Frequently Asked Questions

A room lottery is conducted each year in late spring. Independent students select rooms based on class status. Upcoming seniors choose first, followed by juniors and sophomores. Students who join a Greek group are housed within space allocated to that group. The group assigns members to rooms based on criteria developed within their group (i.e., class status, GPA, etc.).

It is important that you make every effort not to arrive on campus prior to your assigned move-in day. However, if you are flying in or have some special circumstances that require early arrival consideration, you must call the Office of Residence Life well in advance to get approval to do so (920-748-8186). A per-night fee may be charged to your student account for doing so. 

Bunking beds refers to stacking one on top of another. Lofting involves building a structure to support the bed above the ground. If students would like to bunk their beds and will be living in Tri-Dorms, Johnson or East Scott, metal extenders are needed in order to do so. The Physical Plant Department will need to come into the room to bunk them. A request for this can be made by contacting the Residence Life Office and through the myRipon Portal. There are a limited number of supplies for this available, so it is first-come, first-served.

Please ask a residence life staff member to assist in this process. If students would like a loft, it is necessary that they rent one from the College’s loft provider, College Products, Inc. This program is easy to use, and lofts and futons are delivered to campus on move-in weekend. Students interested in participating in this program should: Visit www.collegeproducts.com and enter RIPC for the school code.

Students are allowed to have small aquarium fish in the residence halls. No other pets are allowed. The maximum aquarium size is 10 gallons per student. For more information on policies about items to bring to campus, check the Student Handbook.

A contract security company is on duty every night. They do rounds of the campus and can be contacted to provide an escort from campus buildings and parking lots to the residence halls.

In addition, there is at least one student staff member on duty every night who does rounds of the area for which they are responsible. There are also three Residence Hall Directors, professional staff members, who are each responsible for an area of campus. One Hall Director is on duty each night from 8 p.m. until 7 a.m. the next morning. The RA’s and Hall Director’s phone numbers are posted in each of the residence halls.

In addition, Ripon utilizes a key card access system in all of the buildings in which students are housed. This is done in an effort to ensure that only Ripon College students have access to the residence halls during the day and only building residents have access at night.

The College assumes no responsibility for damage, loss or theft of the personal belongings of students. This includes personal articles damaged or lost in washers and dryers. You should check your parents’ home insurance policy to request information regarding coverage while attending the College.

Of course! Most weekend nights there are programs sponsored by the College or student groups for students to attend. The Ripon After Dark programming series and our programming board, SMAC, plan plenty of events through the year. There are also many programs that take place in the residence halls that are sponsored by the Residence Life office for you to hang out with other people that live in your building or meet new students from other areas of campus. Living on campus means that there is never a dull moment!