Housing & Dining Programs (HDP) are making changes to housing prices, dining plans and the housing application process for the 2027-28 academic year. Students no longer have to wait to reserve a room and will be able to select one along with a dining plan immediately after completing their application in the Housing U portal in CIS. The first students to do so will receive certain discounts.
The upper division housing application opens on Monday, Oct. 5, 2026 at 10 a.m. MST. For first-year students, the housing application opens on Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2027 at 10 a.m. MST. The $200 reservation fee has been eliminated, leaving a $130 application fee for first-time housing applicants.
Dining plans are required for students living in Lassonde Studios and Impact & Prosperity Epicenter’s singles and doubles, and at the residence halls of Chapel Glen, Gateway Heights, Kahlert Village and Sage Point. Other on-campus housing areas are meal-plan optional.
On Monday, Oct. 5, HDP is also hosting a fall 2027 Upper-Division Open House event at Trailhead, Impact & Prosperity Epicenter and Lassonde Studios from 1-4 p.m., where students can tour several rooms at each of the buildings.
Discounts
HDP is offering discounts to students, depending on what applicant number they are and their eligibility for other financial aid. The first 400 students to book any housing space get $1000 off.
The next 600 applicants for any upper division housing space get $500 off. The first 100 students in select upper division residence halls who select a required meal plan get $2,500 off. Students are eligible to receive up to $3,500 in discounts.
Dining plan options for students and their prices for the academic year are the Swoop 10 at $7,289, Swoop 14 at $6,808 and Swoop 19 at $6,647. Flex dollar amounts per semester vary for each meal plan’s set taps per week. Swoop 10 has $600 flex dollars, Swoop 14 has $350 flex dollars and Swoop 19 has $200 flex dollars.
The Swoop 5 plan has been eliminated, and there will be commuter block plans instead for the 2027-28 academic year, Executive Director for Guest and Dining Programs Anna Dickherber told The Daily Utah Chronicle.
Dining plan changes
Dickherber said there will be block plans commuter students can pick, or they can choose the Swoop 10, Swoop 14 or Swoop 19. She said that Housing & Dining Programs have heard feedback saying that commuter students “want to dine on campus, but they don’t want to commit to a full residential dining plan.”
These commuter block plans will be cheaper, according to Dickherber. “But also give students a chance to engage in the dining community and eat with their residential peers or friends while they’re here on campus for classes,” she said.
Dickherber said that student usage of dining areas during winter break was flat and not “highly utilized.” Dining plan prices have decreased as a result of removing those days, according to Dickherber. She also said that students will have the option of getting supplemental dining plans during winter break.
Housing costs
Associate Vice President for Housing & Dining Programs Sean Grube said in an interview with The Chronicle that next year’s housing rates as a whole “are staying almost entirely flat.”
According to Grube, the singles in Lassonde Studios have the highest demand and sell out almost immediately. The cost for Lassonde Studios’ singles has increased by $660 for the 2027-28 academic year to a total of $12,898. These rooms are available for first-year students.
LLCs
The Living Learning Community (LLC) application process has three main classifications: interest-based, profile-based, and interview-based, according to Grube. He said that this LLC process has been built into next year’s application because “we must get students matched to their interests and what they want to be a part of and participate in.”
Students can directly book into an interest-based LLC, Grube said. A profile-based LLC, like honors-specific housing at Kahlert Village, Donna Garff Marriott Honors Residential Scholars Community (MHC), or Trailhead, requires students to be in the Honors College to be eligible.
There are other LLCs that conduct interviews as part of their selection process, according to Grube. He also said that students will be able to reserve a room in those spaces. He added that they will have a supplemental interview to do so. “We don’t anticipate there’ll be too many folks that don’t match with their program overall,” Grube said. “But if they didn’t match with the program or they were a bad fit overall, then we will help them essentially select another space on campus.”
LLCs have a programming fee of $80 per year to support these specific communities’ activities, according to HDP. Also, all HDP areas have a student engagement fee of $66 per year that supports the Residence Hall Association (RHA).
Reservations
Grube said that reducing friction in the application process was one of HDP’s goals. “We want to make sure the process makes it accessible to as many students as possible overall,” he said.
According to Grube, HDP saw students frustrated and anxious during the waiting period of room selection. He said that students felt more a part of the U when they selected their room. Grube said HDP redesigned the application process based on this feedback.
Students will also be able to change their room selection at a later point, Grube said. July 14, 2027 is when students will no longer be able to change their room before they move in. Students can initiate a room change process two weeks after the start of the semester through their resident director.
HDP will assist upper-division students with getting a room between July 15 and 16, 2027, if they did not select one after their housing application was completed. During the contracting process, HDP will ask students about their preferences on buildings and room types, according to Grube. “And that is specifically so that if they don’t choose a room, we have the ability to try and place them in as close to a room type as possible,” he said. “So it’s not a guarantee by any stretch of the imagination.” HDP will match students to a room that is as close as possible to their wishes, according to Grube.
Vision
Grube said that housing is key to President Taylor R. Randall’s “College Town Magic™” initiative. No new housing has “actively broken ground,” but there are a couple of projects in development, he said.
Dickherber said that a future goal for dining is for students, staff and faculty to co-mingle and engage in dining areas. Housing has LLCs, Dickherber said, “but there’s such an opportunity for engagement and camaraderie in dining spaces that we’ve launched a faculty staff dining plan with a payroll deduction this past spring.”
Overall, Grube said that HDP’s goal is to increase access as much as possible. “So more students living on campus is just a more robust community overall,” Grube said. “And so we want to again provide that so that students have a place that they can come and call home.”
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