Housing: 

We encourage you, as an international student, to live on campus at Grand Valley. Laker Village and the International House at Murray are strongly recommended since most international students live in either of these two housing options. Request apartment-style housing instead of traditional dormitories ( dorms) as you will be provided a full kitchen. If you are a J-1 student, apply as a 3rd year transfer student. Visit the Grand Valley Housing website to apply. You will find out your housing placement in mid-August. You will need to provide your home address if possible. If the application will not accept your address, please use the Padnos International Center address: Padnos International Center 130 LOH Allendale, MI 49401 If on campus housing does not fit your needs, off campus housing is also available.

Prohibited Items

Housing and Resident Life Community Standards has a list of PROHIBITED items that may not be allowed in on-campus housing. Please review the list of prohibited items before you move in.

Resident Assistant: 

If you plan on studying at Grand Valley for more than one year, we recommend you apply for a Resident Assistant (RA) position for your second year of study. RAs are upperclass, undergraduate, students that live in the freshman living areas. They contribute to a positive community living experience by serving as a campus resource for first- year students and coordinating social and academic activities for residents. The RAs will be introducing themselves at check-in and as they visit the residents in their rooms during the move-in process.

Lifestyle Agreement: 

You must fill out the roommate lifestyle agreement found under myHousing in your myBanner. This gives the university an idea of what kind of student they should assign in your housing unit.

Renters Insurance: 

We recommend you purchase renters insurance to cover the belongings inside your apartment. In case of damage to these belongings, Grand Valley is not liable.

Facilities: 

If you encounter anything in your apartment that needs to be repaired, you will submit a work order request online through facilities to have someone come and fix the issue. Requests submitted on-line will be acknowledged in a three-step process:

1. The request will immediately be assigned a request number, which you will receive before exiting the Work Order web page.

2. Following the conversion of your request to a work order (normally the same day), you will receive an automatically generated e-mail message providing you with a work order number which can be used for subsequent work order queries.

3. At the completion of the request you will receive an automatically generated email message indicating the date it was completed. *Keep in mind the work order system is not compatible with Mozilla Firefox. Please use Internet Explorer.

Addresses and Mailing: 

All residential housing addresses can be found on the Grand Valley website. You will need to know your address or the address of the Padnos International Center, upon entry to the United States. Mail is distributed Monday through Saturday in residents' mailboxes. All residents share a mailbox with their roommate(s). Packages and mail items too large to be placed in the mailbox may be picked up at the front desk for your housing area during open hours.

Proof of Living Abroad: 

If you need a letter proving when you lived or that you are currently living at Grand Valley, you may request that letter in the Central Housing office located in 103 Student Services.

More Useful Information: 

Each stove has an overhead fan that is turned on with a switch on top. We recommend students turn on this fan and keep it running while cooking. Every apartment has a thermostat that controls the temperature inside the apartment. Average indoor temperatures range from 68° to 72° Fahrenheit (20° to 22° Celsius). If the fire alarm is pulled, it is mandatory that you evacuate your room. In case of a fire or tornado, emergency plans are found on the door of each apartment. All on campus housing enforces quiet hours. Quiet hours are periods of time where residents will be required to restrict noise levels to an appropriate level to allow for study time and sleeping. Sunday through Thursday evenings from 10:00 p.m. to 10:00 a.m. are designated quiet hours. Weekend quiet hours begin at midnight and end at 10:00 a.m. All other times will be courtesy hours during which you are requested to keep noise levels sensitive to all floor residents' needs. Each living center and on-campus apartment complex has laundry facilities for residents to use. You will be provided with a laundry card, preloaded with cycles for use. If additional cycles are needed, you may purchase them at the VTM locations (North Living Center C, Ravine Apartments, Laker Village North Community Center and Niemeyer Living Center). Living centers have vacuums for students to borrow; however, they do not have cleaning supplies. You will be responsible for purchasing and using these items yourself.