LIFE ON CAMPUS

Using the Housing Portal (for incoming freshmen only)

When accessing the housing portal, please use the latest two versions of the following browsers:

• Google Chrome
• Mozilla Firefox
• Apple Safari
• Microsoft Edge

Follow this link to the Louisiana Tech housing portal.  Enter the login credentials used to access your Louisiana Tech University email account, which is given to you once you are admitted to the university.  You must be admitted to the University before you can apply for housing.  **All correspondence from the Residential Life office will be sent to the Louisiana Tech email address so we encourage you to check the account frequently.**

Click on “Application” in the blue menu bar.  Select the term in which you are applying and click “Apply”.  Please pay special attention to the application schedule for important dates.

FIRST YEAR STUDENT APPLICATION SCHEDULE (for new students only)

*Students will be given a specific time-slot, within the above date and time range, in which they can begin selecting a room based on the initial date and time that Part 1 of the app fee is received.*

Verify that your personal information is correct.  You are not able to make changes to this information within the system but can email our office at Housing@LATech.edu with necessary changes.

Complete the Emergency Contact Information with details regarding whom to contact in the case of an emergency or if we need to consult with someone regarding your location.  Click “Save & Continue”.

Complete the Special Housing Options detailing your interests in specific housing accommodations.  Clicking “yes” to these does not guarantee an accommodation request approval  but instead shows your interest.  Students requiring special accommodations should apply with the Office of Disability Services.  Click “Save & Continue”.

Living Learning Community Options:

• • Honors LLC –  Potts A suites (contact the Honors Department to make sure you are enrolled in the Honors College)
  • Entrepreneurship LLC – Robinson B suites (must apply to the LLC)

Once you click “yes” and show interest in a particular LLC, we will verify that you meet the requirements for that LLC.   If so, you will be given a profile which will allow you to see that LLC’s housing location when your time slot opens for you to select an assignment.

Respond to the roommate survey to reflect your personal preferences.  Answer as honestly as possible.  This survey can assist you in searching for roommates with similar preferences.  You can also indicate which building style is your top preference.  Take note of your roommate matching screen name, which can be given to friends when attempting to select each other as roommates.  To be able to participate in roommate matching, the box at the bottom of the page must be checked to allow others to search for you.

The $150 Part 1 application fee is nonrefundable.  The date and time of this payment indicates the timeframe/time slot in which you will be able to book a room at a later time. When you select “pay now”, you will be redirected to a secure Paypal site to enter your debit or credit card information.  Once the fee has been paid, you will be directed back to the housing portal to view your receipt.  You may print the receipt for your records.  (There is a 2% surcharge on all card transactions).  You will also receive a confirmation email.

The Roommate Groups page is where you can begin searching for compatible roommates, invite students to live with you, and accept or decline roommate requests, once the Part 1 application fee is paid.  However, you will only be able to search among students that have also paid Part 1 of the application fee.  Please note that you are not required to join a roommate group to be able to book a room, once room selection opens to you.  Also, the “group leader” status is not applicable to our process therefore anyone within the group has the ability to assign bed space to other roommate group members.

• Searching for roommates can be done 1 of 3 ways:
  1. Search for roommates by details:  If you already know whom you want to room with, you can enter their screen name to find them and ask them to be your roommate.  Only students who have completed the application steps and paid the application fee will be visible in your search.
  2. Search for roommates by profiles:  If you would like to see only those students who answered the same on their survey, you may use this option to narrow down your search.  This enables you to place greater emphasis on specific roommate survey questions.
  3. Search for roommates by suggested roommates:  Based on your answers in the roommate survey portion of the application, those listed in this area were determined to be the most compatible.  To consider those listed as possible roommates, you may want to “view” their profile and/or “send a message” through the system.  You can also click to “add to group” to request them as a roommate.  If you do so, the student will receive a message through the system letting them know that you have requested them as a roommate.
• Requested roommates:  A student will appear in this section once you send them a request to room with you.  The student will stay in this section until they have either accepted or declined your request.  Just a reminder that you will also receive a message once the student  responds to your roommate request.
• Accepted roommates:  A student will appear in your “accepted roommates” list if you sent a request to room with the student and they accepted.  You will only be able to assign an accepted roommate to the room with you during the room selection process.
• To return to the main Roommate Groups page, click the button Manage Group.
• Messages:  You will notice three lines at the top left hand corner of the blue menu bar.  You can click on that drop down menu and select “messages” to read and respond to messages sent through the portal.

