Upperclassman & Apartment-Style SCAD Housing

Beginning with students who entered as first-time, full-time freshmen in fall 2025, SCAD extended its university housing requirement through the sophomore year. The university says its research associates living on campus during the first two years with better attendance, academic performance, and graduation outcomes. Those are SCAD's reported findings, not proof that university housing itself causes those improvements. SCAD's reasoning is that students benefit from remaining connected to academic resources, transportation, university support, and other students while developing independence. That can be particularly useful in Savannah, where SCAD's academic buildings are distributed throughout the city and creative coursework often extends beyond scheduled classes. For covered students, second-year university housing is required unless SCAD approves an exemption. However, sophomore housing may offer greater independence than freshman housing: Barnard Village and Boundary Village, for example, have four-bedroom apartments with private bedrooms and full kitchens. That independence comes with shared household responsibilities and required meal-plan costs. SCADhome is the university's housing and residence-life department. Students and families can review housing policies and available residences at https://www.scad.edu/life/scadhome.

SCAD introduced its second-year housing requirement for the Class of 2029, which entered as first-time, full-time freshmen in fall 2025. The policy applies to covered students during their second year at SCAD. The distinction between enrollment history and academic credits is important. A student who arrived with advanced-placement or dual-enrollment credits should not assume that an advanced academic classification removes the housing requirement. Transfer students and students with interrupted or unusual enrollment histories may be subject to different rules. Students who are uncertain about their status should ask SCADhome, SCAD's housing department, to confirm whether the requirement applies before making alternative housing arrangements. For a covered student, signing a private apartment lease does not automatically exempt them from university housing obligations—even if the apartment is near SCAD buildings such as Montgomery Hall or Alexander Hall. Students who believe they qualify for an exemption should obtain SCAD's decision before committing to off-campus housing.

SCAD provides an exemption-request process for students whose circumstances may justify living outside university housing. Its published guidance specifically addresses students who intend to live at home with family in the local area, although approval is not automatic. Students with medical conditions, disabilities, or other significant circumstances may also need individualized consideration. SCAD's Office of Disability Resources coordinates disability-related accommodations, but an accommodation within university housing is not necessarily the same as an exemption permitting off-campus residence. SCAD's incoming-student instructions identify a housing exemption request form within MySCAD, the university's online student portal, under SCAD life → My housing. Returning students should confirm with SCADhome whether that is also the appropriate procedure for their situation. Before signing a Savannah lease, ask SCADhome about eligibility, documentation, deadlines, and financial consequences. An off-campus lease may create a separate financial obligation even if SCAD later declines the exemption. The university's complete current exemption criteria should be confirmed directly rather than inferred from another student's experience.

Freshman housing is largely a decision made without experience. Students evaluate photographs, floor plans, locations, and advice from others. By sophomore year, they know considerably more about their sleep habits, roommate preferences, transportation needs, and the environment that supports their creative work. The selection process also changes. Incoming students generally submit housing preferences and receive assignments. Continuing students participate in a separate registration process with assigned opportunities to select available rooms. That process begins earlier than many freshmen expect. For the 2026–27 academic year, continuing-student applications opened December 1, 2025. Students preparing for 2027–28 housing should begin watching for announcements during late November and early December 2026, although the new opening date has not yet been confirmed. Second-year students may also have access to apartment-style residences such as Barnard Village and Boundary Village, with four private bedrooms and full kitchens, or shared-bedroom suites such as those at Montgomery House. The best choice is not necessarily the newest building or largest room, but the arrangement that fits the student's academic schedule, budget, transportation needs, and preferred level of independence.

