Conference and Summer Camp Planners

University Park offers a variety of housing options for summer conferences and camps. Housing options may vary year-to-year due to construction and maintenance projects. Conference Service staff will find the best fit for participants based on availability each year.

Explore Housing Options

• Traditional Residence Halls feature double-occupancy rooms and communal bathrooms that are shared by floor residents. Communal bathrooms offer several sinks, individual toilet stalls, and private shower stalls. Traditional residence halls do not offer air conditioning.

• Renovated Residence Halls feature double-occupancy rooms and several individual-use bathrooms on each floor. Renovated residence halls offer air conditioning during the summer.

• White Course Apartments feature fully-furnished four-bedroom/four-person apartments with two bathrooms, living room, kitchen, and in-unit washer and dryer. White Course Apartments offer air conditioning.

• Nittany Apartments feature fully-furnished two-bedroom/four-person or four-bedroom/four-person apartments with bathroom, living room, and kitchen. Washer and dryer units are available at the Nittany Community Center for a small fee. Nittany Apartments offer air conditioning.

• Eastview Terrace feature single-occupancy rooms with private in-room bathrooms and washer and dryer access. Eastview Terrace offers air conditioning.

Conference and campus are classified by participant age ranges.

Youth Programs: Groups with participants under the age of 18. Participants are assigned to a gender-specific residence hall; co-ed residence halls are not offered. Participants will have a default 11:00 p.m. curfew, participants will not be able to enter the residence hall after this time. An earlier curfew time can be requested. 

Per University Policy AD39: Programs Involving Minors Housed  in University Facilities",  the sponsoring group is responsible for providing the appropriate number of live-in supervisory staff as defined below:

• One (1) staff for every five (5) campers, ages 4-5
• One (1) staff for every six (6) campers, ages 6-8
• One (1) staff for every eight (8) campers, ages 9-14
• One (1) staff for every ten (10) campers, ages 15-17

Adult Program: Groups with participants over the age of 18. Participants will be assigned to co-ed residence halls.

Academic Programs: Groups with participants over the age of 18 who are attending college, whether at Penn State or another university. Participants will be assigned to co-ed residence halls.

If any participant requires a housing accommodation for a documented medical condition, please alert Conference Services to review options. 

Requests for Emotional Support Animals (ESAs) and service animals are approved Student Disability Resources. Approval will be processed by the University and Conference Services will provide the "Owner's Responsibility Agreement" form that needs to be completed prior to the conference begin date. 
 

Parking for summer conference and camp participants need to be requested though Penn State Transportation / Parking Services. Parking is not included with the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA), and Conference Services does not assist with parking reservations. 

Food Service options will be available in an identified dining commons, which offers an all-you-care-to-eat buffet at a set price. The dining commons is open during the summer for designated hours for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day (brunch is not offered during the summer). Food Services posts the daily menu online. 

There may be other Food Service options open during the summer months that are not included in conference meal plans. Participants may purchase items from these operations using cashless payment types (major credit cards, Google Pay, Apple Pay, and LionCash (amount which is converted from a cash deposit; balances are non-refundable)).

Food Allergies and Special Dietary Needs

Penn State Residential Dining is happy to accommodate food allergies and special dietary needs for participants. Dining commons staff receive food allergen management training and can offer the following accommodations:

• Each residence hall room is equipped with a refrigerator/freezer/microwave unit
• Dining commons menus are posted online and provide the ingredients, allergens, and nutrition information for each menu item
• Point of Service menu item labels are adjacent to each food item served, and indicate what "top 9" allergens are present in the item, if any; if a dish is meatless, vegan, contains pork, is gluten-friendly, and/or is halal-friendly. 
• Menu items have "backup pans" that a participant can be served from upon request. These are pans of food that have not yet been displayed for serving, and the risk of cross-contact has been minimized. 
• Food items can be prepared separately in the kitchen and wrapped individually for the participant upon request in advance of the program.

For additional information, please reach out to the Registered Dietitians Office at [email protected].

Conference Meal Plans offers meal service based on the schedule provided by the planner. Meals that are a part of the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) are programmed on the participant's conference card, which must be presented to the cashier upon entry to a dining commons. The participant may only enter the dining commons for programmed meal periods. 

Adult and Youth Programs 

Every conference card for the group is programmed for the same meal periods. For example, if the first meal period is for lunch on Monday, all participants can eat lunch on Monday. If it's requested to add breakfast period on Monday, all participants will have breakfast. Meal periods cannot be customized for individual participants. 

