Housing Request

Housing in Harvard College dorms and undergraduate Houses includes a meal plan. In Summer 2023, room and meal plan costs were $6,550 for the seven-week session and $3,275 for a three-week session.

Adult and visiting college students, as well as students in the Secondary School Program, have the option to live on campus in Cambridge. The Pre-College Program is a fully residential program.  

Housing Eligibility

To be eligible for on-campus housing, you must meet the following requirements:

Immunization Requirement

If you live on campus, you must also comply with Massachusetts and Harvard University immunization requirements.

Accident and Sickness Insurance Plan

All residential students are automatically enrolled in and covered by the Summer School’s Accident and Sickness Insurance Plan, with Global Assistance Services.  This plan is provided by On Call International and is considered secondary coverage to your own health insurance plan. On Call International responds to critical medical or safety emergencies and can also help you resolve non-critical day to day travel problems any time you are participating in a Harvard Summer School program. 

See the Harvard Summer School Student Handbook for information on using Harvard University Health Services (HUHS).  

Gender-Inclusive Housing Requests

Harvard Summer School seeks to provide a welcoming, safe, supportive, and comfortable living environment to all gender identities. If you require a gender-inclusive housing assignment, we can provide you with a personal and confidential assessment of your available options.

It is important to contact us early in the process, but no later than the full payment deadline for your program, so that we may offer the widest range of housing options. The specific dates for the full payment deadlines will be available in early 2024.

To discuss your interest and available options, please contact the Summer School Housing Office at summerhousing@summer.harvard.edu.

Married and Family Student Housing

Harvard Summer School does not offer married or family student housing. Please visit Living Off Campus for off-campus accommodations.

Students With Disabilities

The Accessibility Services Office offers a variety of accommodations and services to students with documented disabilities, permanent and temporary injuries, and chronic conditions. If you are a student with a disability, the Accessibility Services Office engages you in an interactive process to provide you an equal opportunity to participate in, contribute to, and benefit from our residential programs.

To be considered for a specific housing accommodation, you must submit a request and appropriate medical documentation to the Accessibility Services Office as early as possible, but no later than the full payment deadline. To learn how to submit a request, and for additional information regarding accommodations, please see our Accessibility Services page. Specific dates for the opening of the housing request, as well as the full payment deadline, will be available in early 2024.

Single Room Requests

There are a limited number of single rooms available during the summer. As such, single room requests will only be considered if you have submitted an accommodation request to the Accessibility Services Office along with appropriate medical documentation indicating that such an assignment is necessary to allow you to fully participate in the summer school program. Decisions regarding single room accommodations are made by the Accessibility Services Office and may require additional information.

In general, the hope is for students to experience a residential college setting while here, which means having a roommate and participating in residential activities. The Accessibility Services Office will work with you to determine appropriate accommodations in the curricular, co-curricular, and residential spaces. For additional information, please see Accessibility Services.

Housing Assignments

Housing will be assigned to eligible students who meet the requirements specified above. In the unlikely event that we fill adult and college housing overnight, priority will be given to those students who met all eligibility requirements earliest. Should this occur, and we determine we must cancel your housing request, you will be notified via email within two business days and will receive a full refund of room and meal plan charges.

Please note building, room, and roommate requests cannot be honored. See Your Room to learn more about room assignments and roommates.

Housing Cancellation

The Harvard Assigned Task for housing in your MyDCE account will provide the link to cancel your housing request through the full payment deadline. After this date, you must email the Housing Office at summerhousing@summer.harvard.edu from the email address that is a part of your student record if you want to cancel your housing request. No other method of notification, including failure to move in or verbal notification, is accepted. If you drop or withdraw from all Summer School courses, you are no longer eligible for housing (see Course Changes and Withdrawals).

Secondary School Program students: if you wish to cancel housing but remain enrolled in courses, you must contact the Secondary School Program Office for approval.

Pre-College Program students: you must live in on-campus housing.

Cancellation and Refund Deadlines

If you cancel housing, the amount of your refund depends on the session for which you requested housing and the date your cancellation is submitted online or received in the Housing inbox.

To determine your refund, you will be able to refer to the housing deadlines listed in your program or session calendar, which will be updated in early 2024. See Refunds for additional information.