Cal Poly Move In and Move Out Guide for Parents

Move in day in the halls

For fall 2026, Mustang Move In was Aug. 18 or 19 for first year and new transfer students, with each student assigned one of the two days. Students then booked a 15 minute arrival slot in the Housing Portal on MyCalPoly. Continuing residents moved into Cerro Vista on Aug. 21 and Poly Canyon Village on Aug. 21 to 22. Spring semester move in is at noon on Jan. 24, 2027.

University Housing gives each neighborhood its own arrival map, and the instructions are specific:

• Follow your community's move in map, and stop using GPS once you reach San Luis Obispo.
• No RVs, oversized vehicles, rental moving trucks or trailers.
• Once you drive out, you cannot come back in through Grand Avenue until after 6pm.
• Use Lot G2 for a shopping run or a rideshare pickup.

Volunteers from the Mustang Welcome Team help at the drop off zones and at check in. If you need a shopping run, do it after the car is empty and use Lot G2, which Housing sets aside for shopping trips and rideshare.

What the room includes

Every resident gets a twin XL bed, desk, chair, dresser and a closet or armoire. Lofted beds and bed risers are not allowed. Housing suggests earplugs or noise cancelling headphones, a hand duster, and reusable bins instead of cardboard boxes, and it posts separate packing lists for residence halls and apartments. Its advice is to pack light, since students can bring more items at breaks.

Shipping ahead

Housing says resident mail is accepted starting Aug. 1, and package centers stay open during move in. For 2026, the ship to room deadline through Distribution Services was July 31.

Breaks while living on campus

Starting in fall 2026, Fall Break and Spring Break are included in the semester housing contracts. Winter break is not. A student who needs to stay over winter break must sign up for winter break housing separately.

Move out

The resident calendar sets two hard deadlines: fall residents vacate by noon on Dec. 19, 2026, and spring residents move out by noon on May 23, 2027. Housing's most recent move out page, written for spring 2026, also asked residents to leave within 24 hours of their last final, so check the updated page closer to the date.

The checkout itself is an Express Checkout:

1. Clean the room and fill out the Room Condition Form with a photo of the cleaned space.
2. Submit the Express Checkout form last.
3. Drop keys in the Express Checkout envelope at a key return box.

Key return boxes are at the Housing Admin Building (31), Canyon Post in PCV, the Cerro Vista Community Center, the Yosemite and Sierra Madre community center lobbies, the Red Brick building lobbies and the yakʔitʸutʸu buildings. An improper check out costs $25, and returning the wrong key can lead to key or access card charges.

Housing says all items left behind will be donated. A move out map shows parking, carts, donation stations and waste disposal.

Donating what does not go home

Donation bins around the housing neighborhoods take clothing and household items, and non perishable food goes to the Cal Poly Food Pantry. Separately, the CP Thrift program collects hangers, mirrors, fans, power strips, storage bins, school supplies and decor during move out week, then cleans and stores them for new students in the fall. CP Thrift does not take bedding, clothing or mattress pads.

Storage and shipping home

With the semester calendar, spring move out now falls in late May, so summer storage runs roughly from then until August move in. Housing's move out page notes that local storage companies are available. University Housing's local resources page lists a couple of self storage businesses in town. Shipping boxes home through a carrier like USPS, UPS or FedEx is the other common route; compare box rates before move out week.