Can I Bring My Emotional Support Animal to College with Me?

Abstract

Do you know that you can take your Emotional Support Animal (ESA) with you to college? The Fair Housing Act (FHA) says that “Housing providers cannot refuse to make reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices, or services when such accommodations may be necessary to afford a person with a disability the equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling.”³ This means that colleges and universities must allow ESAs in housing, even if there is a no-pet policy. Find out more about bringing your ESA to college with you in this tip sheet.

³ U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. (n.d.). Assistance animals. Retrieved from https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/fair_housing_equal_opp/assistance_animals

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Subject Area

Education and Training, Rehabilitation/Recovery, Transition Age Youth

Keywords

Emotional Support Animals, ESA, pets, service dogs, mental health, therapy animal, service animal, young adults, college, education, housing, office of disability services, Fair Housing Act (FHA)

Repository Citation

Gatesy-Davis A. Can I Bring My Emotional Support Animal to College with Me?. Psychiatry Information in Brief 2021;18(5):1170. https://doi.org/10.7191/pib.1170. Retrieved from https://escholarship.umassmed.edu/pib/vol18/iss5/1