Academic Programs

Participants in an academic group receive the Campus Meal Plan that is offered to Penn State students. The Campus Meal Plan is a declining account balance which offers flexibility and convenience; only purchases that the participant makes are deducted and there are no "lost" meal purchases. The Campus Meal Plan is comprised of two cost components, a base cost and dining dollars. The base cost covers all operational expenses and is paid up front; dining dollars are loaded onto the participant's account and used to make purchases at a discounted meal rate.  

The amount of dining dollars loaded on to the participant's account is based on the length of each participant's stay. The amount is designed to cover breakfast, lunch, and dinner purchased at the dining commons, and all dining dollars are loaded up front. The participant may use the Campus Meal Plan at other Food Service operations, such as HUB Dining or the convenience store, but these purchases will utilize more dining dollars. The participant will need to budget their spending to ensure that they can purchase meals for the duration of their stay. If a participant runs out of dining dollars before the end of their program stay, the participant may add additional funds at the Commons Desk. 

The Campus Meal Plan cost for the 2025 summer is $27.75 per day ($14.35 base cost and $13.40 dining dollars). The program will be charged the $27.75 per day fee, multiplied by the total number of days the participant is staying. For example, a participant who arrives on May 27 and departs August 5 will be on campus for 71 days. The program will pay $1,970.25 ($27.75 x 71), and the participant will receive $951.40 ($13.40 x 71) dining dollars on their conference card. 

2025 Summer Dining Commons Meal Rates

• Breakfast $3.05
• Lunch $4.60
• Dinner $5.75

Housing Check-In Options

The planner can select one of two housing check-in options:

1. Individual

Participant Housing Check-In

For smaller groups arriving at various days and times, participants can individually check-in at the designated Commons Desk   

For larger groups who are arriving together, a check-in event can be located in a room or area of the Commons Building and scheduled for a two-hour event. As participants arrive, the Commons Desk staff will check-in the participant. Programs may also request a designated area for the program check-in.

Individual Participant Housing Check-out

The housing check-out time for the departure day will be established during the planning process. Participants are expected to check-out prior to this set time to allow Housing Operations the ability to clean and prepare rooms for other groups. Participants will check-out individually at the Commons Desk, and will need to return the room key (if applicable). The conference card is not required to be returned. For groups that are assigned to buildings where physical room keys are not provided, the participant is still required to check-out at the Commons Desk. The program may also request a one-hour check-out event. Missing room keys are subject to a core change fee.

2. Group/Team

Group/Team Housing Check-in

For larger groups who wish to distribute the check-in packets directly to participants, Conference Services will prepare the packets and sort them into teams (typically sorted by schools or regions). The designated team representative (one individual from each team) is responsible for signing out the entire team's check-in packets, and is then responsible for distributing the packets to each participant. A check-in event will be located in a room or area of the Commons Building and scheduled for a two-hour event. As team representatives arrive, the Commons Desk staff will provide the check-in packets. Programs may also request a designated area for the program check-in.

Group/Team Housing Check-out

The housing check-out time for the departure day will be established during the planning process. Participants are expected to check-out prior to this set time to allow Housing Operations the ability to clean and prepare rooms for other groups. Participants will check-out individually with their team representative and return the room key (if applicable). The conference card is not required to be returned. The program may also request a one-hour check-out event. Once the team representative has received all room keys on the roster, the key packet can be returned to the Commons Desk. Missing room keys are subject to a core change fee.

Conference and camps planners are responsible for providing an accurate roster of all participants. Rosters are due no less than fourteen (14) days before the scheduled arrival date.

Participant Roster Templates

Roster templates are provided to ensure that data is received from each program with the same content. Rosters are imported into a conference planner system; please do not adjust, add, or remove any formatted cells or columns, as this will result in the roster not being imported properly and will require the planner to resubmit a new roster. For programs who base room assignments on region, county, school, or team - these will be additional fields on the template that are required to be completed. 

Conference Services prepares each participant's check-in packet that includes a room key (if applicable) and conference card, based on the information provided on the roster. Changes to roster information after it is submitted may result in errors.  

• Residence Halls: single/double occupancy rooms 

• Eastview Terrace: single occupancy room

• White Course Apartment: 4-person/4-bedroom apartment

• Nittany Apartment: 4-person/2-bedroom apartment

• Nittany Apartment: 4-person/4-bedroom

Roster Fees

Participant Rosters are submitted after the deadline create a burden for Conference Services to properly plan and execute your group. As identified in the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA), if a roster is submitted after the deadline date or the group submits roster adjustments, a penalty fee will be applied to the bill. 

