The COVID-19 virus has brought on-campus operations to a grinding halt. Classes for a growing number of universities have been moved to an online format for the remainder of the academic year, and students that have left for spring break are being encouraged not to return to campus.

These continuing developments, alongside others, have led universities to determine ways to best move students out of on-campus housing while still meeting health and safety guidelines from the Center for Disease Control (CDC).

This process will certainly look different for each university, and there will be more information in the coming weeks showing how other institutions are dealing with the challenge. But in the meantime, here are a couple of early examples of how universities are moving students out of campus housing:

Kansas State University

Kansas State University has laid out a comprehensive process for students living in university residence halls, and will begin a 10-day move out process Friday, March 20.

In a letter to students, K-State Housing and Dining officials said they will be scheduling move-out time slots between March 20 and March 30 and will conform to CDC social distancing guidelines.

Students must first fill out a survey, circulated to them in a letter from K-State Dining and Housing, at least 24 hours before their anticipated arrival to campus.

Students who are sick, under quarantine or out-of-state and unable to return by March 30 are advised to indicate as such on the survey. Special arrangements for these students will be made to enable them to pick up belongings and move out at a later date.

Once on campus, students will have one hour to collect their belongings, and each student may be accompanied by up to two people. Moving carts and dollies that are typically provided by the university, will not be available so as to prevent the potential spread of the virus. Students are, however, allowed bring their own carts.

Additional move out measures include:

• All individuals who enter the residence halls will be asked to wear gloves for the entire time they are in the building.
• Community restrooms will be unavailable.
• Parking Services has suspended ticketing, students can park in any available parking spaces closest to your building (excluding handicap spaces).
• Entry and exit of the buildings allowed through the front residence hall doors only.

Students will not be required to clean their dorm rooms, and K-State officials said the university will dispose of any belongings leftover after 30 days. K-State will also not assess room cleaning charges to residents.

Finally, K-State will reportedly issue student residents a pro-rated refund for housing and meal charges for the remainder of the semester.

University of Kentucky

All students living in on-campus housing at the University of Kentucky are required to move out of campus residence halls. All undergraduate students must be moved out by 12:00 p.m. on Friday, March 27.

The university is in the process of determining a prorated refund package for residential students.

Students who have appealed and have been approved to remain on campus will all be relocated to a single campus residence hall. All other residence halls will close.

The university is scheduling move-out appointments to keep with CDC guidelines. If students can't be on campus to move themselves out, they can sign an online waiver authorizing another person to remove their items.

UK residence halls will be available for move-out from March 19-27. A limited number of appointments are available for each time slot to minimize the number of students moving out at any one time.

All students living in residence halls will select a move-out appointment online using their university credentials via the campus housing portal.

Have a tip? Let us know what your institution is doing to facilitate the student move-out process by emailing [email protected], and we'll amend this post to keep things up to date.

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