ACCESS will cover the cost of double occupancy rooms (meaning double occupancy shared bath or suite-style rooms) in any of the dorms.
Please note: If an ACCESS student chooses an on-campus apartment (any housing situation that involves a kitchen), they will be responsible for the difference between it and the highest double occupancy/shared bath rate. To see rates for all the buildings, click here- these amounts may change for next year but this gives you an idea!
Single rooms are not listed as an option during ReApp and are very unlikely to get in general.
All ACCESS students have the benefit of priority housing. This means if you are currently living on campus you have the option to reapply and be prioritized for housing on campus again next year as long as you fill out the reapplication & sign your contract ON TIME. This means keeping an eye on your email. If you miss the email, we are unable to help! We will provide this information in the weekly announcements with the specific dates and deadlines for that year. Keep your eye on the announcements for these dates!
Please note: the person you want to live with also has to complete reapplication & sign their contract ON TIME!
Once you sign an on campus housing contract, you are responsible for any fees you are charged if you break the contract.
If you choose to cancel your contract and notify University Housing in writing within 2 business days, you may avoid a cancellation fee.
A $500 cancellation fee will be assessed, provided you notify University Housing in writing of your intent to not live on campus on or before May 31st.
A $1,000 cancellation fee will be assessed, provided you notify University Housing in writing of your intent to not live on campus on June 1st through July 15th.
You will be held liable for the entire amount of the housing charge for the full academic year if you notify University Housing of your intent to not live on campus on or after July 15th, unless you are not enrolled for the fall semester.
Step 1: Enter the University Hosuing StarRez Portal
Step 2: Complete the Reapplication for 2025-2026 by December 1st.
In order to receive priority housing as a member of ACCESS, you must indicate that you wish to apply to ReApp as an ACCESS student.
Please understand that under this priority, the rooms you may select are limited to blocks held in App Heights, Laurel Creek, Doughton, Raven Rocks, New River, Thunder Hill, and Mountaineer. If you wish to apply to ReApp without the ACCESS priority status, please indicate that you will NOT be utilizing your priority status.
During the invitation period, you will be asked for any unaffiliated (non ACCESS) roommate names, and App State email addresses. If you are not ready to list who your roommates will be for next year, please wait to do the application (last day to complete it is 12/1).
Please make sure you tell your roommate that they also need to complete the Reapplication process.
Final Step Happens Between 12/4-12/19: Select your space, meal plan, roommates, and sign your contract!
Housing will be in DDD on 12/4 to provide support from 9am-12pm in 143 DDD. Please plan to come by and do your housing selection here so they can help you troubleshoot any issues that you may run into.
After your first year, ACCESS students have the option to live off campus.
Finding off-campus housing is your responsibility and can be difficult in Boone! ACCESS does not find off campus housing for you and cannot provide you any money in advance for off campus housing.
Below are some recommendations, rental companies to start looking at, and an overview of what ACCESS will financially support!
Start looking for housing early!
If you are interested in starting an August 1st lease, we recommend you begin contacting rental companies the Fall prior, so almost a year in advance.
This is because off-campus housing is competitive and there are usually long waitlists. Best to start early and stay on top of it!
Pay close attention to the date leases start! You probably want a lease starting August 1st. You also want to make sure it is for the correct year.
Click here for a list of rental companies and their rankings in the Boone area.
The websites are not listed here, but you can find contact information by Googling the rental company's names.
It is not uncommon to find housing in Facebook Marketplace as well, but be careful to watch out for scams! Some helpful facebook groups are:
Appalachian Classifieds
Boone Rentals
High Country Homes and Rentals
Appalachian State University Apartments and Housing
App State Apartment and Roommate Finder
Money for your housing will come to you through your student account as a refund.
Make sure you have a direct deposit setup so you can get this money quickly and easily.
ACCESS will refund you the cost for on-campus housing and meal plans, which typically is about $6100 a semester (Fall and Spring) or about 12,200 for the year.
You will get the refund of the $6100 a few weeks into both semesters (late August/early September and then again in late January/early February).
You will be responsible for using that money to pay for your housing as well as cover any additional costs that money does not cover.
We do not pay security deposits or application fees, and typically you don't have the money in time to pay August rent, so you need to plan accordingly for all of that.
Most leases are 12 months, which means you need to budget this money to cover summer rent or have another plan to cover your summer rent.
