Frequently Asked Questions

Apartments in University Village are gender specific. Floors in The University Village are co-ed. We offer a Gender Inclusive Community option as well!

For more information, please contact us at housing@pnw.edu.

For prospective residents who would like to apply to live in University Village, please consult the following link for instructions outlining how to apply to University Village: Click Here To Apply!

Your Housing Application is considered complete when you have completed all of the application items outlined on our website. This includes:

• Housing Application (online)
• Housing Application Fee
• Housing Deposit
• Completed Immunizations (verified by MedProctor)

Once these items are all complete, you will be notified via email. We will then put you on our ready to be assigned list based on the date you first submitted your application and the date we record your application as complete (based on the items noted above). You will then need to find as many roommates as possible (if you would like to pick your roommates- if not, we can find some for you!) and be patient as we work to find the right space for you in University Village.

There are two Housing Contract Cancellation Request types:

• FUTURE Contract Cancellation: for Housing Contracts that have NOT started yet. This request can be found here: Forms and Docs.
• CURRENT Contract Cancellation: for Housing Contracts that have started (you are living on campus right now). This request can be found here: Forms and Docs.

Please follow the instructions on this page and submit the contract cancellation request online, along with any supportive documentation needed to help Housing make their decision. This can include but is not limited to:

• Acceptance Letter if transferring
• Withdrawal confirmation from PNW
• Bank statements/letters from parents to support any unforeseen financial hardship
• Email from Financial Aid office confirming aid amount
• Email from Advisor
• Medical paperwork signed by a medical practitioner
• Email noting your status on the Housing Waitlist

Each request is reviewed and handled on a case-by-case basis and will take up to 10 business days to process. All communication will arrive via your PNW student email.

PLEASE NOTE: Cancellations after the start of the contract term will result in a significant financial penalty. Please email/communicate with our Housing Operations Coordinator before moving out and finding new Housing off-campus so we can help you make the best financial decision possible.

Once you have submitted your Housing Cancellation Petition, you have two ways to proceed:

1. You can move out immediately (without receiving a decision via email). Please make sure you check out properly by cleaning out your room and stopping by the front desk for your building to complete an Express Checkout Envelope (you will return your mailbox key and access card- this will remove your access to your room and the building). Your housing charges will end the day you complete this process. If you move out without completing this process, you will continue to be charged housing fees until Housing staff find your room empty (which will result in a $50.00 Improper checkout fee).
   • If you are informed that your petition was denied after moving out, you will have 24 hours to move back into your room and avoid cancellation fees, however, if you do not reply to the email with this intent, your assignment will be cancelled and your cancellation fees will remain in place.
2. You can continue to live in housing until a decision is emailed to you. During this time, you will continue to be charged for each day you live in your apartment (based on your contract). Once you are informed of your decision, you can then move out by completing the checkout process by the date indicated in your decision letter.
   • ​​​​​​​You will typically have 48 hours to complete your move-out process (as outlined in your decision email). This process starts by cleaning out your room and stopping by the front desk for your building to complete an Express Checkout Envelope (you will return your mailbox key and access card- this will remove your access to your room and the building). If you move out without completing this process, you will continue to be charged housing fees until Housing staff find your room empty (which will result in a $50.00 improper checkout fee). 
   • If you submit your petition within 20 days of the end of the contract period (noted in your contract), you will not be refunded for any housing room charges, and your move-out date will be the end of the contract period (the Saturday of finals week by 5 p.m.).

Watch your PNW student email for a decision email detailing any cancellation fees and the checkout process! This email is VERY IMPORTANT and will require you to reply if you are moving out.

The $200 housing deposit that must be on file in order to be considered for a space in University Village serves only as a deposit for any possible damages while in residence.

The housing deposit does not guarantee an assignment in University Village.

Students applying for Housing have a few options regarding payment. Please understand it could take up to 48 hours for your payment to be reflected on your student account (so Housing Staff can see it). We appreciate your patience as we update your Housing Application progression.

Online Payments:

1. Log into the MyPNW Portal
2. Go to the Bills and Payments tab on the left.
3. In the “Bills and Payments” box, click on Bill and Payments Portal (at that point, a separate window will appear).
   1. Please note: Pop-up Blocker must be turned off.
4. In the new window, there should be a tab on the menu bar that reads “Deposits,” click on it.
   1. Go to the “Make a Payment” option in the menu bar to pay your Application Fee.
   2. You should see the Housing Application fee as an option to pay (it will take 72 hours for this charge to be reflected in your student account). If you don’t see it, you can include it in your deposit total by entering $200, OR you can wait and check back later.
5. Select a term- if you can’t find the term you are applying to, please pick the current term (must push the select button).
6. Select the type of deposit – “Housing” (must push the select button).
7. A box will appear at the bottom of the screen, type in $200 and click continue.
8. Select the method of payment and enter the information (you will have the option to save this method for future payments)
9. Click continue through the confirmation and receipt steps.
10. Please understand it could take up to 48 hours for your payment to be reflected on your student account (so Housing Staff can see it).

