Newly Admitted Students

Housing and Transportation

Housing
Moraine Valley offers international students housing assistance to find comfortable and safe living arrangements in the local community. Moraine Valley is a commuter college, which means students must commute to campus  by car or bus. No dormitory, residence hall or on-campus housing is available.

Housing assistance service is provided to meet the needs of new international students. With sufficient planning, international students are usually able to be placed in a Host Home housing arrangement, directly upon arrival at Moraine Valley.  Many community residents participate in the Host Home Program and rent a room to international students. Most students then travel to campus by public bus service.  Some students may decide to buy a car.   Later on in your stay, you may decide to get your own apartment, or share an apartment with other students.  The Host Home Program is most convenient and desirable for new students who are newly arrived in the United States. For more information about housing, details of these services are explained below.
Host Home Program and Local Apartment Information

For housing assistance, you must submit the Housing Request and Deposit Form, with your $200 deposit, by express mail.

This must be received  by the due date to insure that housing is being arranged before your arrival. You are requested to be in direct contact with the Coordinator of International Student Housing by telephone at (708) 974-5443, or e-mail intladmissions@morainevalley.edu to discuss details of your arrival and housing.

Failure to submit your form and deposit may result in your being ineligible for this service.  Host homes and housing requests MUST be pre-arranged.

Host Home and Apartments

Transportation in the Local Area
While attending Moraine Valley, students must plan to use public transportation. While some students will live close enough to walk to school, most students will be living in the communities nearby, and will need to take the bus or drive a car to school.

Moraine Valley is located on the main routes of the local bus transportation system. All the main streets in the surrounding areas and suburbs have bus service, and these buses can be used to travel directly to the college, and also into the city of Chicago. Host Homes and the Apartment Program are chosen depending upon their convenience to public transportation.

Many students will decide to buy a car. An automobile offers the advantages of convenience and mobility. Students with automobiles will have more options in housing and accommodations. Used automobiles are readily available for students who have the finances to purchase them.

Students who plan to drive should obtain an international driving license if it is available in the home country. This will enable you to drive legally until obtaining the official license for the state of Illinois. Students with no previous driving experience may enroll in a driver's training course to prepare for obtaining a driver's license.

However, it is important to consider the costs of driving. All drivers are required by state law to purchase and maintain automobile insurance for their car. Additional costs for driving a car include the expense of driver training if necessary, the purchase price of the car, gasoline, required insurance, car maintenance or repairs. Driving costs are not included in our annual estimate of expenses; additional information about public transportation and automobile driving in the U. S. is distributed at the International Student Orientation Program.

For more information about transportation around the Chicago area, see the Web site www.chicago.com. This will provide you maps and an overview of the entire bus and train system in the Chicago area. This transportation system is known as the RTA or the Regional Transportation Authority.

For more information about the local public bus system servicing Moraine Valley, please see the Web site www.pacebus.com. You will be able to view the bus routes that go directly around the Moraine Valley vicinity. The public bus system in the southwest suburbs of Chicago is called the Pace Bus.