Are Co-Ed Apartments Allowed at BYU-Idaho? Single-Sex Housing Rules Explained

No. Not for single students. BYU-Idaho’s Approved Housing system requires unmarried, undergraduate students under 30 to live in single-sex apartments — meaning every Approved Housing complex in Rexburg is either all-male or all-female, or has the men and women in separate buildings on the same property. Married students and student-parents are exempt and can live anywhere they want. Everyone else: gender-segregated, by license, by the lease, no exceptions.

If you’re trying to figure out whether you can rent that two-bedroom near campus with your buddy of the opposite sex, the answer is also no. Honor Code applies before you even sign.

Key Takeaways

• Single student housing in Rexburg is single-sex by design. Not by floor. Not by wing. By the entire complex or the entire building.
• The complexes that show up on the official BYU-Idaho Approved Housing list — University View, The Lofts, Kensington, Royal Crest, and a couple dozen smaller properties — all hold a license that obligates them to enforce gender separation. Lose the license, lose the right to market to BYU-Idaho students.
• Married? You’re free. Move into a basement apartment, a townhouse, a duplex, whatever fits the family budget. The Approved Housing requirement only sticks to single students.
• Off-track semester counts. If you’re enrolled but not taking classes that semester and you’re hanging around Rexburg, the rule still applies.
• Visitors of the opposite sex can hang out during posted hours (most complexes use 9 AM to midnight). They cannot stay overnight. The visiting-hours rule is part of the license, and complexes that go soft on it lose it.

Why BYU-Idaho Doesn’t Allow Co-Ed Apartments for Singles

The Honor Code is the why. The Approved Housing system is the how.

The Honor Code prohibits unmarried members of the opposite sex from living together. That’s the rule on paper. Operationalizing it in an off-campus rental market — where the school doesn’t own the apartments and can’t directly control who signs which lease — is harder. So BYU-Idaho built the Approved Housing system: complexes voluntarily sign a covenant with the university committing to gender separation, visiting-hours enforcement, and reporting violations. In exchange, they get the official “Approved Housing” label, which is what allows them to rent to single students at all.

That’s the trade. The complex agrees to enforce the rules. The school certifies the complex as Approved. Single students can only legally rent there. The whole thing falls apart if any one piece breaks.

The reviews happen annually. Some complexes have lost their license over the years (a longtime Rexburg manager I talked to once said losing approved status is “the worst thing that can happen to a single-student property” — once you’re off the list, your enrollment dries up overnight).

How Approved Housing Splits Up by Gender

Most of the large complexes you’ve heard of run a male side and a female side. Same property. Different buildings. Different keys. Different parking lots in some cases. The split happens at the building or unit level, not at the bedroom-by-bedroom level — there’s no version where a four-person apartment has two men and two women.

Smaller complexes pick a side. They’re licensed all-male or all-female and that’s it for the entire portfolio. You’ll see this a lot with smaller older properties closer to campus — they don’t have the unit count to justify operating both sides, so they pick one.

Common areas (clubhouse, gym, pool, study lounge) are usually open to both genders during posted hours. The apartment itself stays single-sex. Walking by a pool with people of the opposite sex in it isn’t the rule the Honor Code is trying to police.

What Happens If a Single Student Lives in a Co-Ed Apartment

It’s an Honor Code violation. That’s not abstract — there are actual consequences attached.

Standard outcomes look like this:

• A meeting with the Honor Code Office. They want to know what happened, why, and what your plan is.
• A required move to Approved Housing inside a defined window — typically 30 days, sometimes faster. You’ll need to show the new lease.
• For repeat issues or refusal to comply, ecclesiastical endorsement gets revoked, and that ends enrollment. (BYU-Idaho requires an active ecclesiastical endorsement to stay enrolled. Lose it, and your transcript closes.)

The university takes this seriously because the system only works if students cooperate. The minute exceptions become common, the licensing leverage on complexes evaporates and the whole arrangement breaks.

Married Students and Family Housing

Get married. The rule disappears. Married students at BYU-Idaho can rent anywhere in Rexburg — single-family home, basement apartment, condo, a place that’s never been on the Approved Housing list, doesn’t matter.

Several Approved complexes still keep a dedicated married section alongside their single-sex buildings. The floorplans run bigger (one-bedroom and two-bedroom standard), full kitchens, in-unit washer-dryer hookups in most. Rent runs higher than single-student units, but you’re getting more square footage and a different tenant mix.

If you get married mid-semester (BYU-Idaho weddings are not rare), most leases include a clause that lets you transfer out of single-student housing into married housing without breaking the lease. Marriage certificate to the housing office, paperwork, done.

Frequently Asked Questions About BYU-Idaho Approved Housing

Can a single guy and a single girl sign a joint lease at the same address?

No. Not in any Approved Housing complex. Even if the apartment has separate locking bedrooms, the license requires gender separation at the unit level. The leasing office won’t sign the paperwork.

What if we’re siblings?

Doesn’t matter. Brother and sister can’t share an Approved Housing unit while both are single, undergraduate, and under 30. The rule is structural — it isn’t about your relationship to the other person, it’s about the complex’s licensing terms.

Are common areas co-ed?

Yes. Pool, gym, clubhouse, study rooms, outdoor spaces — those are typically open to both genders during posted hours. The apartment is the line.

Can I live with my parents if they live in Rexburg?

Yes. Living at a parent’s primary residence in Rexburg satisfies the Approved Housing requirement automatically. You file an exception request with the BYU-Idaho Housing Office at the start of each semester and show proof of address. Done.

Does the rule apply to graduate students?

BYU-Idaho is primarily undergraduate. The handful of graduate programs follow the same Honor Code and the same housing requirement applies to single students under 30 across program levels.

What about students 30 and older?

Approved Housing requirement drops at 30. You can rent anywhere. The Honor Code’s prohibition on cohabitation still applies — the change is only the housing-license piece.