For example, imagine that you both think you need your dorm room all to yourself on Sundays, but one of you only needs it in the morning and the other during the afternoon — or, you’re both just seeking quiet time to study? By sharing exactly what you need, you would quickly resolve the perceived problem.

Recommendation: Share precisely what you need and, if it’s not uncomfortable for you to do so, the reason why. Doing so can help you find solutions that satisfy both of you.

To resolve an issue, you may both have to give up on getting exactly what you want. Or, you might have to make trade-offs — each of you getting some of what you want.  

Recommendation: Before getting together to discuss a troublesome issue, think about which issue(s) you are willing to compromise on (“nice to haves”) and which one(s) you feel you cannot (“needs” or “deal breakers”). If you know what you’re willing to adjust or trade off and what you are absolutely unwilling to give up on, you will be more ready to make compromises that you can live with.

If — or when — you realize that you are wrong about something, own up to that fact and apologize for it. Conversely, if your roommate admits to and apologizes for something, forgive them if you can. Most people make mistakes. Making one doesn’t have to be a reason for ending a relationship. 

Recommendation: If you made a mistake or did something wrong or upsetting, take ownership of that fact: admit to it and offer the injured person a genuine apology. Likewise, when you are offered a genuine apology, try to accept it and forgive.