Guests
A guest is someone (MIT or non-MIT affiliated) who does not live in the residence hall they are visiting. Residents are permitted to have guests in their residence, including the common areas of the residence hall, under the conditions provided below. Any questions about the Guest Policy may be directed via email to housingsecurity@mit.edu.
- Hosts are responsible for their guests at all times. Guests may not use common areas of the building without their host.
- Guests are required to present a valid MIT, school or government-issued photo ID to front desk staff of any MIT residence hall.
- Desk staff will record guest name and time of entry into the building
- MIT-affiliated guests may tap their MITID to register entry at the front desk. Those on an express guest list may tap and enter without checking in at the desk
- Guests not on a resident guest list must be escorted by the resident host when entering/exiting the building.
- Individual Houses have house-specific policies governing the details of guest list management and other local policies. Ordinarily, and unless an exception is approved by the Division of Student Life, these policies may not be less restrictive than the resident guest policy. Residents and guests are required to follow the guest policies and procedures for the specific residence hall they wish to visit. Individual guest policies and procedures for each undergraduate community can be found in the Policies and Procedures section of this website, listed by house name.
- Residents are prohibited from giving guests their room/apartment keys or MIT ID card or Mobile ID data at any time, and the Institute will not issue keys to guests, or provide guests with an MIT ID card.
- Guests, as well as all non-residents, are not allowed to enter MIT residence halls with any animal(s), except service animals which have been individually trained to do work or perform a task on behalf of an individual with a disability.
Residents may have overnight guests for up to three nights in a seven-day period.
- Residents must obtain, in advance, the permission of all other residents of the apartment/room/suite in which the overnight guest is staying. Consideration should be given to the reasonable expectations of a roommate(s) at all times.
- The Graduate Housing Extended Guest Protocol can be found below.
- Sleeping overnight in the public common areas of a residence hall (e.g., lounges) is prohibited.
- Undergraduate Housing: Non-MIT overnight guests are not allowed in undergraduate residence halls during the fall move-in period until after Registration Day.
- Graduate Housing: Guests may be approved beyond three nights with prior approval from Heads of House or Graduate Residential Life. Some residence halls may have an overnight guest policy that may be more restrictive.
- Approval Levels:
- Up to 3 nights per week: Verbal agreement between residents.
- 4-10 nights: Approval by Heads of House
- 11-14 nights: Approval by Graduate Residential Life (See extended guest policy below)
- Ordinarily, guest stays beyond 14 days are not approved as this may put the guest into an '"authorized resident"' status and impact the license agreement of the resident, in addition to other factors described under the Extended Guest Policy below.
- This policy allows for friend and family visits and does not require exceptional circumstances or hardship
- Approval Levels:
- Residents who want to report violations of this policy or request a restriction on overnight guests that might impact guest privileges for their roommates, should contact a member of their House Team (or Graduate Residential Life for graduate students).
- Guest Lists: Houses may opt to implement guest lists which allow residents to place a limited number of guests (typically 6 or fewer) on a guest list at the desk to allow unescorted entry. All guest list guests must check in at the desk to sign in and enter the building.
- Express Guest Lists: Houses may opt to implement Express Guest Lists, which allow MIT-affiliated guests to tap and enter an MIT residence hall without checking in at the desk. Express guest list guests must tap to enter and may not bring additional non guest list visitors into the building.
- It is the resident's responsibility to ensure that their guest list remains up to date.
- NOTE: Undergraduate guest lists are paused during Winter Break/IAP and summer. Guests are permitted but must be escorted.
Within MIT graduate housing, an extended guest is someone who may or may not be a family member but is not a dependent of the resident and who wishes to stay in the residence for longer than ten (10) nights. For the purposes of MIT graduate housing, dependent residents are the minor-age children of the student resident. Extended guests cannot change their status to dependent residents.
- Extended-stay guests may stay in residence up to 14 days if they are registered with and receive prior approval from Graduate Residential Life. Please email the Associate Dean for Graduate Residential Life to register and obtain approval.
- A graduate family may request to have up to two (2) extended guests visit at the same time and may make one (1) extended-guest request during a calendar year.
- While we recognize that certain familial relationships or cultural norms may extend beyond that of a dependent, non-dependents are ordinarily not approved to remain in MIT graduate housing beyond 14 days because it will jeopardize the tax-exempt status of MIT student housing, drain resources, facilities and services that are not intended for use by non-MIT students, create additional liability (and potentially uninsurable) risks, and is not sustainable from a parity perspective. Any violation or abuse (including, without limitation, stay beyond the time authorized by MIT Housing) of this extended stay policy, may result in any or all of the following consequences:
- Suspension of extended-stay guest privileges for the remainder of your license term
- Immediate termination of your license
- Ineligibility to apply for MIT campus housing in the future
- Charges for unauthorized guests beyond the time permitted by MIT, equivalent to double the daily rate of your license fee until the unauthorized guest leaves or is escorted off premises.
- Extended-stay guests may stay in residence up to 14 days if they are registered with and receive prior approval from Graduate Residential Life. Please email the Associate Dean for Graduate Residential Life to register and obtain approval.