2024 Orientation Day: September 2, 2024 at 7pm Once you have completed the items on the enrollment checklist, you may proceed to the following steps, all of which should be completed prior to the start of the semester.
Before You Arrive:
Graduate Conservatory Internship
Billing, Financial Aid, and Federal Student Loans
On-Campus Housing
Off-Campus Housing and Roommates
Bard Student ID Cards
Conservatory Lockers
Vehicle Registration
Graduate Conservatory Internship
For many graduate students a conservatory internship is part of your aid package. Your duties under this internship include help in the Conservatory office, or related activities for the 15 weeks of each semester. You will receive an email communication about this internship later in the summer.
Balances should be paid promptly; overdue balances are subject to a finance charge of 1 percent per month (12 percent per year). Accounts more than 15 days late in payment are subject to an additional $25 late fee. Finance charges on amounts to be paid by financial aid that has not yet been credited to a student’s account will not be waived unless Bard College is at fault for late processing of the aid. If accounts are not paid as due, the College reserves the right to require that payment be made by bank cashier’s check or money order, or wire transfer. Academic and financial holds are placed on accounts not paid as due. These holds prevent release of transcripts and registration confirmation and changes. If the required payment is not received before the start of the term, the students’ account will be inactivated, and the students’ registration will be canceled for that semester. In addition to the required payment due, there is a $100 late registration fee applicable to the outstanding balance.
Your billing statement will reflect any financial aid as well as federal student loans; however, if you submitted an online health insurance waiver within several weeks prior to receiving the tuition statement, the statement may include the default Bard health care coverage fee. If this is the case, simply subtract the indicated amount of the health coverage fee from the total statement balance. The difference in billing amount will be reconciled by the Office of Student Accounts, and you will not be penalized.
If you would like to apply for on-campus housing, please complete the 2025-26 Graduate Student Housing Application here by Friday, May 30. Requesting on-campus housing does not guarantee that it will be granted. Housing applicants will be notified of their application status by Friday, June 13.
On campus graduate student housing is limited. If more applications are submitted than spaces available, students will be entered into a lottery system. Graduate students approved to live on campus will be placed in a single bedroom in a residence hall with other graduate students. Graduate students approved to live in housing will be sharing community spaces including bathroom, kitchens, laundry rooms and other community spaces. Bard does not offer partner/spouse or family housing options.
If approved to live in graduate housing, you will be required to live on campus for both the fall and spring semesters. Move-in day is Saturday, August 30, 2025. The cost for on-campus housing for the year is $9,238. Students living on-campus are also required to opt-in to the commuter meal plan, which gives each student 4 meals each week at Kline Commons, plus $400 Bard Bucks.
Questions regarding on-campus graduate housing should be sent to reslife@bard.edu.
Off-Campus Housing and Roommates
Most graduate students in the Conservatory find housing off campus in the surrounding area, and many tools are available for Conservatory students to find roommates and off campus housing. The most common method used by incoming students is to search the housing section on the Hudson Valley Craigslist website. This website includes the entire Hudson Valley region of New York, so as you search, keep in mind that the most accessible towns include Tivoli, Red Hook, Rhinebeck, and Germantown. The standard commuting time to campus is anywhere between 10 and 25 minutes.
A contact list of all conservatory graduate students will be emailed early in the summer. This will put you in touch with the current and new students and provide you with the opportunity to connect with students who may be looking for housing and/or roommates for next year.
Please note that on-campus housing at Bard is not currently available to graduate students.
If you have any questions concerning housing, please feel free to contact Conservatory Admissions at conservatoryadmission@bard.edu.
Bard Student ID Cards
Upon arriving to campus, incoming students should go to the Buildings and Grounds office on-campus anytime between 11am and 3pm, Monday thru Friday, to get their student ID card. This will be necessary for accessing student services on and off campus, including checking out books from the Bard College library and printing using the campus printers. In order to receive their ID card, students will need to provide their legal name and Banner ID number, which was given to them in the initial communication for setting-up their Bard email address.
Conservatory Lockers
During the first week of classes, you will be able to sign up for a locker in the Bitó Conservatory Building. More information about lockers can be found in the conservatory wiki.
Vehicle Registration
Vehicle Registration is handled by the Department of Safety and Security, located in the Old Gym, adjacent to the Olin Humanities Building.