SCAD Savannah offers continuing students several types of university housing, from shared-bedroom suites to apartments with private bedrooms and kitchens. Eligibility and availability vary by academic year. Important residences to investigate include: • Barnard Village and Boundary Village: Apartment-style residences with four private bedrooms, two bathrooms, kitchens, and shared living areas. • Chatham: A residence in Savannah's Victorian District offering shared-bedroom and suite-style accommodations. • FORTY EIGHT: A newer residence developed to expand SCAD's upper-level housing capacity, with suite and apartment-style configurations. • Montgomery House: Shared-bedroom suites near Montgomery Hall, an important academic facility for animation, motion media, and visual effects. • Victory Village: Sand offers one-, two-, and four-bedroom furnished apartments, while Sail and Surf have other room configurations. • River: Additional suite and private-room configurations, depending on eligibility and inventory. These options differ in location, privacy, meal-plan requirements, and convenience to academic facilities. For 2026–27, Montgomery House shared-bedroom suites are listed at $3,634 per quarter, compared with $4,250 for Barnard or Boundary apartments with private bedrooms. The best choice also depends on where a student's major is based. Students should compare buildings through https://www.scad.edu/life/scadhome/residence-halls, then confirm which options appear in their housing-selection portal. A residence appearing in the directory does not guarantee that a particular room will be available.

In some residences, yes. Sophomores may select from housing inventory also available to juniors, seniors, transfer students, or graduate students. However, eligibility varies by building, and not every room is available to every student. The second-year housing requirement increases demand from sophomores who might previously have considered moving off campus. SCAD's development of FORTY EIGHT, planned to open in fall 2026 with roughly 800 residential spaces, was part of its effort to expand upper-level housing capacity. Its published 2026–27 configurations include four-person shared-bedroom suites at $3,985 per quarter and four-bedroom apartments at $4,650. Additional capacity does not guarantee that every student will receive a preferred residence, private bedroom, or roommate arrangement. Availability can differ substantially between apartment-style accommodations and shared-bedroom suites. Students should therefore identify several acceptable options before housing selection begins. Someone hoping for a private bedroom might compare Barnard Village and Boundary Village ($4,250 per quarter in 2026–27), Sand at Victory Village ($4,417 for a four-bedroom apartment), and FORTY EIGHT ($4,650 for a four-bedroom apartment), while preparing a workable fallback. The important decision is not simply which residence is most desirable, but which available combination of privacy, roommates, location, and cost will support the student's daily life.

SCAD assigns continuing students housing-selection windows during which they may choose from available rooms. In its previous registration cycle, the university identified application timing among the factors affecting priority, although its public guidance did not provide a complete formula showing how every factor was weighted. Students must complete the housing application, satisfy payment requirements, and establish roommate groups according to SCAD's instructions. Once selection windows are assigned, students—or designated roommate-group leaders—choose from the spaces remaining when their opportunity begins. For the 2026–27 cycle, applications opened December 1, 2025, with the application and fee due February 1, 2026. Students planning for 2027–28 should verify the new opening date, fee deadline, and selection windows in SCADhome's current registration instructions; previous-year dates are useful planning signals, not guarantees. Students should apply promptly once registration opens, complete roommate arrangements correctly, monitor university email, and prepare backup choices. Submitting an application and actually selecting a room are separate steps. Missing a selection window may leave fewer choices.

SCAD's continuing-student housing process begins surprisingly early—months before the academic year for which students are selecting rooms. For 2026–27 housing, applications opened December 1, 2025, only a few months after new freshmen arrived. Although SCAD has not yet confirmed the application opening date for 2027–28 housing, students should begin watching for announcements in late November or early December 2026. The 2027–28 application fee deadline, roommate-matching dates, and room-selection windows should be checked against SCAD's current registration calendar before students rely on them. A prior year's schedule does not establish the next year's deadlines. The early schedule presents a challenge: freshmen may need to consider sophomore roommates and residences after completing only their first academic quarter. Students should use fall quarter to explore housing options and discuss potential roommates without rushing into commitments. Current instructions and announcements are available at https://www.scad.edu/life/scadhome/continuing-student-housing-registration.