Questions about the online payment process should be directed to the Bursar at (219) 989-2560.

In Person (at the Enrollment Services Center in Lawshe Hall)

You can pay with cash, money order or check (make checks payable to Purdue University Northwest).

International Students

International students can pay for housing costs via an electronic transfer of funds or ‘wire transfer.’ To request information regarding wire transfers, please email the Bursar’s Office at bursar@pnw.edu with a subject line entitled “Request for Wire Transfer Information.”

We understand paying for housing on campus takes planning! Please read all the options below so you know what is available to you! You will not be able to move in until you have paid your balance in full or have set up a payment plan.

Financial Aid

Inquire with the Office of Financial Aid by calling their office at (219) 989-2301 or check your Financial Aid status online via myPNW.

Payment Plan

Set up a monthly payment along with your tuition and fees using the online payment plan. Inquire at the Bursar’s Office by visiting Lawshe Hall, calling (219)989-2560 or online via MyPNW.

We met with our Financial Aid office to discuss this more and hope this video will help you see that you can make living on campus a part of your PNW experience!

If a prospective resident has been assigned a Waitlist number, the Department of Housing and Residential Education will assign the prospective resident to an open space in the order of their Waitlist number. For example, if the prospective resident’s Waitlist number is 10, the individuals with Waitlist numbers 1 through 9 will be assigned to any open spaces before a space is assigned to the prospective resident with the Waitlist number of 10.

The waitlist will be online this year and can be viewed anytime. Once placed on the waitlist, you will be issued a list and a number. You can visit that website to view your placement on the waitlist anytime.

Please note: there will be different Waitlists for First-Year and Returning Students, and residents will only be tracked in one list based on their status.

If there are still students on the waitlist in October, we will work with them to be assigned to a space for the spring semester (they will have priority over all new spring students/applications), and the waitlist will be reset. The old link will no longer work, and a new one will be issued.

View the Waitlist

Remember: there is a different tab and waitlist for Returning and New students, so make sure you’re looking in the right one!

Your Waitlist ID should have been communicated to you in your Waitlist Notice email; please use that to find yourself on the Waitlist. The closer to 0 you find your Waitlist ID, the closer you are to being assigned a space.

If the prospective resident has been assigned a Waitlist number and has not accepted an assignment, the prospective resident must cancel the housing contract in order to have the housing deposit released. If the prospective resident cancels the housing contract, they will lose their spot on the Waitlist.

To cancel the housing contract while on the Waitlist, the prospective resident must submit a cancellation request via this form (reason: Waitlist Withdrawal).

Please note: when the housing deposit is released, it will go toward any outstanding balances on the student’s account first. If there are no outstanding balances on the student’s account, then the housing deposit will be issued back to the prospective resident. Please contact the Bursar’s Office for more information.

Assignments will be given to each student based on the following items (as outlined in the Housing Contract). There is an Application Priority Date each year; please be sure you are aware of this date and do your best to complete everything by/before this date.

1. Date/time of your completed Housing Application Items (see “When is my application considered complete?” above for more information)
2. Students must be registered as full-time (12 hours for undergraduate students; 8 hours for graduate students) by the dates indicated in the Housing Contract. They can also be found here on our website. If this date is not honored, the students risk losing their assignment and will be placed on the waitlist.
3. Students who have lived on campus for less than eight semesters will be given next priority.
4. Students in good conduct standing (not currently/recently on housing probation, no overdue sanctions, etc.) will be given final priority.

While the Department of Housing and Residential Education does not guarantee roommate requests, we will do our best to accommodate such requests. To increase the likelihood of being assigned with the person you have requested, please make special note of the following:

1. Each prospective resident should submit their completed housing materials as soon as possible.
2. Each prospective resident needs to request/confirm their potential roommate in the housing application.
3. The roommate request must be accepted mutually.

These helpful hints do not guarantee that a roommate request may be granted but will increase the chance of the assignment being made.

Assignments staff from the Department of Housing and Residential Education will be in contact with the student who has applied to live in University Village via their PNW student email.

Assignments staff assesses the eligibility of each resident on a first-come, first-serve basis. In order to be considered for an assignment, the prospective resident must have all materials submitted and a space must be available for assignment.

If the prospective resident is eligible for assignment, our Housing Operations Coordinator will contact the prospective resident with a completion notice. The student’s assignment information will be sent via the student’s PNW student email at least two weeks before the move-in day.

