First-year residents receive their ID cards with their housing access encoded. Returning residents may visit Housing Services to have the access encoded on their ID cards.

Although your initial PIN is assigned by Housing Services, a self-service kiosk (similar to an ATM machine) is available for residents to change their pin. Your original PIN number is stored in our electronic lock database, but subsequent PIN changes are not stored anywhere other than on your actual key card. The kiosk is located in the lobby of the Housing Services office.

For security reasons, PIN’s are stored only within the computer database that manages the locking system and reports or lists are not generated with this information. As a result, you must visit Housing Services to receive a PIN.

Although we encourage our residents to always keep their residence doors locked, there is a ‘double-dip’ feature that allows you to put you door in an unlocked mode for one week. Once a week doors automatically reset and re-locks the door.

Residents who are locked out of their rooms must come to the Housing Services office during business hours. After hours entry requests should be directed to Campus Security (8-2323) who can provide access to your room.

More than likely, the lever was depressed too quickly. Re-insert your card and enter your PIN again. Once the green light appears, wait a little longer before depressing the door lever. If the problem continues, contact Housing Services.

The lock batteries are projected to last between two and three years. However, the lock is designed to warn you in advance that your batteries are running low. A steady green light and a flashing red light (for approximately 1.5 seconds) indicate the batteries are low and require replacement. Please notify Housing Services to have new batteries installed. Although batteries will be put on a replacement schedule to minimize the chance of any batteries running low, some batteries may have an unusually short life span.

No. Our goal is to provide residence security and operating only the PIN pad function would be a lower level of security than a physical key card. It is therefore not an option.