Residential life at St. Olaf College is a strong, defining feature of the student life experience. St. Olaf College has a four-year residency requirement, and during the four years students live on campus, they will live or socialize within most of St. Olaf’s eleven residence halls.

The majority of campus living is comprised of double rooms. There are exceptions to this–some residence halls also have triples; pods with rooms opening onto a common living are; townhome and apartment-style living; and a very small amount of single rooms. Generally, students should expect to be living with a roommate.  

Disability Accommodations for Housing Policy

St. Olaf College has a no-pets policy. Animals allowed on campus are:

• Service Animals–dogs that have been specifically trained to perform one or more disability-related tasks for their handler.
• Emotional Support Animals–animals that have been approved by Disability and Access as an accommodation to the no pets policy. We acknowledge that pets of all sorts provide a beneficial source of companionship for their owners. However, Emotional Support Animals are not pets. They are a prescribed, necessary part of the mental health provider’s therapeutic plan for the student to address very specific needs.

ESA Policy

Minnesota statute 609.833: It is against the law to misrepresent an animal as a service animal and is punishable by fines and jail time. An emotional support animal is not a service animal, but their owners can be liable under this law.

ADA Policy

Dining with other students is an important part of the residential experience. With this in mind, St. Olaf College collaborates with Bon Appetit, who serves as the college’s dining service vendor, to provide high quality, nourishing, and plentiful dining options to meet student dietary needs. The Meal Plan Accommodation Procedures page will assist students who have a medical need or request that requires a special diet or students whose religious practices require them to follow certain dietary requirements. 

If, after meeting with the student to discuss their needs, it is determined that Bon Appetit cannot accommodate the student for medical reasons, DAC will be notified and an accommodation can be discussed at that time.

Due to St. Olaf College’s location on a Hill, parking options for students are extremely limited! Parking permits are not guaranteed and they are available on a first-come basis.
Do not plan to bring a car to campus until your permit has been granted. Please review the full Parking Policy for more details, as well as the Parking Center’s FAQ.

There are some excellent transportation options for Northfield and beyond, which usually are sufficient to ensure prescriptions and specialized groceries can be obtained.

If you believe you have a need for a disability-related accommodation, please complete our Campus Life Accommodation Request Form. (Note: requires your St. Olaf email account.)

Your Access Specialists are committed to ensuring that all information and communication pertaining to a student’s disability is maintained as confidential as required or permitted by law. The following guidelines about the treatment of such information have been adopted by Disability and Access. These guidelines incorporate relevant state and federal regulations.

• No one will have immediate access to student files in Disability and Access except appropriate staff of Disability and Access. Any information regarding a disability is considered confidential and will be shared only with others within the college who have a legitimate educational need to know.
• Accommodation Letters addressed to the student’s faculty will not inform the instructor of the nature of the disability. The letter will only state that the student has met with an Access Specialist in Disability and Access, and we have determined the student is eligible for the accommodations listed.
• Students are encouraged to discuss details of their learning style/patterns/preferences with their instructors, but they are not required (nor should the instructor ask them) to discuss the disability itself.
• Personally-identifiable information relating to a student may not be disclosed to any third-party, including a student’s parent except as authorized by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and other applicable federal and state laws.
• Any information in the student’s Disability and Access files relating to the student will not be released except in accordance with federal and state laws.
• A student’s file may be released pursuant to a court order or subpoena.
• If a student wishes to have information about the disability shared with others outside the College, the student must provide written authorization to their Access Specialist to release the information to a specific person or institution.
• A student may be given access to certain information in their Disability and Access file with reasonable notification.