Richmond Residency

You're more than welcome to commute to campus on hybrid residency days! If you choose to commute to campus, you are still encouraged to join us for meals (breakfast, lunch, and dinner).

Initial check-in will take place in Watts Hall. Additional details, including check-in hours, will be shared before residency week.

Students arriving later may go directly to their assigned residence hall using the building and room access code provided to them. A check-in packet will be waiting at the building entrance. If you have questions, please call the number for the subintendent, posted on the door of your residence hall.

Contact the superintendent assigned to your residence hall. Contact information will be included with your arrival instructions and check-in materials, and posted at the door of your residence hall.

Breakfast is served in the Rose Lobby of the Early Center, conveniently located near most of your classes. Lunch and dinner take place in the Holderness Dining Room in Richmond Hall. More than simply mealtimes, these gatherings offer a wonderful opportunity to connect with other students, faculty, and staff in a relaxed setting.

Before residency week, you’ll receive a food survey so we can accommodate a range of dietary needs. All meals are catered in partnership with local vendors, with an emphasis on fresh, wholesome food.

Our residence halls also have full kitchens, which can be used to prepare food during the hybrid week.

Courses fall into two categories, hybrid or online. Hybrid courses contain face-to-face, synchronous online, and asynchronous online components. Online courses usually contain a mix of synchronous and asynchronous components. A few courses are wholly asynchronous and are marked as such in course schedules.

Most synchronous class sessions are held in the evening, typically on weeknights.

You will be expected to join via Zoom for synchronous, online class sessions. Most synchronous class sessions are held in the evening or on Saturdays. A few are on afternoons, Monday through Thursday.

Classes will always be much more than discussion boards. Most classes involve a combination of synchronous and asynchronous activities. Even asynchronous activities are often quite interactive, involving student-faculty interaction, group projects, and engagement with videos, texts, learning tools, etc.

Hybrid courses involve twelve hours of face-to-face instruction. The midweek hybrid taught on the Richmond campus includes one four-day instructional residency during which each of your two classes meets for three hours each day.

Richmond Hybrid may be right for you if you’re seeking a rigorous, formational seminary experience that fits into the realities of your life—not the other way around. If you’re balancing ministry, work, family, or geographic constraints but still want deep theological education, meaningful relationships with faculty, and intentional community, this model is designed with you in mind. It allows you to stay rooted where you are while participating in a connected learning community shaped by worship, shared learning, and periodic in-person experiences.

It’s also built for flexibility over time. You can move between modalities as your life circumstances change—engaging more in-person when possible or leaning into online participation when needed. And for students in the Master of Arts in Christian Education (M.A.C.E.), the program can be completed fully online, offering a clear pathway for those who need maximum flexibility without sacrificing quality or formation.

In short: if you’re called to grow as a leader for the church and the world, but need an accessible, adaptable path to get there, Richmond Hybrid is built for you.

You won’t be starting from scratch when you arrive—you’ll already be connected. In the hybrid model, students begin their courses online, so by the time you come to campus for your first in-person experience, you’ve already spent weeks learning, discussing, and engaging with your classmates and faculty. That means your time on campus deepens relationships rather than introducing them.

Through shared worship, meals, conversation, and collaborative learning, students build strong bonds that often become lifelong networks of ministry colleagues and friends. Many pastoral and ministry cohorts formed here stay connected for decades, supporting one another across changing calls and contexts.

Your connections don’t end at graduation. UPSem is a lifelong community. Alumni regularly return to campus, maintain relationships with faculty, and continue to access seminary resources—including libraries, spaces for retreat, and ongoing learning opportunities. Whether through formal gatherings or informal connections, there are abundant ways to nurture the relationships you build here for a lifetime of ministry.

If you’re looking for a fully residential experience, UPSem offers the Community Scholars program—a pathway designed specifically for students who want to live, learn, and grow in an intentional, on-campus community.

Community Scholars live in residence throughout the academic year, sharing rhythms of daily life together—meals, worship, study, service, and recreation—while participating in the same hybrid courses as their peers. This means you receive both the depth of residential formation and the flexibility and reach of UPSem’s hybrid model.

It’s ideal for students who feel called to immersive community: those who want the day-to-day experience of seminary life, deeper relational formation, and a structured environment for spiritual growth.

In short: if you want to be fully rooted in campus life while still benefiting from a flexible, forward-looking model of theological education, Community Scholars is built for you.

Housing for Community Scholars

For full-time students seeking on-campus or subsidized housing in Richmond as part of the Community Scholars covenantal community, or for international residents, rates vary by size and location. Dormitory charges should be paid promptly on the first day of each month. A $50 housing deposit is required for new students to hold a dorm room or apartment. A damage deposit equal to one month’s rent is required at move-in. A $25 key deposit is collected at move-in. On-campus housing charges are less than Richmond-area standard market rates and include basic utilities. Dormitory rates range from $490 to $530 per month, depending on size and location.