After You Unpack

Wearing a face covering or mask is required whenever you leave your room, suite, or apartment except when you are in a common area bathroom and wearing a mask is not feasible due to showering, shaving, or brushing teeth. In the event of a fire alarm, you must also wear a face mask when evacuating your room and while standing outside, and you must maintain physical distance when outside.

You are required to conduct a brief daily health care screening before leaving your residence hall room or attending class. This daily screening will involve a temperature check and a review for COVID-19 related symptoms such as shortness of breath, cough, body aches/muscle pain, sore throat, new loss of taste and/or sense of smell, fatigue, and headache.

After moving in, no guests are permitted during the first two weeks of the semester.  This will allow your RA to meet with you and your roommates to discuss the guest policy and expectations.  SBU-affiliated guests are permitted (after the first two weeks) subject to the following limitations:

• They must wear a face mask
• Residents are limited to hosting one guest per resident within their room/suite/apartment
• No overnight guests are allowed 
• No guests from outside SBU are allowed 
• Exceptions will be granted for move-in/move-out
• Exceptions will be granted for ADA compliance requirements
• All exceptions are still subject to the same guest limits and expectations
• Roommate agreements will be utilized to clarify roommate expectations
• Should guests fail to comply with these expectations, they can be asked to leave and the guest privileges of the resident can be revoked 

This guest policy applies to all students living in campus housing, including those living in single rooms. The guest policy may be suspended at any given time should university guidelines surrounding COVID-19 change. 

You are strongly discouraged from leaving the campus. If you do need to leave campus, you are expected to follow all social distancing and face-covering requirements to ensure your safety and the safety of others. Do not attend parties or group gatherings where people are not following social distancing or wearing masks, as these are examples of potential super-spreaders of COVID-19. 

If your residence is in an apartment or suite, the use of the kitchen and bathroom facilities is a shared responsibility between you and your fellow residents. Clean and disinfect all surfaces on a regular basis. Bathroom surfaces should be wiped down after each use. Restrict shared use of all such spaces in the interest of maintaining social distancing and decreasing the risk of COVID-19 transmission. 

More information is available on the  Coming Back Safe and Strong website.

The University welcomes our students from other countries and US States other than New York Students travelling to campus from other countries or from other states than New York are an important part of our residential community. They bring a diverse set of experiences to the campus and to the residential community. 

As these students typically don't travel home very frequently, the residence halls and apartments are available for occupancy (as well as for all residents) throughout the entire academic year, including the Winter Term. The cost of housing for Winter is included as a part of the Fall and Spring semester housing charges. During the summer, there are limited facilities available for housing and these are billed as a separate rate. 

There are also linens available for these students on a loaner basis until they are able to purchase these items for themselves. Visit your area office upon arrival if you need to borrow linens.