Intersession Housing

All students who wish to return to campus for any portion of Intersession (between January 1 and January 21) must register AND provide a valid reason for being here. You will note on the January Registration Form (in my.mtholyoke) that there are several reasons established to be eligible to stay on campus. Students in a prior SGA meeting on this topic developed the criteria. You must select your reason and provide the necessary details on the registration form. We will use the details provided to verify your need to stay.

You will also note we have created a criterion that allows for a hardship consideration. This is the place where students can make requests based on financial need, travel hardship, or other unforeseen circumstances. A committee made of offices across campus will vet decisions on the hardship requests. The Committee will notify you on your eligibility to stay.

You may request to be here for any portion of or all of Intersession. We will activate your card access and meals for the dates you request so make sure you overestimate rather than underestimate the time you will be here when registering. For example, if you think you will return on either January 10 or 11, register to stay starting on January 10 so you're sure your card access and meals will be working when you return.

The registration form is available to all students via my.mtholyoke. Log onto my.mtholyoke and click on the January Registration link. The registration form will be open until December 1, 2023

Yes, you can. Up until when the form closes on December 1, you can go in and delete/cancel your request and we will not consider your request to stay. If your plans change after December 1, please email res-life@mtholyoke.edu to let us know so we know who is on campus and who is not for safety reasons.

A small committee is formed to review and decide on all hardship request cases and the Office of Residential Life verifies all on-campus employment and research that names faculty. The Office of Residential Life then emails all students with an approval or lets them know if they are not approved.

We will do our best to notify on a rolling basis, but there is some time involved in verifying and all hardship cases will be reviewed in batches. It is possible you might not know whether you are officially approved until after the December 1 deadline, but we will try to get you the information sooner if we can. If you know for a fact you fit one of the criteria – international student, on-campus employment, etc. — you should plan as though you are approved as we very rarely do not grant permission for these cases. If you have a hardship case, we will do our best to notify you as quickly as we can but you can feel free to contact the Office of Residential Life and speak to Director Rachel Alldis if you have questions about your eligibility for staying.

There is no fee for Intersession. The College will fully underwrite the cost for this again this year.

Yes! If you are approved to stay for Intersession, you will stay in your own room.

Please check out the dining website for the most up to date information.

January 1 - Closed (to-go items available the day before.)

January 2 - 7

• Breakfast - Closed
• Lunch - 11:30am - 1:30pm
• Dinner - 5:00-6:30

January 8-19

• Breakfast- 7:15-9:00
• 'Lunch - 11:30am - 1:30pm
• Dinner - 5:00-6:30

January 20-21

• Breakfast- 7:15-9:00
• Lunch- 11:30-1:30
• Dinner- 5:00-10:00

Regular Hours Resume January 22.

Unfortunately, no. Students who are going on any kind of leave, including academic and non-academic, study abroad, etc. are not eligible to stay for Intersession. Students who are returning from leave (including study abroad) are also not eligible to stay for Intersession. December graduates are not eligible to stay for Intersession. The reasoning for this is one of simple logistics – students who are leaving must move out of their rooms at the end of the fall semester because we use those rooms to house the returning students and incoming Spring Admits. We need time to clean those rooms and get them ready for the students returning in the spring, as well as completing the room change requests we get from students. If you have questions about whether you are eligible to stay for Intersession based on your personal circumstances or have additional questions, please contact Residential Life and we will gladly help you think through your eligibility and potentially about alternative housing options.

Commuter students will continue to have uninterrupted access to College buildings and resources such as the Library and Kendall Sports and Dance Complex. Registration is not needed for commuter students.

For students NOT on leave who are continuing from the fall to the spring semester on campus, registration is not needed if you plan to return on or after January 20. If you wish to be here earlier, you need to register and fit one of the criteria listed on the registration form. This means you can return at any point in the weekend prior to the spring semester starting without registering or worrying – all student card access will go on starting on the 20th.

For students who are returning to campus for the spring after being on a leave or Spring Admits, you are not eligible to move in early. You should plan to arrive when the residence halls open for all students. Housing requests are processed during the first week of January. Your housing assignment will not be confirmed to allow you to move into your Spring room assignment early. You may stay on campus as a guest of another Mount Holyoke Student but you will not have access to the residence halls or meals. We need your contact information in case of an emergency, please email it to res-life@mtholyoke.edu.

There are limited services on campus. Your Resident Advisor and Residential Fellow are not on duty, some campus services are limited and classes are not in session. Meal service is reduced to certain hours. Students are expected to continue to adhere to College policies. This is especially true of the guest, noise, alcohol, and drug policies.

Feel free to contact the Office of Residential Life if you have questions, we would be glad to help with anything we can! Any questions that are relevant to all students will be added here as well.