Off-Campus Housing

Applications for the 2025-26 academic year will open Monday, Jan. 20 and are due Wednesday, Jan. 29 at 4:30 p.m.

Wartburg College prides itself on being a four-year residential campus. Because Wartburg College values the role of residence hall life in creating a vibrant living/learning community, all full-time students are REQUIRED to live on campus all four years and for the duration of each academic year. A student desiring to live off campus must apply for approval from the Residential Life Office. All off-campus decisions are made through the Off-Campus Review Committee. Students who move off campus without permission for release will be held responsible for full room and board charges.

Incomplete applications or late applications will not be reviewed and will result in automatic denial. If you believe you may want to live off campus pending your housing lottery results, you should still apply during the regular off-campus process to ensure you have approval. 

Students who receive a scholarship that requires them to live on campus (Full Tuition Regents Scholarship, Tuition Remission, Tuition Exchange, Wilhelm Loehe Scholarship, ELCA Tuition Exchange, Harry & Polly Slife Minority Scholarship, R.J. McElroy Minority Scholarship, International Ruppe Scholarship, Davis United World College Scholars Program and McCaskey Orange Opportunity Scholarship, Otto Legacy Scholarship) must meet with Financial Aid before submitting an application so they understand the impact off-campus approval may have on their financial aid package.

Initial decisions for off-campus approvals will be announced by mid-February. If you do not meet any of the off campus living criteria but have submitted an application for other reasons, there may be a delay in the college’s response to you based on the gathering of information and the need for additional review meetings.

If you do not receive final notification of approval prior to the start of the Housing Lottery Process, you will need to participate to ensure your opportunity to secure preferred on-campus housing for the following academic year. Failure to participate in the Housing Lottery does not allow you to live off-campus without approval. If your application is approved after securing an on-campus space, you can still choose to reside off-campus.

Please choose the appropriate application based on the criteria below.

Criteria One – automatic release after verification – must meet one of the criteria below.

• I am married (verified by Residential Life)
• I am or will be 23 years of age or older on the start of the fall term that I am applying for (verified by Residential Life)
• I have dependent children (verified by Residential Life)
• I will be interning full-time further than 50 miles from campus (verified by  Internship Coordinator)

Criteria two – applications will be reviewed by the off-campus release committee. Approval is not guaranteed. Students applying with this criteria will have a $600 non-resident fee applied each term to their student account for each term they reside off-campus. Students requesting an exemption based on their status as an Active-Duty Military Member or Veteran Status must provide a copy of their DD214 as proof of Veteran or Active Duty status.

• I will be commuting from my legal guardian’s home, within the 30 mile radius of campus (requires notarized letter from legal guardian and proof of address)
• I will be in my final year at Wartburg, have lived on campus for 6 semesters, and have a GPA of 3.0 or higher (Verified by the Registrar and Residential Life).
• I have a circumstance that I feel requires special attention for review. Must include a written description of said circumstance and any supporting documentation you feel is pertinent to our decision.

Student requesting off campus permission for medical or mental health needs must submit proof of housing accommodation approval from disability services.

Criteria three – I have been previously approved to live off campus (still required to apply online).

Any incoming new or transfer students desiring to live off campus must apply for approval from the Residential Life Office prior to the start of the fall term.

Applications are reviewed and sorted by the following criteria.

Criteria One – automatic release after verification – must meet one of the criteria below.

• I am married 
• I am or will be 23 years of age or older on the start of the fall term that I am applying for 
• I have dependent children 
• I will be interning full-time further than 50 miles from campus

Criteria two – applications will be reviewed by the off-campus release committee. Approval is not guaranteed. Students applying with this criteria will have a $600 non-resident fee applied each term to their student account for each term they reside off-campus. Students requesting an exemption based on their status as an Active-Duty Military Member or Veteran Status must provide a copy of their DD214 as proof of Veteran or Active Duty status.

• I will be commuting from my legal guardian’s home, within the 30-mile radius of campus (requires notarized letter from legal guardian and proof of address)
• I am a transfer student who lived off campus at my previous institution for two or more semesters.
• I have a circumstance that I feel requires special attention for review. Must include a written description of said circumstance and any supporting documentation you feel is pertinent to our decision.

The following scholarships have an on-campus living requirement: 

• Tuition Remission
• Tuition Exchange
• ELCA Tuition Exchange
• ELCA International Women
• R.J. McElroy Minority Scholarship
• Davis UWC Scholarship
• McCaskey Orange Opportunity Scholarship
• Harry & Polly Slife Minority Scholarship
• Iowa Access To Excellence
• Professor AW Swenson Regents Scholarship

Students who are receiving these scholarships that choose to live off campus will be forfeiting any future funding they may have received from these scholarships.