Over 6,000 students move into on-campus housing for new school year

Over 6,000 students moved into Penn’s on-campus housing in the past week. 

Penn Residential Services expected 2,423 first-year and 133 transfer students, 2,398 second-year students, 553 third-year students, and 359 fourth-year students to move into campus housing between Aug. 21 and Aug. 27. In addition, 101 students returned to The Radian and 359 moved in, according to Barbara Lea-Kruger, director of communications and external relations at Penn Business Services.

As was the case last fall, Residential Services continued to use measures implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic, such as mobile check-in, mobile guest passes, and arrival time slots, according to Penn Residential Services.

Students in specific groups began moving in starting Aug. 21, such as pre-orientation program participants and transfer, exchange, international, Penn First Plus-sponsored, and first-generation, low-income students. Incoming first-years started moving in on Aug. 22, and returning students who did not move in early moved in between Aug. 25 and Aug. 28.

Students were allowed to bring guests to help with move-in, with no limit on the number of guests allowed this semester. However, all guests had to be pre-registered with a mobile guest pass and present a valid photo ID to be signed in.

Students could check in on the RHS Portal website, at any of the welcome tents, or at their building’s information center. There were also tents near the College Houses where students could sign out carts to help with moving in. Cart usage was limited to one hour, and a fee would be assessed if they were returned late.

Free street parking was available for up to one hour at the allocated move-in time and location to allow students to unload their belongings. Once the cars were unloaded, they were directed to one of the parking garages around campus, according to the Residential Services website. 

For the first time in recent memory, students moving into Harnwell, Harrison, and Rodin College Houses on Aug. 26 and Aug. 27 via car were instructed to drive onto Locust Walk from Walnut Street where they would stop at the unloading zone. Move-in team members would unload cars into carts, and drivers would move their cars off of Locust Walk once unloading was completed.

This year was also the first where graduate students could visit the Student Services Fair and the dining cafes were open for students to dine with their families and guests, Lea-Kruger wrote.

Wharton sophomore Allen Lin moved into The Radian, which will function as a part of Penn's College House system for the next three years. In a text message to the Daily Pennsylvanian, Lin wrote that the move-in process was "smooth overall" due to few people moving in early and an "abundance of close parking spaces and carts.”

There were a number of move-in coordinators to help students with the move-in process stationed around campus, including cart tents, unloading zones, and designated move-in parking spots.

Some first-years living in the Quad, where Riepe College House is currently closed for renovations, said their move-in process was chaotic.

College first-year Moussa Dibassy said his experience moving into Fisher Hassenfeld College House was a "little hectic” and that the PennCard system was a "nightmare.”

“There were so many different stations I had to get to before I could settle in,” he wrote. “Our car ended up in several different locations before we accessed any building – actually more of a hassle than I could imagine.”

Another College first-year, Sophia Mirabal, said that her move-in experience to Fisher “went as smoothly as possible.”

“Any issues I ran into during NSO were largely technical," she said. "I know most freshmen were not provided a lot of the attendance codes for [Thrive at Penn] after events, were unable to access laundry servers, et cetera."

Mirabal added that she had relied on student-made group chats or other third-party communication for navigation on campus.