Housing applications for 2019-2020 opened for availability on Dec. 5 and include new options for students to learn about the different residence halls on campus.

Eight residence halls are open to new students: Kohl Hall, Falcon Heights, Founders Hall, Kreischer Quadrangle, McDonald Hall, Offenhauer Towers, Centennial Hall and Conklin Hall. Centennial and Conklin are open exclusively to freshman and transfer students, while University Apartments and Greek Village houses are only available to returning students.

Approximately 6,000 students currently live on campus. According to Office of Residence Life Recruitment and Communication Coordinator Stephanie Brinkman, the largest portion — around 21 percent — live in Kreischer. The next largest portion —14 percent — live in the Offenhauer.

According to Brinkman, each of the residence halls available to new students will be viewable as a virtual reality tour online in the next week.

“It’s going to be a great tool for all students to look at the different housing options. Maybe they know their hall and their best friend’s hall but they haven’t been in all eight, so it’s going to be an opportunity to tour every single room layout,” she said.

The virtual reality tours make use of the movement sensing features of smartphones and tablets to simulate the experience of standing inside the dorm rooms.

“Within the residence halls we have 17 different types of room layouts. … You can use your phone and turn with it and explore what the rooms look like that way. You can then click into a single room, a double room, see what the lobby’s going to look like,” Brinkman said.

People who are unsure where to start when setting up their housing can contact the Office of Residence Life directly or go to the residence life section of the website and click on the links, which lead to every necessary step and form to fill out. Another resource for new and returning students is the selection of Facebook pages hosted by the University. Students can use these pages to ask their peers about which dorms and apartments are best for them.

One of the most common mistakes students make in this process is waiting too long to commit to a housing plan, according to Brinkman.

“If they’re a new student and they’re considering maybe a couple of different universities, not making up their mind until January or February to pay the $200 initial housing payment and application, they’ll be a lot later in the process and their housing selection time will be later than their peers who have signed up early. They would get their third, fourth or fifth choice of housing,” she said.

A lot of returning students think they don’t have to complete a housing application or pay the $200 initial housing payment because they’ve lived on campus.

“That’s required no matter what every year they live on campus because things change, and we need that commitment that they’re coming to campus next year. Housing selection time is randomized for returning students and based on the day they pay for new students,” Brinkman said.

For more information about campus housing or to get started, visit https://www.bgsu.edu/residence-life.html.

Most off-campus housing options near the campus include:

Greenbriar Inc. https://www.greenbriarrentals.com/

John Newlove Real Estate http://www.johnnewloverealestate.com/

Mecca Management Inc. https://www.meccabg.com/