Harvard Summer School offers eligible students room and board in the undergraduate Houses and in Harvard Yard. The oldest of these buildings dates from 1763, the most recent from 1975. The rooms are simple, containing a bed, mattress, pillow, dresser, bookcase, desk, and chair for each student. Students must provide linens, desk lamps, wastebaskets, and other desired furnishings. Most rooms are part of a suite of two or four bedrooms, with an adjoining common area and bathroom.
Entryways are coed, but the suites are single sex.
Suitemates come from the United States as well as other countries, and an effort is made to place at least one native speaker of English in each rooming group. Students may bring their own bed linen or rent from the campus linen service upon arrival at Harvard. Coin-operated laundry machines are available in each residence, and laundry services may be purchased on campus. Students also may rent fans, telephones, answering machines, computers, and refrigerators. Carefully chosen resident proctors, who are Harvard College undergraduates or recent graduates, live in the Houses and dormitories, keep general order, and serve as advisors available daily to offer support and guidance.