BYU has never set an age limit for on-campus housing, and several students have had experiences involving older tenants.
Pat Newman, BYU’s off-campus housing manager, said students of all ages should have access to university housing.
“We have students of many ages attending BYU. They all have a reasonable need for housing,” Newman said.
Although BYU has never imposed an age limit for on-campus housing, BYU-Idaho changed its policy in 2025. Attempting to align more closely with the Church’s Young Single Adult (YSA) structure, BYU-I began restricting single, degree-seeking students aged 26 and older from living in student-approved housing.
Newman said BYU-Idaho’s policy change did not affect BYU’s approach.
“There are times when the BYU and BYU-Idaho policies are different,” Newman said.
Tavia Martin, a BYU student and former Resident Assistant (RA) at Heritage Halls, stated that having an older roommate was never really a choice for her.
“I was told that she was moving in,” Martin said. “I didn’t really have an option.”
Although Martin did not disclose her roommate's age, she stated that the tenant was “old enough to have grown adult children.” This gap, Martin stated, made things uncomfortable at times.
“She was a master’s student living in freshman housing, so the situation felt a little awkward because of the very large gap,” Martin said.
Martin eventually resigned from her RA position because of the living arrangement.
“I could not continue living in that situation,” she said.
Looking back, Martin believes the assignment should not have happened.
“I think for all parties involved, it honestly should not have happened,” Martin said. “There are other housing options for older students.”
She added that she believes on-campus housing should primarily serve freshmen.
Another Heritage Halls resident assistant, Natalie Buchanan, had a similar experience to Martin's.
Buchanan said she was not told who her roommate would be before moving in. After a week without meeting her roommate, she asked her supervisor for more information and learned the woman was in her 60s.
“My jaw dropped,” Buchanan said. “I did not believe her.”
Although Buchanan stated the situation was unfortunate, she decided to continue living in the apartment.
“It was my only option, so I just decided, ‘I’m gonna tough it out,’” she said. “I did a mission for 18 months, and I didn’t get to pick my companions out. So that’s just the mindset I adopted.”
However, Buchanan stated that Heritage Halls should have let her know in advance.
“I think it would have been best if they gave a little bit of a warning when I got the job that this was going to be my roommate … and then I could have mentally prepared myself for it,” Buchanan said.
Martin and Buchanan’s experiences occurred in 2025, but BYU alumna Brynn Christofferson Heaton also had a similar experience in Heritage Halls in 2019.
Upon move-in day during her freshman year, Christofferson Heaton learned that she would be living with an older tenant. Looking back on the experience, she stated that Heritage Halls did the best they could with the situation.
“I think it was just a situation that they didn’t anticipate happening at all,” Christofferson Heaton said. “I feel like they did the best they could because they moved the younger girl into a different room.”
However, she also stated that an age limit for on-campus housing could have prevented the issue from occurring.
“I’ve always wondered if they’ll make an upper age limit or not, just so ahead of time it doesn’t happen,” she said.
For more information on BYU on-campus housing policies, visit this website.