How to Select a Room, Assign a Roommate and Pay the 2nd Application Fee for Confirmation

A time slot will be assigned to you based on when you paid part 1 of the application fee.  You will receive an email one week prior to your  time slot opening.   Please refer to the “First Year Student Application Schedule” on our website and the homepage of StarRez for those date ranges.  If you paid before your accepted roommate, and your time slot opens before his/hers, you may assign  him/her into a room with you.  They will be allowed to confirm and continue their application once their time slot opens.

1. After you have entered your credentials on the StarRez portal, click on the “Room Section” step.  This step will only be visible once you are granted access.
2. A list of residence halls, suites and apartments that are available to you will be shown on the page.  If you applied for and were accepted to live in a Living Learning Community, you should have received an email, and that building or buildings will be available for you to select as well.
3. Once you have determined which building you would like to reside in, you will click “select” on that building preference and a list of rooms will appear.  (We recommend deciding on your building preferences and speaking to your accepted roommate(s) prior to your room selection time slot.) You may filter your room selection by choosing options from the column on the left.  Please note you can see bed availability and/or who is already assigned to a specific room by selecting show room info.  Please make sure you click on the room/apartment that has enough space available to accommodate you and your accepted roommate(s).  To select a room, click “add to cart”, which will then begin a five minute countdown.  Click “Save & Continue” at the bottom of the page to proceed to your cart.
4. Next, you will be able to assign yourself and your roommate(s) a bed space.  Click on the “Select Bed” drop down menu to assign a bed space to you and your roommate(s) and click “Assign Beds” to secure those spaces.  Next will be a confirmation page, and once you have verified your selection, please click “Save and Continue”.  Please remember that you will only be able to assign those students into your room who are listed in your roommate group.  Also, the student cannot already have an assignment in the portal.  If you selected earlier in the application process that you are interested in a Living Learning Community, you will not be able to assign your accepted roommate(s) into an LLC location unless they too elected that they are interested AND they meet those specific requirements.
5. Please note that those in your roommate group, whom you invited to live with you, will need to log into their portal to confirm the room in which you assigned them once their time slot opens.  Once they have accepted your request to become roommates, they give you the ability to assign them into a space.  Assigning a roommate means that the roommate(s) cannot choose another living space in the portal – they will only be able to confirm the space that you assigned them.  Should your accepted roommate decide not to reside where you assigned him/her, our office would need to be contacted so we can cancel his/her assignment.  A student cannot  have multiple assignments in the portal.
6. Once you confirm your room, you will be directed to a page that enables you to sign the Housing Contract/Lease.  Please review this information carefully before typing your Campus Wide ID number in the field at the bottom of the page, which serves as your signature of agreement to the terms of the lease.  You may print this page for your records.  To complete the page, click “I agree to the University Housing Contract Terms & Conditions.”
7. After you have signed your contract or entered your proxy information, you will have the opportunity to sign up for renter’s insurance.  GradGuard is a company that offers renter’s insurance to college residents.  Information about the policy and coverage is listed, or you can contact GradGuard directly for more information.On this step you will be asked to select either start my GradGuard enrollment or decline all coverage. If you select to enroll you will be asked for your credit card information, and GradGuard will provide details about payment and when the policy will begin.If you decline the coverage you will be asked to confirm your decision or it will give you an option to be reminded about this policy at a later date if you need more time to think about it. You can also enter your guardian’s email address for information about the policy to be sent directly to them.Please click save and continue to move on to the booking fee step
8. All students must confirm their booking/assignment by paying a booking fee of $100 after selecting an assignment.  This is considered Part 2 of the app fee.  You may pay this immediately after booking a room or before the scheduled deadline.  You will proceed through the shopping cart for this fee, just as you did for part 1 of the application fee.  Please see the “First Year Student Application Schedule” to be reminded of this deadline.  If a student fails to pay their $100 Part 2 app fee by the stated deadline, his/her assignment will be deleted.  The student will still have access to select another room space on campus but loses the previously selected space.
9. Once you have completed each step in the application process you will be directed to the “Application Status” page which will give you the details of your booking. We highly encourage you to check your Louisiana Tech email account on a regular basis, as all communication from our office will be directed by email to your student account, once you complete the first step of the application fee.  We look forward to having you live on campus with us soon!

Academic Year 2023-2024 (9 month lease) locations to be determined based on availability***: