Author: Shyanne Hardy

If your student is considering living off campus, encourage them to check out the Virtual Off-Campus Housing Fair on Wednesday, February 3 from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. at Mason’s Official Off-Campus Housing Finder, och.gmu.edu.

The Virtual Off-Campus Housing Fair brings together local apartment complexes, in a digital space, so that students have a one-stop opportunity to learn about several off-campus living options. Additionally, students will have the ability to “live chat” with a representative from the properties in attendance to ask any pressing questions.

Is your student moving off campus? Here are some tips!
If your student has been living on campus or moving out on their own for the first time, the switch to off-campus life can be challenging, exciting, and scary. As a family member, you have the ability to support your student through this transition and use these tips to avoid problems later down the road.

Finding a Roommate
First, students will want to figure out who they want to live with. In Fairfax City and Fairfax County no more than four unrelated individuals can live together. Students can form groups on their own or use the roommate matching system at och.gmu.edu to browse potential roommates. It is strongly recommended that students set up a roommate contract and talk through their expectations of each other. Sometimes leases will outline certain expectations of behavior (i.e. how many nights in a row a guest can stay) that students should understand before they sign the lease.

Financial Implications
One of the most important parts of living on your own is understanding how to set up a budget and understanding what happens if you don’t follow through. Budgeting worksheets and apps, such as Mint or Wally, are extremely useful in helping students understand where their money is going each month. Family members can also help students understand the ramifications for failing to pay rent or utilities: eviction, loss of power/lights, and/or a lower credit score. For this reason, we recommend that students get individual leases, when possible, to make sure that their roommates’ failure to follow through on financial responsibilities doesn’t impact them.

We Can Help
For more information on the Virtual Off-Campus Housing Fair or Contemporary Student Services, contact Anthony Berardo, aberardo@gmu.edu, or Casey Machuga, csmit34@gmu.edu.

If your student is unable to attend the fair and would like to speak with a staff member from Contemporary Student Services, they can make an appointment at contemporary.gmu.edu or contact our Off-Campus Advisors at offcamp1@gmu.edu or 703-993-6563.

Finally, remember that och.gmu.edu is the official Mason Off-Campus Housing Finder. Mason does not recommend or partner with any other websites or services.

Anthony Berardo
Assistant Director
Contemporary Student Services

*To receive more articles like this straight to your inbox, sign up for the Mason Family Association at masonfamily.gmu.edu/mason-family-association. 

Encourage your student to register for the Mason Emerging Leaders Program
Is your student looking for ways to enhance their person and professional leadership skills, build a relationship network with students and staff, and challenging themselves to learn new things? If so, then the Mason Emerging Leaders Program is a great professional development opportunity.

The Emerging Leaders Program is an 8-week course designed to introduce leadership topics to a cohort of new and beginning leaders. Topics include leadership styles, communication, understanding of values, team building, group dynamics, identity development, and much more.

Students who participate in the Emerging Leaders Program will:

• Identify possible leadership involvement opportunities at Mason
• Establish and build a relationship network with students, faculty, and staff
• Locate activities and programming on campus and within the LEAD Office to enhance leadership development
• Define at least one of the Mason Leads Core values and it’s importance to your leadership practice
• Articulate a way in which you can apply what you have learned in the Emerging Leaders Program in your everyday leadership practice

For more information and to RSVP, visit lead.gmu.edu/emergingleaders.

Lisa Snyder
Associate Director
Leadership Education and Development

*To receive more articles like this straight to your inbox, sign up for the Mason Family Association at masonfamily.gmu.edu/mason-family-association. 

Parking & Transportation

Parking Permits

• 2021 Spring semester parking permits are on sale at parking.gmu.edu.
• Permits will be sold only as daily, weekly, monthly, and semester options. Annual permits are discontinued for the 2020-21 academic year.
• For information on semester and daily/weekly/monthly permit rates, visit transportation.gmu.edu/parking-services/permits.
• Motorcycle permits are available for purchase at the Parking Services office by appointment only. Please call (703) 993-2710 to schedule an appointment.
• All permits are PRINTABLE with the exception of Motorcycle permits. Permits will not be mailed.
• As the last step of the online permit purchase process, please print and display the permit on the vehicle dashboard prior to parking. The permit link will expire 14 days after the purchase date.

Shuttle Service

• Spring Mason Shuttles service will begin on Monday, January 25 with two routes:  Fairfax/SciTech and Gunston Mason. Each route will run Monday through Friday only.  There is no weekend service. The Fairfax/SciTech route will have two buses with service every 75 minutes. Other than Fairfax/SciTech and Gunston Mason, all other routes will not run during the spring semester.
• Spring schedules and the latest information on Mason Shuttles can be found at shuttle.gmu.edu.

Parking Changes for the Spring Semester
West Campus
West Campus permits will not be sold due to discontinued spring semester shuttle service. Any Mason parking permit is valid at West Campus, if needed. A portion of the West Campus parking lot is blocked off and not available for parking. Valid Mason permits can also be used to park in spaces located on Rapidan River Road.

