Undergraduate Academic Residency
Summary
Undergraduate students are expected to maintain in person academic residency while enrolled in courses at Stanford University.
Policy Rationale
Stanford currently has an explicit residency requirement only for first year students, who are required to live on campus in order to attend. While there has always been an expectation that students would conduct their education on campus in order to receive a Stanford degree, recent developments suggest that it may be useful to codify this practice.
A Stanford undergraduate education is, in large part, founded in community, and a core part of its character and the educational enterprise as a whole rest on our identity as a residential institution. Part of this experience is the opportunity for serendipitous learning between community members. Indeed, we often hear from alums that they learned just as much from peers and outside of class as in more formal classroom learning settings. Accordingly, a fundamental expectation of Stanford undergrads is to engage in classes and community on the campus in which they are enrolled, which necessarily includes an in-person presence.
Policy Statement
A Stanford undergraduate education is grounded in a shared experience of residential, in-person study. Part of this experience is the opportunity for serendipitous learning between community members. Accordingly, a fundamental expectation of Stanford undergrads is to engage in classes and community on the campus in which they are enrolled, which necessarily includes an in-person presence.
Stanford undergraduates are expected to maintain academic residency while enrolled in courses at Stanford University. Academic Residency means having a substantial in-person connection to and presence on the Stanford campus at which the student is currently enrolled throughout the quarter. Students are not required to live on campus beyond their first year of study, but must live close enough to campus to attend classes in-person on a regular basis. (Note that there is some flexibility to work with instructors if a student needs to be away from campus briefly on important matters.) Undergraduates with a documented disability may be excepted from this policy to the extent remote learning does not fundamentally alter their coursework, which will be an individual analysis for each course. (For example, it is generally a fundamental alteration to engage remotely in a lab-based course, or a discussion-based course.) Undergraduates without a documented disability are rarely granted exceptions to this policy because a leave of absence is generally the most appropriate approach to engage in ongoing obligations off campus.
Exception Process
Undergraduates with a documented disability may be excepted from this policy to the extent remote learning does not fundamentally alter their coursework, which will be an individual analysis for each course. (For example, it is generally a fundamental alteration to engage remotely in a lab-based course, or a discussion-based course.)
Contact the Office for Accessible Education for more information.
Contact Information
Academic Records & Enrollment
Office of the University Registrar