REXBURG --BYU-Idaho educates more than 20,000 on-campus students, and when it comes to housing the requirements aren’t the same for single and married students. About a quarter of the students on campus are married and can’t live in BYU-Idaho Approved housing. That means they can live among the local population. Single students however must live in housing that is set apart for BYU-Idaho students. But what about divorced and widowed students?
They can still live in approved housing, but the process looks a little different.
According to Kriss Pond, the student living manager at BYU-Idaho, divorced and widowed students are not required to live in approved housing, but can if they apply.
“More often than not, in fact probably 98% of the time, a student who is within the age range of their peers who is divorced, we feel like the best experience for students is within approved housing,” Pond said.
Savannah McCauley is one student who lived in approved housing after her divorce. She was already divorced when she applied to BYU-Idaho. The housing system automatically marks divorced students as ineligible for approved housing, so she had to apply for an exception.
“They sent me an email saying, ‘Hey can you fill out this little form with a few questions on it?’” McCauley said. “I filled that questionnaire out and gave it back to them. About a week or so later they came back to me and told me I was okay to live with other single people.”
McCauley also received a questionnaire asking about her daily routine. It included questions about her sleeping habits and cleaning habits.
“I assumed it was from the committee that was trying to approve my ability to live with other people,” McCauley said. “That actually confused me a little bit. I thought they were asking me sanity questions or something and I was really confused about the whole process.”
Pond says the housing department does not ask those types of personal questions. The second questionnaire was most likely from the apartment complex. Many complexes send out surveys so they can assign roommates together who already have things in common.
While McCauley was able to live in approved housing, Kayla Diuguid was not so lucky. She graduated from BYU-Idaho in Winter 2023. She went through a divorce part way through her schooling and it took eight months to be finalized. Since the divorce was not final, she could not apply for an exception to live in approved housing. In the meantime, she lived in an Airbnb for a month and then slept on a friend’s couch. Eventually Diuguid’s friend secured a lease for her, but that was not the end of her troubles.
“The housing in Rexburg is so crazy,” Diuguid said. “I needed that lease in November, but I did not get into that apartment until February.”
Diuguid took a break from school to work full-time so she could afford rent. She never applied for an exception and finished her degree living in community housing.
“Marriage is so focused on there, and a lot of students end up getting divorced and I almost was sleeping in my car for a month until my friend stepped in,” Diuguid said.
Divorce is never easy and every situation is different. McCauley is now married and lives in community housing.
“I met my husband here,” McCauley said. “I’ve had so many good experiences here at the school.”
To apply for a housing exception, click here.