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Two-Year Residency Requirement
Updated Nov. 21, 2025
With new campus housing coming online starting in fall 2026, Cal Poly is extending the existing two-year residency requirement to students in all colleges beginning with first years admitted for the 2026-27 academic year. This residency requirement deepens students’ connection to campus life, fosters collaboration, and strengthens the Learn by Doing experience.
Required Groups Defined
- First-year students who arrived in 2025 and are part of the two-year housing program — College of Agriculture, Food & Environmental Sciences, College of Architecture & Environmental Design, College of Engineering, Student-Athletes, Cal Poly Scholars or TRIO Achievers — will live on campus a second year in 2026-27. All other students are not required to live on campus.
- All first-year students arriving in 2026 will live on campus their first year at Cal Poly and will have the opportunity to live on campus their second year in 2027-28.
Exemption Criteria
Since residential life is such an important part of the Cal Poly journey, exemptions from this requirement are limited and only granted to students who are:
- Current or active military veterans
- Married, domestically partnered and/or have legally dependent children
- Of independent status
- Twenty-one years of age or older
- Studying abroad or away for an internship
- Have documented medical and disability circumstances as noted by the Disability Resource Center (DRC)
- Living locally with a parent or guardian
- Financial hardship, eligibility for which is determined solely by the Office of Financial Aid based on a Student Aid Index (SAI) of $15,000 or below. Students should verify that their SAI is ≤ $15,000 before submitting a housing exemption request, as this is the sole factor used to determine approval for the exemption. Decisions regarding financial hardship exemptions are final and not subject to appeal, as students can verify their SAI in advance. Requests submitted by students who do not meet the stated SAI threshold will be denied.
Signing up
Once students are admitted to Cal Poly and the Housing application opens, they can sign up for their space in the Housing Portal on MyCalPoly. Exemptions requests are also made through the Housing Portal.
