Westmont Move In and Move Out Guide for Parents

Move in day for new students

New students moved in on Wednesday, Aug 26, 2026. Residence Life assigns windows by last name: first years from 8 to 11 a.m. and transfer students from 8 to 10 a.m. You enter at the main campus entrance on La Paz Road and follow signs to your student's hall. Your student picks up a key, signs the Housing Acknowledgment form and has an ID card photo taken at check in. Orientation check in is at the Welcome Tent on Kerrwood Lawn.

A team of student volunteers unloads your car. The driver has to stay with the vehicle and move it to lower campus right after unloading, so plan on one adult driving and one walking up with your student. Label every box and bag with your student's name and room number. Moving in outside the official times may result in a $100 charge.

Parent Orientation runs alongside student orientation. It costs $80 per adult and $20 per child ages 5 to 12, includes meals, and starts at the Parents Welcome Tent on Kerrwood Lawn, with a catered barbecue Wednesday evening, a Service of Commitment and the First Walk tradition.

Returning students

Returning residents check in at a table in their own hall: Saturday, Aug 29 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. or 7 to 9 p.m., or Sunday, Aug 30 from 7 to 9 p.m.

What the room has, and what to leave home

All campus mattresses are extra long twins, 80 by 36 inches, so buy twin XL sheets. Rooms come furnished, and there is often no space to store extra furniture. Residence Life's check in page says the shared hall kitchens are stocked with microwaves, a stove, refrigerator, pots and pans, and it suggests bringing your own plates, silverware, dish towels and airtight food containers.

Allowed: a refrigerator up to 5 cubic feet ($30 fee), a fluorescent floor lamp, a coffee maker or electric kettle, and a bike with a lock. Not allowed: hot plates, microwaves, toasters and toaster ovens, halogen torchiere lamps, regular extension cords, candles, oil lamps, incense, drum sets, and extra chairs, desks or beds. Residence Life Policies add hover boards and anything with exposed heating coils.

If you ship boxes ahead, Westmont asks that you wait until two weeks before your student arrives because storage space is limited. Use the student's name, 955 La Paz Rd., the dorm and room number, and Santa Barbara, CA 93108.

Move out

Fall: halls close at noon on Saturday, Dec 19, 2026, the day after finals end, and reopen on Saturday, Jan 9. The academic calendar says noon for the reopening and the Residence Life Policies page says 11 a.m., so plan on noon. Any room change has to be finished before your student leaves for the break.

Spring: check out is noon on Friday of finals week, May 7, 2027. Graduates and students Housing authorizes (athletics, Mayterm, summer employment, summer Ocean View) can stay until noon on the Sunday after commencement. Residence Life does no check outs on commencement Saturday.

To check out, your student removes everything, cleans the room, signs the check out form and returns the key. Residence Life says unregistered bikes left after halls close are tagged for removal and disposed of by Campus Safety after 90 days.

Storage and shipping home

Westmont states that it does not provide storage for students. The common options are to ship boxes home with UPS, FedEx or USPS (the Mail Center handles all three and posts shipping deadlines), rent a unit at a self storage facility in the Santa Barbara area, or leave things with a local friend. Whichever you choose, book it before finals week, since the fall and spring deadlines leave little slack.