• $250.00 one-time charge for rosters (for staff and participants) submitted less than fourteen (14) days before the group's arrival date 

• $250.00 one-time charge for changes made to a roster after it was submitted, less than fourteen (14) days before the group’s arrival date, when the group requests to be reassigned to a different building or area after room assignments are completed 

• $10.00 per person charge for changes made to individual room assignments (such as roommate requests. This does not include medical accommodations) less than fourteen (14) days before the group’s arrival date 

• $25.00 per person charge for changes made to individual room assignments during the check-in process (such as roommate requests. This does not include changes made for a housing accommodation. 

Mail and package service is available for conference groups staying on campus for longer than fourteen (14) nights, as identified in the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA). Mail and package service is not available for youth camps.

The conference planner is responsible for communicating the details about mail and package delivery service to participants. 

Mailing Address Information

• The terms "Penn State" or "The Pennsylvania State University" should NOT be used in the address. This may divert the package to the University's Campus Mail Services and not be delivered to housing. Campus Mail Services provides service to the campus community outside of University Housing, and is managed through Multimedia Print Services.  
• Mail and packages should be addressed to the participant's name that was identified on the roster.
• Candy and/or liquids should not be sent in envelopes.
• Cash, checks, and gift cards should not be sent in an envelope through US Postal Services.
• Packages should contain a tracking number and be insured.
• Prohibited items will not be released and will be returned to sender (for example, air conditioners, alcohol, etc.)

Mailing Address Format

Proper mailing address format can be found on the Conference and Summer Camp Participant page.

Fire alarms and fire extinguishers are located on every floor of residence halls. Planners should ensure that participants are aware of these locations. Residence halls are also equipped with smoke detectors and a sprinkler system that are monitored by University Police. 

Tampering with fire safety equipment is a very serious matter that could jeopardize the safety of many people. If a participant tampers with this equipment, including covering the equipment, dismantling the equipment, or discharging a fire extinguisher, the participant may be discharged from the program.

GENERAL FIRE SAFETY PRECAUTIONS

Each participant is responsible for taking precautions to prevent a fire and should exercise good judgment when using electronic items or placing items near the heater. Desk lamps should not be placed near flammable objects, such as curtains, bedspreads, pillows, posters, clothing, etc., and should be turned off when there is no one present in the room.

ELEVATORS

The majority of University Housing buildings offer an elevator. Participants are responsible for safely using elevators:

• Tampering with or abusing any elevator equipment or controls is prohibited.

• Elevator doors should not be pried open, nor should the doors be held open by the safety edges.

• If an elevator is stuck between floors, occupants should not attempt to exit the elevator until directions and/or assistance are provided by University elevator technicians or emergency personnel.

• Occupants should not jump up and down in the elevator.

• The elevator should not be used in the event of a fire.

WINDOWS/SCREENS

Windows in University Housing should be kept closed and locked when no one is present in the room to assist with energy conservation and protection of the room interior. Food and beverages should not be stored between the window, outside screen, or ledge. The window screen may not be removed or unlocked. Antennae, speakers, or other devices may not be strung from windows.

WEAPONS AND FIREWORKS

Per University Policy SY12 Weapons and Fireworks Regulations, Fireworks, and Paintball Devices possessing and storing weapons in University Housing is prohibited.

Participants are expected to follow these guidelines:

• Room doors should always be locked, even when using the bathroom or visiting a friend.

• Participants must have possession of the room key (if applicable) and conference card at all times.

• Any visitor must be met at the building's entrance door, as they are not permitted to enter the building without being escorted by the host participant. Visitors must be with the host participant at all times.

• When walking campus at night, try to walk in a group. If any person feels unsafe walking alone, University Police Services offers the Safe Walk Service, where a staff member will walk with the person. Call 814-865-9255 for assistance.

• When walking campus at night, use the well-lit, heavy traffic areas. Refer to the Campus Night Map to find the best route. 

• Emergency phones are located across campus and are identified with a blue light - just pick up the receiver to be connected immediately with University Police Services.

• If the room key and/or conference card is lost or stolen, participant should report it immediately to the program contact or stop by the Commons Desk for assistance.

To ensure the safety and security of all residents:

• Participants should not let other people into the building or room.

• Building entry and exit doors should not be propped open.