Visitor Policies

As hosts, residents may be personally and financially responsible for the actions and behaviors of their visitors. Visitors must be personally known to residents. Residents are responsible for informing visitors of the policies and procedures of campus housing.

Visitors must always abide by university and residential policies and procedures. As hosts, residents are accountable and may be subject to disciplinary action if visitors violate a policy or procedure. Visitors who show inappropriate behavior may be required to leave campus housing. Staff will not escort a visitor into any units without a resident host.

To be signed in at the front desk, DePaul student visitors must present their DePaul-issued photo ID and visitors outside the DePaul community must present their government-issued photo. Visitors who do not have proper photo identification will not be allowed to enter the residence halls⁠—no exceptions. Non-photo IDs will not be accepted. 

Visitors cannot be left alone without their resident host. Visitors must be escorted always, including at the sign-out process. At the end of a visit, resident hosts must accompany visitors to sign out at the front desk. Failure to sign out a visitor at the time of departure may result in the loss of visitor privileges for the resident host. 

Each Lincoln Park Campus resident may sign in a maximum of two (2) visitors at any given time. DePaul Housing and Residence Life reserves the right to suspend campuswide or building-specific visitor privileges at any time if it is in the best interest of the DePaul community (specifically the safety of residents and/or as a sanction within the student conduct process). If a resident wants to invite more than two (2) visitors, they may complete the Extra Visitor Request Form, which must be approved by staff.

Residents living in Courtside Apartments and Sheffield Square are not required to sign in visitors but are expected to follow the policy of no more than two (2) visitors per resident in an apartment at any given time. 

Lincoln Park Campus residents can host overnight visitors after informing all roommates of the visit before the visitor’s arrival. 

• An overnight visitor is anyone who is not a resident of a particular unit, which includes residents from the same residence hall/building. 

• An overnight visitor stay is defined as any visit exceeding four (4) hours between midnight and 8:00 a.m. on any given night. 

• Resident hosts are allowed to register overnight visits a maximum of two (2) nights in a seven (7) day period. The seven-day period begins at midnight on Sunday and ends at 11:59 p.m. on Saturday. If a visitor intends to stay more than two (2) nights, the resident host should complete the Extended Stay Request Form, which must be approved by Housing staff.

• Visitors to DePaul, regardless of which host they are visiting or which hall, may not have more than ten (10) overnight visits in any given academic quarter. 

• Visitor registration software tracks all visits, and any host found to be in violation of this policy may have visitation privileges suspended or revoked. 

• Registered visitors may only sleep in the unit of the host who is sponsoring their visit. Sleeping in other units or public/community spaces within the halls is strictly prohibited.

• Visitors may not stay in unoccupied beds in a unit without the consent of the resident whose bed is to be used. 

Overnight visitor expectations can be discussed between roommates during the roommate agreement process upon move-in. The above standards are designed to prevent abuse of roommate rights. If these standards are violated, residents may be subject to student conduct and loss of privileges. A student whose housing agreement has been canceled through the student conduct process may not be a visitor in campus housing.

Minor visitors are those 17 years and younger. Resident hosts should fill out the online registration form for minors wishing to stay in DePaul Lincoln Park Campus residence halls or apartments. Once the form is submitted, the resident host will be contacted by Housing staff with further instructions. Resident hosts should contact their Housing Operations Coordinator or Area Office with questions. For minor visitors, please also note: 

• Per the visitor policy, minors who visit must always be in the company of their DePaul resident host.  

• Minors should bring a driver’s license, state ID, passport, or other government-issued form of photo identification with them when possible. 

• Minors under the age of 5 must always be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian inside residential buildings and are not permitted for overnight stays. 

• As with any other visitor, resident hosts are expected to inform their roommate(s) of the minor visitor’s stay in advance of the visit.

Each resident may have up to two (2) visitors inside their assigned unit at a time. This is the formula Housing and Residence Life uses to determine if a room capacity violation has occurred: 

Number (#) of residents assigned to a housing assignment +2 visitors per resident 

• Using a standard double with two (2) residents as an example: Each resident may have two (2) visitors within the space for a total number of six (6) people. Any room exceeding this number would be in violation. 

For more details about room capacity, please visit the Policies webpage from the Guide to Student Housing.  

Visitor policies at the University Center may differ from those on the Lincoln Park Campus. Residents in that building are expected to abide by all rules set forth within the University Center student handbook, found with our student guides and also at ucresidentservices.com under the "Residence Life" tab.