If roommates cannot resolve an issue despite completing a roommate agreement and meeting with their RA for a room mediation, residents can submit a Room Change Request Form online when the room change request form is available.

After residents complete this form, it will be submitted to the Assignments staff for review.

Residents will then meet with the Community Director and discuss the room change request, at which point Assignments staff will approve or deny the request. All cases will be reviewed and handled on a case-by-case basis.

New Residents to University Village should first talk to all their roommates about what they are bringing to ensure there are no duplicate items in kitchens and living rooms.

Here is a list of suggested items:

Bedroom (Provided: Twin XL size bed, dresser, desk and chair)

• Sheets (Twin Extra Long)
• Blanket (Comforter) and Pillows
• Alarm Clock
• Computer and Printer (Wireless printing is not allowed, so be sure to bring a printer cable!)
• Ethernet Cord (Wi-Fi is available, but plugging into ethernet is a faster connection)
• TV
• Small Lamp
• Shower curtain rod and shower curtain/drape for closet (if applicable in Griffin Hall)
• Keyed Lock for personal items (all top drawers of our chest of drawers have a place to put a lock if you want to secure certain items)
• Micro-fridge (recommended for rooms with bunk beds- double rooms) no larger than 3.2 cu. Ft.

Bathroom (Provided: shower, toilet, sink w/ mirror)

• Towels
• Bath Rug/Mat (these are REQUIRED for each resident to have)
• Shower Curtain (these are REQUIRED for each resident to have)
• Toilet paper
• Toilet Brush
• Bathroom Cleaning Chemicals
• Rags and/or sponges to clean bathroom

Living Room (Provided: Sofa, Chair, Coffee Table, End Table, Entertainment Center)

• Compact Stereo (Quiet Hours at 11 p.m.)
• TV and HDMI Cord (streaming service provided)
• Floor Lamps (no Halogen Bulbs)

Kitchen/Dining Area

• Plates, Cups, Glasses
• Utensils (Silverware)
• Pots and Pans
• Coffee Maker
• Toaster
• Cleaning Supplies (Soap, Chemicals and Rags)
• Garbage Can and Bags
• Recycle Bin (bags are available at the front desk of your building)

Laundry (Provided: three washers and three dryers per floor)

• Detergent (HE preferred)
• Fabric Softener
• Basket
• Hangers

• Amplifiers
• Wireless router/splitter
• Subwoofers
• Extra furniture (sofas, mattresses, futons, etc…)
• Liquid filled furniture
• Weapons (including knives that are not kitchen knives and any items that mimic a real weapon, such as paintball guns)
• Candles
• Wall decals/stickers
• Halogen lamps
• Incense
• Mini fridge taller than 20 inches
• Outside grills
• Fireworks
• Deep freezer
• Large appliances
• Hoverboards (any self-propelled scooter device)
• Pets (except fish in 10-gallon tanks)
• Dartboards
• Nerf guns
• Radio transmitting equipment
• Doorway pull-up/chin-up bars
• Vertical/weight-bearing tension rods
• LED self-adhesive flex strip lights

Residents of The University Village are assigned a mailbox on the first floor of the building in which they live. Residents receive a key to their mailbox.

Please Note: Under no circumstances should a resident give their key to anyone else. If a staff member of Housing and Residential Education discovers that a mailbox key is in the possession of someone other than the resident, the staff member will confiscate the mailbox key and write an incident report about the situation.

Hours will be posted as to when packages will be distributed. If a resident receives a package, the package will be logged and the student will receive an email when their package is ready to be picked up. To retrieve the package, the resident must present their ID to the Griffin Hall front desk during the hours indicated in the notification email.

If the resident is unable to retrieve the package during these hours, they may make special arrangements with the HRE Staff to pick it up by emailing housing@pnw.edu or by calling (219) 989-4150.

See All WiFi Information

Eduroam

The primary wireless network at Purdue University Northwest, eduroam, should be used whenever possible. This network broadcasts throughout PNW and is also used by institutions worldwide, including the other Purdue University locations. You can use your @pnw.edu email address and career account password to connect to eduroam at any of these locations. Cell phones, tablets, laptops, and computers should all be connected to eduroam when connecting wirelessly. Any issues connecting to eduroam should be reported to the PNW CSC using this form or by emailing csc@pnw.edu.

How to connect:

1. Select “eduroam” from your wireless settings.
2. Enter your username in the following format: “username@pnw.ed.”.
3. Enter your current PNW career account password.
4. Connect.