Rappahannock Parking Deck
The gates for the reserved levels (3 through 5) will remain lifted for the semester so an access card will not be required for entry. A valid Rappahannock reserved permit is still required to park on reserved levels and will be enforced.

Freshmen Resident
Freshmen resident students can purchase any permit except the General and Lot M/P permits.  Freshmen residents can purchase the “Resident Lite” permit option, which is valid in Lots K, M, O, and P.

Off-Campus Freshmen
Off-Campus Freshmen can purchase the “General Lot” permit option.

Sophomore Residents
The “General Lot” permit option is available for purchase.

Short-Term Parking
For students, faculty, and staff who do not require parking on campus on a regular basis, there are daily, weekly, and monthly options available online. Hourly visitor parking is available in all parking garages at $3/hour with a $15 daily maximum. At the Field House, Lots M and P are the lowest priced daily parking at $3/day and can be purchased online or by using the ParkMobile app. A daily permit for General areas is also available online for $9/day as well as one for Lot K only for $6/day.

Student Centers

Spring Semester Building Hours
Johnson Center: 7 a.m.-11 p.m. daily
Student Union Building I (SUB I): 7:30 a.m.-10 p.m. daily
The HUB: 7:30 a.m.-11 p.m. daily

Mason Dining

Click here to know what’s open on campus right now! Looking for a full list of our hours of operation? Visit masondining.sodexomyway.com and click on the first link on right of the home page (first link if you’re on the mobile site).

Southside and Ike’s reopen Sunday, January 24. View the Move-In Week Hours here.
Southside Dining Hall
Sunday, Jan. 24: 10 a.m.-8 p.m.
Ike’s Dining Hall
Sunday, Jan. 24: [Breakfast] 10 a.m.-2:30 p.m.; [Dinner] 5-9 p.m.

Winter Break runs from December 21 to January 4, which means campus offices and buildings will be closed during this time. Below is a breakdown of the residence halls, resident and retail dining, fitness centers, student centers, and Student Health Services hours during Winter Break. 

2020 Winter Break Building Closings 

RESIDENCE HALLS
All apartment style residence halls (Liberty Square, Northern Neck, Potomac Heights, Rogers, Townhouses) will be open during Winter Break, as well as Hampton Roads. The community kitchen in Hampton Roads will also be open. With the exception of the residence halls previously listed, all housing buildings will be closed starting December 17 at noon and reopen on January 19. Students will receive emails from Housing and Residence Life notifying them of their specific time to move in for the spring semester.

All neighborhood desks will be closed starting Friday, December 18 and reopen on Monday, January 4. The Community Assistant duty phone number will be available for students in the case of an emergency.

The application to request winter housing deadline has now passed. Students staying on campus during Winter Break have been pre-approved by Housing and Residence Life. If your student’s living situation has changed and they are in need of winter housing, encourage them to email Housing and Residence Life at housing@gmu.edu.

For more information regarding Winter Break and move-in, visit housing.gmu.edu.

DINING
You can view the Winter Break dining hours of operation by visiting masondining.sodexomyway.com and then clicking on Winter Break Hours on the top right. You can also check masondining.sodexomyway.com/dining-near-me/hours or follow @Mason_Dining on social media for updates. 

FITNESS CENTERS
Skyline: Dec. 18 – Jan. 24  

• CLOSED 

Aquatic and Fitness Center: Dec. 17 – 23 

• Monday – Friday: 7 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. 
• Saturday: 8 a.m. – 12 p.m. 
• Sunday: CLOSED 

Aquatic and Fitness Center: Dec. 24 – Jan. 3 

• Dec. 24 – 27: CLOSED 
• Dec. 28 – 30: 7 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. 
• Dec. 31 – Jan. 3: CLOSED 

Recreation Athletic Complex: Dec. 17 – Jan. 3 

• CLOSED 

Members will need to make a reservation to use the facilities. For more details and information on this process, visit recreation.gmu.edu/returnplan/reservations. 

STUDENT CENTERS
The HUB: Dec. 19 – Jan. 2 

• CLOSED 

Student Union Building I: Dec. 19 – Jan. 2 

• CLOSED 

Johnson Center: Dec. 19 – Jan. 2 

• CLOSED 

STUDENT HEALTH SERVICES 

• Dec. 19 – Jan. 3: Clinic CLOSED 
• Jan. 4 – Jan. 17:  See below

• Telehealth hours:  

• • Monday – Thursday: 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (by appointment only) 
  • Friday: 12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. (by appointment only) 

• In-person Clinic hours:  

• • Monday – Friday: 12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. (by appointment only) 

For more information on services being offered during Winter Break, please visit shs.gmu.edu. 

Many of Mason offices and buildings will be closed when the university is closed. For a more detailed breakdown of specific office hours, visit info.gmu.edu/campus-information/hours. 

Samaria Moss 
Graduate Assistant 
New Student and Family Programs 

*To receive more articles like this straight to your inbox, sign up for the Mason Family Association at masonfamily.gmu.edu/mason-family-association.