Campus Residency Policy


Updated: 2/19/24
Contact: Student Life Office

All students are required to live on campus and must be enrolled in a minimum of 12 credit hours, unless authorized by the Office of Student Life, except when meeting one or more of the following conditions:

  • 23 years of age prior to the first day of the semester;
  • married and/or have children and/or other legal dependents living with you;
  • enrolled in less than 12 credit hours;
  • have an earned bachelor of arts or science degree;
  • Transfer students who have earned 48 hours or more of college credit post-high school graduation from another institution prior to first-time enrollment at William Jewell and do not:
    • receive and accept Scholar level performing arts or debate scholarships
    • participate in the Honors Institute
    • participate in varsity athletics

Transfer students who meet the criteria for exemption and who wish to live off campus must complete the Residential Policy Appeal prior to first time enrollment. 

Institutional aid awarded to students who elect to live off campus will be adjusted upon the approval of an exemption. Institutional aid will be reduced by 50%. Institutional aid includes academic, department, athletic, and need-based dollars from William Jewell College. Tuition Remission is excluded from this recalculation. Students living on-campus who request to live off should consider the impact on their institutional aid with the Financial Aid Office before applying. The determination by the Financial Aid Office will be considered final, and individual departments may not override this decision. The Financial Aid Office reserves the right to determine the institutional funding based on extenuating circumstances.

The College makes every effort to accommodate roommate and residence hall placement requests. Applications with reciprocating roommate requests seeking placement in the same residence hall are more likely to be accommodated. Roommate assignments and building placement are the College’s discretion.

All residential students are required to have a residential meal plan. Students with earned credit hours of 90 or more may elect to opt out of the meal plan requirement or can elect the commuter meal plan.

Members of Greek organizations are required to live in their chapter house unless the house is at maximum occupancy. If at maximum occupancy, the organization will follow its "house-fill" procedure to determine which members live in the house.

Failure to comply with this policy may result in the requirement to pay full room and board, and/or loss of institutional aid. Because student’s financial award is based on information provided on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) by the student (and student’s parent(s) if applicable), a student is suspected of misreporting information to increase student aid eligibility or to fraudulently obtain federal funds, the student will be reported to the U.S. Office of Inspector General.