SCAD's continuing-student housing process begins surprisingly early. For the 2026–27 academic year, applications opened December 1, 2025, only a few months after freshmen arrived. Although SCAD has not yet confirmed the opening date for 2027–28 housing applications, students should watch for announcements in late November or early December 2026 rather than waiting until winter quarter. For the upcoming 2027–28 housing cycle, the important milestones are: • Application opening: Not yet announced. Last year's application opened December 1, so begin checking during late November 2026. • Housing application fee: Verify the 2027–28 deadline in the current SCADhome registration calendar; do not rely on the prior year's date. • Roommate matching: Date not yet announced. Students should begin discussing potential roommates before applications open. • Housing selection: Dates not yet announced. Missing an assigned selection window may mean fewer available residences or room configurations. Students needing disability-related housing accommodations should also check for separate or earlier deadlines. For perspective on the stakes, a student who misses a preferred private-bedroom apartment might need to consider a shared-bedroom suite instead; 2026–27 listed rates range from $3,634 for Montgomery House suites to $4,250 for Barnard or Boundary apartments. SCADhome, the university's housing department, manages this process. Check https://www.scad.edu/life/scadhome/continuing-student-housing-registration and university email for announcements. The important lesson is to begin preparing during fall quarter: by the time the February fee deadline arrives, the application process may already have been underway for weeks.

Before selection begins, students should know their priorities and where they are willing to compromise. The three biggest decisions are usually who to live with, whether to share a bedroom, and how far to live from academic facilities. Start with roommates. Friends are not automatically compatible housemates, so discuss sleep schedules, guests, cleanliness, shared expenses, and expectations about quiet time. Next, decide whether a private bedroom is important. Barnard Village and Boundary Village offer four private bedrooms and two bathrooms per apartment; Montgomery House instead has shared-bedroom suites. In 2026–27, those options are listed at $4,250 and $3,634 per quarter respectively, before meal plans. Finally, consider location. SCAD Savannah's buildings are spread throughout the city, so a residence convenient for freshman classes may be less useful as coursework becomes more specialized. Compare likely class locations with walking distances and Bee Line transportation. Animation or visual-effects students using Montgomery Hall have different geographic priorities from photography students using Alexander Hall on Indian Street. Before opening the housing portal, identify an ideal choice, a satisfactory alternative, and a workable fallback. A student who has already weighed privacy, cost, roommates, and transportation can make a much better decision when the available rooms appear.

Freshman housing gives students something no residence brochure can provide: firsthand experience of how they actually live at college. By the end of the year, students know more about their sleep habits, social needs, study routines, and tolerance for shared space. At SCAD, the living environment can directly affect the demands of creative coursework. A photography student who frequently works at Alexander Hall on Indian Street may discover that a convenient trip to academic facilities matters more than an impressive residence lounge. An animation student using Montgomery Hall may reach a different conclusion about which residence is practical. Another may find that living near friends and university dining makes a demanding quarter easier to manage. Before choosing sophomore housing, identify three things that worked and three that caused problems. Then ask whether changing residences would genuinely improve them. A private bedroom might solve sleep interruptions, but it will not automatically solve procrastination or poor time management. The best second-year decision builds on experience rather than simply choosing something different. Students should preserve the parts of freshman life that supported them while deliberately improving the arrangements that made everyday life harder.

Freshman year often reveals how much privacy a student actually needs. Sharing a bedroom may be enjoyable socially but difficult when roommates have different sleep schedules, study habits, or expectations about guests. At SCAD, where creative assignments frequently require concentrated work outside class, those differences can become particularly noticeable. For students who want more personal space without living alone, Barnard Village and Boundary Village offer four private bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, and shared living space per apartment. Their published 2026–27 rate is $4,250 per quarter, compared with $3,634 for a shared-bedroom suite at Montgomery House. That arrangement provides a private place to sleep or work while retaining the social benefits of roommates. Before prioritizing a private bedroom, consider whether the real difficulty was sharing sleeping space, incompatible roommates, or noise throughout the residence. A private bedroom can solve the first problem, but not necessarily the others. Availability, cost, and location also matter.

