Gender Neutral Housing

Gender Neutral Housing allows students to be placed in housing without regard to gender. You may request Gender Neutral Housing as long as you are 18 years of age or older.  If you select gender neutral housing, the following are eligibility requirements and policies that you are affirming are true and consenting to follow:

  1. A student must be eligible for University housing.
  2. A student must be 18 years of age. Students under 18 must provide written parental consent in order to be considered. 
  3. Beginning Fall 2012, freshmen may also request Gender Neutral Housing. If a freshmen is under 18 years of age, written parental consent must be provided. Freshmen will be contacted by Housing staff to discuss this option and the availability of space.
  4. Assignments will be made without regard to the gender of roommates.  If no vacancies exist in Gender Neutral rooms, you will be assigned according to your gender in the Student Registration System.  Students are invited to contact Housing to discuss options.
  5. If a vacancy exists in a gender neutral room, the following will occur to fill the empty bed:
    1. Housing will place another student who has requested Gender Neutral Housing in the open bed.
    2. If a roommate cannot be identified, Housing may require remaining residents to relocate to another room; room type match not guaranteed. 
    3. Housing, at its discretion, will allow the students occupying the room to pay for the additional space if all agree to the additional charge.

Returning Penn undergraduate students participating in the Room Selection Process for Residential Programs, In-House and Inter-House:

You may indicate your interest in gender neutral housing. This will change your assignment gender to neutral for assignment purposes. It will remain neutral until a change is requested. This change does not change your gender in the Student Registration System.

  • Since the priority phases of  In-House and Inter-House processes require that students fill all of  the beds in the room being requested, students requesting gender neutral housing must identify their own roommates.  All roommates must request Gender Neutral Housing in order to be assigned to the same room.  The housing system will not allow men and women to be assigned to the same room unless all students’ genders are neutral.
  • During the general selection phases of the In-House and Inter-House processes, students requesting Gender Neutral Housing may only select rooms where others have requested Gender Neutral Housing.  
  • A roommate must communicate any plans to room change or cancel his/her agreement to all roommates as soon as that decision is made.  If remaining residents have another roommate that can fill the vacancy, they must submit the request in writing for review by the Assignments Office within 24 hours of their roommate’s cancellation. Otherwise, the Assignments Office will fill the vacancy as described in #5 above.