Student Disability and Accessibility Center

Housing Accommodations

Policy to Ensure Students with Disabilities Requiring Private Housing Features are Provided Reasonable Approved Accommodations

I. Introduction and Background

California State University, Monterey Bay (CSUMB) Student Housing and Residential Life (SHRL) works in consultation and coordination with the CSUMB Student Disability and Accessibility Center (SDAC) (collectively “CSUMB”) to provide reasonable accommodations to students with disabilities in compliance with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. § 794, and its implementing regulation, 34 C.F.R. Part 104 (Section 504), and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, 42 U.S.C. §§ 12131-12134, and its implementing regulation, 28 C.F.R. Part 35 (Title II). CSUMB strives to meet student needs, and has a clearly published process for requesting disability-related housing accommodations, and complies with the following California State University (CSU) systemwide policies:

  1. Disability Support and Accommodations Policy
  2. Policy for the Provision of Accommodations and Support Services to Students with Disabilities
  3. Nondiscrimination Policy (Policy Prohibiting Discrimination, Harassment, Sexual Misconduct, Sexual Exploitation, Dating Violence, Domestic Violence, Stalking, and Retaliation)
  4. CSUMB Housing Accommodations Process

II. Process Highlights

CSUMB’s process for requesting disability-related housing accommodations is as follows:

  1. Prior to the beginning of each academic year, students must follow CSUMB’s process to request disability-related housing accommodations for that year following deadlines posted by SHRL on CSUMB’s website.  Students should plan and schedule SDAC Advisor appointments early for timely consideration of housing accommodation requests. Information about housing accommodations and getting started with SDAC are available on the SDAC website.
  2. Students making a request for accommodation should complete and submit the request as soon as practicably possible before the beginning of the academic year, or relevant term.  If the request for accommodation is made fewer than 60 days prior to these times and/or before the student intends to move into student housing, CSUMB may not be able to guarantee that it will be able to meet all of the student’s accommodation needs during the first semester of occupancy.
  3. If the need for an accommodation arises when a student already resides in student housing, the student should contact the Student Disability and Accessibility Center (SDAC) as soon as practicably possible to request a disability-related housing accommodation and complete the interactive process in order to receive a housing accommodation letter from SDAC. Depending on housing availability, CSUMB may not be able to guarantee that it will be able to meet SDAC approved housing accommodations during the semester or term in which the housing request is received.
  4. Once SHRL has received the approved SDAC housing accommodation, absent exceptional circumstances, SHRL will provide a written response to the student regarding all available options within 5-7 business days of receiving the request. 
  5. For housing-related questions outside the scope of the Student Disability and Accessibility Center, (i.e. billing errors, etc.), students may email studenthousing@csumb.edu. 

III. Accommodation Support 

Residential students with an approved SDAC housing accommodation needing private housing features will be assigned to the housing community in which they are eligible to live based on their academic level and/or age.

      1. Residence Halls - Freshmen receive priority consideration, but sophomores, juniors, and seniors may also reside here, subject to availability. Living-Learning Communities that support upper-division students residing in them are one such example.
      2. North Quad - Sophomores receive priority consideration, but juniors and seniors may also reside here, subject to availability.
      3. Promontory - Seniors and juniors receive priority consideration, but sophomores may also reside here, subject to availability.
      4. Frederick Park - Families, graduate students, and students who are 21 years of age or older, or who have at least 90 units completed may live here.

Students approved for a “Single bedroom” housing accommodation will be provided a bedroom to reside in as the sole occupant, in the housing community in which they are eligible. If a Single bedroom is not available, a Double or Triple bedroom will be provided with the extra bed spaces remaining empty and taken offline (so that they cannot be assigned to other students), within the community in which the student is eligible. 

    1. Students approved for a Single bedroom may share a suite/apartment with other students; an accommodation for a single bedroom does not mean students live completely alone in suite/apartment-style housing.
    2. Students seeking a Single Occupancy Unit - a location where they live completely alone due to their disability-related needs - must choose between one of the following:
      1. Residence Hall Single Bedroom
      2. Strawberry Studio Apartment
    3. In the event there is no remaining space available within Student Housing that meets the student’s eligibility requirements, and their accommodation needs, the student will be placed in an alternative housing community location meeting their accommodation needs, if available.
    4. In the event there is no space available or existing within Student Housing that meets the student’s accommodation needs, SHRL will work with SDAC and the student to determine alternative options.

Students approved for a Private Bathroom accommodation will be provided a housing accommodation where private bathrooms exist in the applicable housing community in which they are eligible. If a Private Bathroom is not available, SHRL will support the accommodation by:

      1. Filtering roommate assignment by students who agree to the terms of shared bathroom use to support the Private Bathroom need; and/or,
      2. Assist the assigned students in a roommate agreement to support shared bathroom use to support the Private Bathroom need.

IV. Cost

CSUMB will provide all disability-related housing accommodations at the rate the student would be charged but-for their disability (i.e., a student will be charged the rate of their half of a double occupancy bedroom if they have an accommodation for Single bedroom).

CSUMB may not charge the student for any additionally cost of providing a reasonable accommodation, regardless of whether the program is state or self-supported.

If the student requests a specific building or housing community and is placed in the requested, preferred building, the student will be charged at the lowest rate for that building or housing community. 

V. Denial and Appeal

After engaging in an interactive process, if CSUMB determines a requested housing accommodation is not reasonable and therefore no approved,  SDAC will contact the student to determine if there are alternative accommodations that might effectively meet the student’s disability-related needs.

If the student is unwilling to accept any alternative accommodation offered or there are no alternative accommodations available, SDAC will provide both a verbal explanation and written explanation to the student of the denial, the reasons for the denial, the right to appeal the decision, and the procedures for that appeals process.

To appeal a housing accommodation decision, students should visit https://csumb.edu/sdac/disability-related-complaints/ to review procedures and contact information.