New Student and Family Programs was joined by our colleagues in Housing and Residential Education and Dining to discuss move-in, on-campus dining, and discoveries orientation for new students. Read below for office information, webinar recording, and top asked questions during the webinar. Slides are attached for reference.
You and your student will receive "Know Before You Go" emails containing logistics and more information leading up to move-in and orientation. This webinar offers you a broad overview of the process and is not the only point of information to be shared.
Click here to watch webinar recording
Housing and Residential Education (Move-In, Meal Plans, & Room Assignments):
Email: housing@du.edu
Phone: 303-871-2246
Website: https://studentaffairs.du.edu/housing/content/resident-resources
New Student & Family Programs (Discoveries Orientation)
Email: orientation@du.edu or families@du.edu
Phone: 303-871-6080
Website: https://studentaffairs.du.edu/new-student-family
DU Dining:
Dietary Needs and Questions: gina.vega@sodexo.com
Website: https://dudining.sodexomyway.com/
Top Asked Questions in Webinar:
How will my student learn their dorm and roommate?
Students will receive an email by end of day Tuesday, July 29th with directions to navigate to their Housing Portal. Within the portal, your student will see their room assignment, roommate, and their roommate's DU email address. To find the Housing Portal, please visit https://studentaffairs.du.edu/housing. The link to the housing portal is in the top left corner on the menu bar.
Tell me about parking!
Parking permits for the 2025-2028 school year will go on sale on Monday, July 28, 2025, at 9:00am. You do not need a parking permit for move-in day. As housing assignments come out the next day, you may have to wait to know your housing assignment to purchase your parking permit. Permits are not a specific reserved spot – they are a scanner into a parking lot of your choice.
Why do parking permits go on sale the day after first year housing assignments are released?
While first-year housing assignments are being announced July 29th, returning students do know their housing assignments. If your first-year student is buying a parking permit, they can choose a centralized lot and request on July 28th or they can wait until they know their dorm assignment to purchase a permit.
Tell me about the dorm rooms!
The mattresses in all dorm rooms are Twin XL size and can be raised/lowered to the height you prefer or stacked to make a bunk. The room has two small trash/recycling bins, a mini-fridge, and a microwave provided. For dimensions of each type of room, please refer to https://studentaffairs.du.edu/housing/places-to-live There are not safes or lockboxes in the dorm rooms.
Why do you have to select a move-in time and how does it work?
Because we are an urban campus, our streets can be narrow. To ensure everything runs efficiently, students will receive an email on August 5th with directions to select a move-in time. Move-in times will be selected by students between August 7- August 11 on a first come basis. Move-in times are 30-minutes to park in front of the residence hall, unload all your belongings and drop them in your student's room. There will be carts and volunteers at all residence halls to help!
From there, we ask cars to be moved to the long-term parking lots and then you and your student can return and finish un-packing and organizing their belongings. Golf carts will be running to help shuttle people to and from residence halls and the long-term parking lots. You can bring two cars. Upon arrival, you'll be given a paper for your dashboard to write your name and contact information. Please be sure to leave your contact information in case we need your vehicle to be moved while you're inside. If you need to run an errand and come back, we encourage you to use the golf cart shuttles!
How do I choose and manage my meal plan?
There are a few variants of the meal plan. A student meal plan can have 125, 150, or 175 swipes (per quarter) and comes with meal plan cash (used at retail location on-campus, rolls over quarterly until the end of the year). You chose your meal plan on the Housing Application. You can request changes by contacting Housing & Residential Education: housing@du.edu
I have a specific dietary need or restriction!
Please contact Nutritionist Gina Vega at gina.vega@sodexo.com to get a tour of the dining options to match your needs. There are also several dining stations that are specifically catered to students with dietary needs. Students need to contact Gina Vega to gain access to the "Simple Zone," a designated food allergy station in the dining hall.
What about dietary needs and restrictions at First Ascent?
Our Kennedy Mountain Campus also has a designated food allergy station in the dining hall where the top allergens, gluten, dairy, and nuts are always provided without additional permissions. Registration asks for any allergens for food restrictions that are shared with the catering team to ensure the menus for the weekend account for students' dietary needs. Additional questions or concerns can be sent to firstascent@du.edu 2 weeks before the trip to ensure time for additional food orders.
I’m a commuter!
Commuters can purchase commuter-specific meal plans at https://www.du.edu/pioneercard/meal-plans. Commuter students will have specific meetups during orientation week, as they are not living in a residence hall. Within the Discoveries Orientation app (launching August 4th) there will be a commuter track to see all events designed for this group of students.
I’m in an early-arrival community!
If you are in an early-arrival community, like LEP, PLP, First@DU, athletics, ELI, or E-STEM, you will get your information from that program’s coordinator via email. Schedules and directions are being solidified, you will hear from them in August! If you have questions, email your program's contact or general email.
Is orientation required?
Yes, orientation is required for all new students. Attendance will be tracked and students who do not attend will be contacted. Creating a safe, successful transition into college starts with attending all sessions! The schedule can be found online here and the Crimson Connect app with the complete schedule will go live August 4th!
How can families access the Discoveries Orientation App?
The full orientation schedule will be posted in the Crimson Connect app on August 4th. Crimson Connect is DU's internal event registration platform that is used for some family events like Homecoming and Family Weekend. Families can create a guest account to be able to view the Discoveries Orientation Hub. To create a guest account, follow the instructions below:
- Step 1: Register for Family Orientation - must be done on a computer browser (cannot be complete in the app or on phone or tablet browser). Use the "First Time User" box to create a guest account.
- Step 2: Download the Crimson Connect app from your phone's app store.
- Step 3: Login using the email address linked to the registration. Following August 4th, the discoveries orientation schedule will be accessible in this app.
When do parents/families leave during orientation week?
The last parent/family specific programming is the Crimson Cookout on Tuesday night that ends at 8pm. Families will have a lounge and welcome wall in the Community Commons building across from Starbucks where you can write a message to your student. The art installation will stay up the first month of school with students searching for their family's message to them within the Wish Wall. There will be family orientation sessions throughout Tuesday, September 2nd. You can find the Family Orientation schedule here. We ask families to leave after Tuesday (9/2), as your student will be busy with orientation activities and acclimating to campus.
Skip past news feed