SCAD's ten-week academic quarters can make reliable sleep and concentration especially important. Projects, critiques, and presentations often create demanding periods when a noisy living environment becomes more than a minor inconvenience. Think about what actually caused interruptions during freshman year. Was it a roommate's schedule, activity in shared spaces, noise from nearby rooms, or the difficulty of working in a bedroom? A private bedroom at Barnard Village or Boundary Village may help with roommate-related interruptions, but four residents still share a kitchen and living area, and a private room will not necessarily make the building quiet. Also consider where academic work really happens. SCAD students often use specialized studios, labs, workshops, and other facilities that cannot be replaced by a residence bedroom. Housing should support the work students do at home while providing dependable rest between classes and projects. Before selecting a residence, identify whether the priority is a private bedroom, quieter roommates, a different building, or better use of academic workspaces. Solving the actual problem matters more than choosing a residence that merely looks peaceful.

Freshman year can reveal whether a student enjoys a busy household or prefers fewer people sharing daily routines. Several roommates may provide companionship and support, but they also introduce more differences in sleep schedules, cleanliness, guests, and expectations about shared space. The number of roommates is not the only consideration. At SCAD, Barnard Village and Boundary Village house four students in apartments with four private bedrooms and two bathrooms. Sand at Victory Village also offers one- and two-bedroom apartment configurations at higher published rates. That may offer more personal space than sharing a single bedroom with just one other student. The arrangement matters as much as the number of people. Students should distinguish between enjoying someone's friendship and being compatible as housemates. Before forming a roommate group, discuss ordinary household responsibilities and how disagreements will be handled. Also compare the costs and room configurations available through SCAD. A successful second-year arrangement should provide enough companionship without making sleep, concentration, or everyday household routines unnecessarily difficult.

Transportation can shape everyday life at SCAD Savannah because academic buildings and residences are distributed throughout the city. Students may travel between classrooms, studios, dining facilities, libraries, and housing several times a day. Bee Line is SCAD's university transportation system, connecting many of these locations. Students can review routes and transportation information at https://www.scad.edu/life/transportation-and-parking/scad-busing. For example, Barnard Village and Montgomery House sit near the Montgomery Hall/Gulfstream academic area, whereas photography facilities at Alexander Hall are on Indian Street. A residence that looks central on a map may still be inconvenient for a particular major. Think about how much time freshman-year transportation consumed. Did commuting make it difficult to return home between classes? Were late-night projects inconvenient? Did carrying cameras, models, art supplies, or other equipment make certain trips especially difficult? Before choosing second-year housing, identify likely academic buildings, compare walking routes, and use SCAD's TripShot bus-tracking service to inspect current Bee Line routes and service hours. A longer commute may be worthwhile for greater privacy or better roommates, but students should make that tradeoff knowingly.

Freshman year provides a useful test of how a student actually eats at SCAD. Some students rely heavily on university dining because it fits their schedules and provides convenient meals between classes. Others discover they frequently skip meals, buy food elsewhere, or would prefer to cook. That experience should influence both housing and meal-plan decisions. SCAD's dining requirements vary by residence, and having a kitchen does not necessarily eliminate the requirement to purchase a meal plan. Under the published 2026–27 arrangements, residents of apartment-style accommodations such as Barnard Village and Boundary Village still needed a meal plan; the 25 Flex apartment option was listed at $510 per quarter. That charge sits on top of housing and any groceries purchased for cooking. Before choosing, consider how often university dining was used, whether meal-plan funds went unused, and how much money was spent on groceries or restaurant meals. Students planning to cook should also account for the time required to shop and prepare food. Review the current academic year's requirements and prices at https://www.scad.edu/life/dining/meal-plans. Students selecting 2027–28 housing should confirm the requirements for that year before comparing total housing costs.