If connecting from a mobile device, you may be asked to enter additional information:

• EAP Method = PEAP
• Phase2 Authentication = MSCHAPv2
• CA certificate = Do not validate

Troubleshooting:

• If you have been off campus for a while and are unable to reconnect to eduroam upon returning, use your device to FORGET the eduroam network and then reconnect to it. If that does not work, please get in touch with csc@pnw.edu.
• Have you changed your password lately? If so, you will be asked to reconnect to eduroam with your new password.

For more information about eduroam and where it can be found worldwide, click here!

CalnetMedia or PNW-Media

These networks are designed solely to support devices unable to authenticate to eduroam. Examples include gaming consoles, smart TVs, and TV addon devices (Roku, Apple TV, Chromecast, etc.).
Devices able to authenticate to eduroam, such as mobile devices, laptops, tablets, computers, etc. should NOT be connected to CalnetMedia or PNW-Media.

How to connect:

1. Go to mydevices.pnw.edu on a device currently connected to our network (Wired or Eduroam WiFi, not ATT WiFi)
2. Sign in with your Career Account credentials
3. Click Add and enter the requested information (you will need your device’s MAC address)

Registration may take a few minutes to complete. If you have issues connecting your device after waiting 10-20 minutes and restarting the device, please contact the CSC at 219-989-2888 for further assistance. Please have your device’s location and MAC address available when doing so.

AT&T  Guest Wifi

AT&T is a guest network available to those visiting the PNW campus and unable to connect to eduroam. While it can certainly be used as a backup network in the event of a wireless outage affecting the other networks, attwifi should never be relied upon as the primary network for those with access to eduroam as it is much slower in comparison. This network may also become unreliable if more than the intended audience connects to it. Issues with the attwifi network should be reported to the 24/7 AT&T Wi-Fi Technical Operations Center at 1-888-888-7520.

How to Connect:

Visitors will see the network’s public name as “attwifi”

• Select the attwifi network
• Agree to ‘Acceptable Use Policy.’ You will be connected to the network
• If you are not prompted with the ‘Acceptable Use Policy’, please open your web browser. You will be redirected to the AT&T ‘Acceptable Use Policy’ page. Once you agree to the policy, you will be granted access.

You can also look at the following articles:

• Windows 7
• Windows 8 and 10
• Chrome books
• Android
• IOS
• MAC

To assist with preventing the continued spread of COVID, there are items we are recommending all students bring with them to campus. These will be helpful not only in your room/apartment, but also while in classes and on campus:

• Face coverings (enough for a week) with proper bag to wash them in
• Disinfectant wipes for the apartment and your backpack
• Disinfectant spray/cleaner for common areas/bathroom
• Hand soap
• Hand sanitizer
• Digital Thermometer
• Tissues
• Band-aids and antibiotic cream
• Allergy and anti-diarrheal medication
• Over-the-counter fever reducer medication (such as Tylenol or Paracetamol)
• Contact information of your health care provider
• Health insurance contact information
• Gloves

The staff of Housing and Residential Education encourages residents to speak directly with the roommate with which they have a conflict.

In the case that direct communication is not accepted or is not appropriate given the circumstances, the resident is encouraged to speak with their Resident Assistant. The Resident Assistant will advise, make suggestions, or intervene, given the circumstances.

In some cases, the Resident Assistant will alert the HRE Senior Staff of the situation, who will step in to mediate the concern. The staff of Housing and Residential Education encourages residents to communicate with one another to resolve conflicts.

The Health and Safety Inspection is a tool used by Housing and Residential Education to check on the cleanliness status of each apartment suite, to address any maintenance concerns discovered by staff, and to assist residents in getting into a cleaning routine.

Health and Safety Inspections are conducted once or twice each semester by Resident Assistants and the Department of Housing and Residential Education maintenance staff. Residents are usually notified of the date and time frame when Health and Safety Inspections will be conducted (though inspections may happen at any time). Residents should prepare their apartments prior to the Health and Safety Inspection. If residents fail their health and safety inspection, they will be documented and, when necessary, the Department will step in to address cleanliness concerns.

If the Department needs to address cleanliness concerns, the residents of the apartment suite will be charged for the labor and supplies related to the cleaning and maintenance needs of the apartment. In addition, failing a health and safety inspection is a violation of housing policy, and this failure will be a part of the student’s conduct record.

If a resident discovers that something needs to be fixed in their apartment, the resident should report the concern immediately to the front desk of their building. For more information, please visit our Work Order Page. The University Village Maintenance Crew members do their best to address concerns in a timely manner.

You should also put this in your Room Condition Report (RCR), which will be available in the Housing Portal 72 hours after checking into your room. You will receive an email with instructions, so please be sure to read them fully so you aren’t charged for any damages that were present when you moved in.