Admissions

Bellarmine Housing Application How-To

Admissions

A step-by-step guide to the first-year housing application with FAQs

In true Bellarmine fashion, we want to help you prepare for the most exciting part of college: Life in the Residence Halls! Our housing application process is designed to be as user-friendly as possible, but as with everything in life, there will always be questions. This resource will help answer the questions you may be pondering, and perhaps even some you didn’t think to ask!

 

When can I apply for housing?

Any first-year student who has been admitted to Bellarmine, and has paid their enrollment deposit can apply to live on campus beginning December 1st at 9 am Eastern. You can access the housing application on our housing website Then, on March 15th, the housing preferences section (which includes roommate selection) will open.

 

Why is there a separate section for housing preferences?

The housing application is focused on letting us know that you plan to live on campus so we can be ready with all the supportive Residence Life staff necessary to welcome you next year. 

We wait until March to open the housing preference section because we recognize that you may not know yet if you want to be matched with a specific roommate, or if you prefer to let us match you based on your profile details. A lot can change between now and the start of your first year at Bellarmine, so we want to give you time to consider your options and possibly get to know some of your future classmates. After you’ve had some time to connect with your future classmates, then you’ll have the opportunity to select a roommate. 

It will open after you've had some time to connect with your future classmates through our Class of 2028 Facebook Group and admitted student events. This means we are going to help you form connections with your future classmates and decide what you want from your roommate experience. We want to make it as easy as possible to make connections!  

 

Why don’t I choose my residence hall in the application?

Like roommate preference, we don’t expect you to know exactly what you want from your first-year on-campus experience just yet. You may discover you are interested in joining a Learning Community or our Honors Program and you want to be placed in their specialty housing. You may be deciding if you plan to request accommodation to support your medical, dietary, or other needs. Those are details that will also be included in the housing preferences section that opens in March. 

 

What’s up with the bathroom situation?

In all our first-year residence halls, we offer community-style bathrooms. This offers you the opportunity to form connections and get to know everyone on your floor while you share laughs brushing your teeth late at night or early in the morning. It also saves you the trouble of cleaning the bathrooms, because our maintenance staff will take care of that for you throughout the day. Community bathrooms: make friends, not messes

 

When will I get my housing assignment?

We will match you with your roommate (either the person you formed a roommate group with or a person we match you with based on your profile) and notify both of you on June 1st of your residence hall and room assignment. At that point, we encourage you to start planning for what each of you will be bringing and coordinate duvet covers to your heart’s content!

What do I need to complete the housing application?

Your Bellarmine Username and Password are available in the "Your Bellarmine Credentials" section of the Knight's Next Steps Portal.

If you can’t find either of those, you can email your admission counselor to get this information. You will also need to pay your $200 enrollment deposit, which is refundable up until May 1st. There is no separate housing deposit.

 

What does the housing application entail? 

We’ve got some images to walk you through this first section of the application so you know exactly what you will see as you go through this process.

 

Res life portal

 

This is the landing page for your housing portal. You will log in here with your Bellarmine credentials.

Res life portal 2

 

This is the page you will see once you log in to your portal. You will select Academic Year 2024-2025 to begin your application. Please make sure you select the correct academic year, or your housing application will not be marked complete on your Next Steps checklist.

PortalX, page 2

 

This is what you will see when you click Apply. Your personal information should be filled in, but we want you to make sure it’s correct before you proceed any further in your housing application.

Res life portal 3

 

Once you’ve verified your personal information, you will sign your housing contract.

 

res life portal 4

 

Next, you will fill out your online housing profile. If you do not want your profile to appear when other students search for potential roommates, leave the “Check this box if you want to be included in other people’s roommate searches.” checkbox unchecked.

 

res life portal 5

 

The Health Information & Housing Accommodations page gives you information about our housing accommodation process (managed in partnership with Bellarmine’s Accessibility Resource Center) and allows you to let us know if you have circumstances for which you’ll need assistance in the event of an emergency.

 

res life portal 6

 

That’s it, you’re done with your housing application!

Housing Preferences (Opens March 15th)

Image of the Housing portal

To access the roommate selection and housing preferences pages, return to the “Your housing application for 2024-2025 is complete!” page in your 2024-2025 housing application.

Screenshot of the Dropdown menu to select Housing Preferences

There are two pages available in the drop-down menu at the bottom of that page:
  • Roommate Selection – this is the page where you form a roommate group with your selected roommate, or where you can search for someone to join your roommate group.
  • Housing Preferences – this is the page where you indicate your priorities for housing – such as whether you want to live in Honors Program housing or learning community housing.

screenshot of the roommate group selection processScreenshot of the Roommate Group Tools section

Tips and Tricks

  • If you receive a request to join someone’s roommate group, this is the page you need to return to in order to accept their request. Please do not respond to the email notification.
  • If you can’t find someone when you search, either they haven’t started their housing application, or they have blocked their profile from search results.

Image with information about housing preferences

A note on hall selection and room placement.

Our first-year students are placed in Kennedy, Newman, Siena Primo, and Siena Secondo. These halls are assigned, and you will not have the option of "choosing" a residence hall in your first year. If you are admitted to a Learning Community or the Honors Program you have the option to live in that program's designated residence hall. This portion of the application is where you indicate if you prefer to live with the students in your learning community. For Student Athletes, your coach may discuss team preferences for housing with you.

Once you have completed this section, you are all done and can expect to receive your assigned room/roommate on June 1st.

If you are looking to connect with future classmates and find a roommate, we recommend you join our Class of 2028 Facebook Group.

 

Tags: Admissions , Housing , Student Life

 

ABOUT BELLARMINE

Located in the historic Highlands neighborhood of Louisville, Kentucky, Bellarmine University is a vibrant community of educational excellence and ethical awareness that consistently ranks among the nation’s best colleges and universities. Our students pursue an education based in the liberal arts – and in the distinguished, inclusive Catholic tradition of educational excellence, the oldest and most rewarding in the western world. It is a lifelong education, worthy of the university’s namesake, Saint Robert Bellarmine, and of his invitation to each of us to learn and live In Veritatis Amore – in the love of all that is beautiful, true and good in life.