Apartment-style housing can give SCAD students greater control over what and when they eat. Barnard Village and Boundary Village include full kitchens in their four-bedroom apartments. Sand at Victory Village also has furnished apartments with full kitchens and an on-site store, Forage, for smaller grocery purchases. Cooking consistently, however, requires more than knowing a few recipes. Students must budget for groceries, shop, store food safely, clean shared equipment, and find time to prepare meals. During a demanding SCAD quarter, a plan to cook elaborate dinners every night may quickly become unrealistic. A good starting point is knowing how to prepare several inexpensive, dependable meals that fit a busy schedule. Roommates should also agree on refrigerator space, shared supplies, cleaning responsibilities, and whether groceries will be purchased individually or together. Students should check meal-plan requirements before assuming cooking will replace university dining. In the published 2026–27 apartment arrangements, a SCAD meal plan remains mandatory; the lowest listed apartment option is $510 per quarter. Cooking may offer flexibility and savings, but only when the student is prepared to manage the routine.

Living near friends can make freshman year more enjoyable and help students feel connected to SCAD. Friends may share meals, study together, attend events, and support one another through demanding academic periods. For some students, that convenience remains an important housing priority. By sophomore year, however, friendships may extend beyond the original residence community. Students meet people through majors, classes, creative collaborations, and campus activities. Close friends do not necessarily need to live in the same building to remain close, especially when Bee Line connects many residences and academic buildings. But a student at Barnard Village whose friends live near Indian Street should consider how often those visits will realistically happen. Consider whether proximity to friends helped establish healthy routines or sometimes made it difficult to find quiet time. Also distinguish between living near friends and living with them. Sharing an apartment involves household responsibilities that do not arise when friends simply visit. The right balance depends on the student. Some thrive in an active household; others prefer a quieter residence while maintaining friendships elsewhere. Housing should support social connections without compromising sleep, academic work, or personal independence.

A residence can affect academic life through sleep, concentration, transportation, and the amount of time available for coursework. At SCAD, where students often complete substantial creative work outside scheduled classes, those everyday conditions deserve serious consideration. Think back to a particularly demanding freshman-week project. Was there enough space to work? Could you sleep without interruption? Did commuting between a residence near Montgomery Hall and academic facilities on Indian Street consume time that could have been spent preparing for class? Were roommates respectful of deadlines and the need for concentration? Not every academic difficulty can be solved by changing housing. Many SCAD assignments require specialized facilities—such as photography resources at Alexander Hall or design facilities at the Gulfstream Center—regardless of where a student lives. Better time management and more effective use of university facilities may matter as much as bedroom size. The goal is to identify which parts of the living environment helped academic work and which created unnecessary obstacles. A good second-year residence should make productive routines easier to maintain, even when coursework becomes demanding.

By the end of freshman year, students have a much clearer understanding of what makes a living arrangement successful. Features that seemed important before arriving at SCAD may matter less than privacy, compatible roommates, dependable transportation, or a comfortable place to work. Start by identifying the assumptions that proved incorrect. Perhaps sharing a bedroom was harder than expected, commuting took too much time, or university dining was more convenient than anticipated. Some students may discover that their original arrangements worked well and need little change. Then rank the improvements that would make the greatest difference. A student might prioritize a private bedroom at Barnard or Boundary, followed by compatible roommates and convenient transportation to Montgomery Hall or Alexander Hall, depending on the major. Another might accept a shared-bedroom suite at Montgomery House to save money: its 2026–27 rate was $616 less per quarter than Barnard or Boundary. Another might value affordability and proximity to academic facilities above everything else. The second-year housing decision will still involve compromises. Preferred rooms may be unavailable, roommate groups may change, and costs may limit choices. But students can now make those tradeoffs using real experience rather than guesswork. That's an important part of becoming more independent.