Beth and Claire are unable to be your cosigner or guarantor.
A lot of places off campus required students to have someone be a cosigner or guarantor for them.
Some students use parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, or siblings.
Others have used the parent of the friend they will be living with.
We are unable to write a formal letter, but you can share the information from the how does the money work section and your financial aid award with the company to see if they are willing to work with you.
Please note: This can be a barrier and is something that is helpful to think through as you are deciding on where you want to live.
A lease is a legal document so it can be VERY helpful to meet with someone from App State's legal clinic to review your lease with you before you sign it or send money for deposits.
The legal clinic is also helpful if you are thinking about subleasing your apartment or subleasing from someone else so you clearly understand what is your obligations versus theirs.
Subleasing means that you either have someone take over the remainder of your lease or you take over someone else's lease. This is very common in Boone, but it is best to clearly understand what you are agreeing to.
Can I afford it?
The ACCESS refund is about 12,200 for the year so that is $1016 a month if you have a 12 month lease. This is meant to be room and board so that means rent and food.
What will your monthly bills be?
Some units are all inclusive, others you have to pay things like electricity, TV, cellphone, WIFI, water, propane/gas, renter's insurance, trash, lawn, etc.
It is important to know what your source of heat is in the winter. If it is propane or other heating fuel, it is important to know how to get that refilled and who's responsibility that is.
How long is the lease I am signing?
Most leases are 12 months which means you need to have a plan to cover summer rent since ACCESS does not pay for summer housing
What deposits will I need to make? How will I cover those?
Sometimes you have to make deposits not only on the apartment but to WIFI, electricity, and other utility agencies
Once you move off campus, you lose your ACCESS on-campus housing privilege's and it is unlikely you will be able to get that back. Are you ready to take that risk?
Are you confident that your roommates will pay his/her part of the expenses? What happens if they do not live up to their part of the rental agreement?
Are you on separate leases or will them not paying impact you.
Will I have a reliable, quiet place to study?
How will I get to campus? Drive and need a parking pass or AppalCart stop nearby? Can I afford the parking pass and higher gas expense?
What will you do if you have serious roommate issues?
Am I prepared to cook for myself? Do I know how much it will cost to get groceries?
Do I have what I need for the apartment?
Furniture, dishes, etc.
Other things to consider:
Location
Is the location convenient?
Is there parking for you and your guests?
Is it within walking distance from campus or near public transportation or do you plan to drive?
Conditions/quality
Have you viewed the unit?
Are the conditions acceptable to you?
Has the landlord made any promises to you about improvements or repairs to be made to the rental unit before you move in?
If so, do you have those in writing?
Have you asked the landlord specific questions about things that are important to you?
Have you used other resources to gather more information?
Online reviews, talk to current or former tenants!
Extras
Does the rental have all the amenities you want?
Have you viewed the amenities to see if they meet your expectations? Are they worth it?
Are pets allowed?
If so, do they have restrictions such as amount of pets or size of pets?
Are there pet fees and deposits?
As a financially-eligible ACCESS student, your meal plan is covered for you. You will be prompted to select a meal plan when you choose an on-campus room. You can learn more about all the meal plan options here!
Any money leftover that is not paying for your meal plan will be refunded to you to help buy any additional groceries.
Upper class students can pick from any of the 5 meal plan options. You can learn more about all the meal plan options here!
If you live in an apartment style dorm that has a kitchen in your room, you are not required to select a meal plan. The meal plan equivalent will be refunded to you to help you buy groceries.
Off-campus students can opt into one of the commuter plans if they would like, but the cost of the plan will be taken out of your off-campus housing refund.
If you need to change your meal plan, you can find the meal plan change form on the bottom of this page. The deadline to change meal plans is the Census Date of each semester (found here)
As an on campus student, you will have access to your dorm from your move in date in August until move out day in May.
The exception to this is winter break! Housing closes for winter break, so you are unable to stay in your dorm for winter break.
All other breaks, you can choose to stay if you would like.
Dining hall hours may be limited over breaks so keep an eye on your email to put requests in if you plan to stay over break. You can see the holiday and break schedules here for the different dining halls.
Summer housing (on or off campus) is not covered by ACCESS.
You can live on campus for parts of the summer, but it can be expensive. For more information, click here.