What is the Housing Lottery?

• Senior Only Lottery- This lottery is for seniors who are looking to live by themselves or with other seniors. (Seniors looking to live with underclassmen must participate in in the occupancy size lotteries)  Lottery will be broken into two days.
• Wellness Lottery- this event is for registered students (completed an application in MyHousing by the deadline) to select a room in the upper-level wellness communities in Keefe and Ramer Halls.  Students with prior wellness community membership will be given priority over new applicants.
• 6 & 7-person Lottery- this lottery is available for matched roommate groups of six or seven people
• 3-person Lottery- this lottery is available for matched roommate groups of three people
• 4-person Lottery- this lottery is available for matched roommate groups of four people
• Single Lottery- this lottery is available for those seeking a single
• Doubles Lottery- this lottery is available for those matched roommate pairs seeking a double

CHANGES THIS YEAR: 

1. The privately owned and operated Tator North and McCartney South no longer require an application or have a separate lottery event.  The units will be incorporated into the senior only and occupancy size lotteries.

2. The new McCartney II apartments will be included in the senior only and occupancy size lotteries.

3.  College-owned Off-campus properties will no longer have a separate lottery event.  The units will be incorporated into the senior only and occupancy size lotteries.

4.  The Senior Only Lottery has been reinstated with new features in order to provide rising seniors with the most flexibility and ownership of their room selection.
    Day 1-traditional lottery model.  Seniors will match as roommate groups (or unmatched if trying for a single unit) before the lottery event, receive a group lottery start time, and have the opportunity to select a unit that matches the group size.

Day 2- Second Chance – individual room lottery opportunity where traditional lottery rules are lifted. Roommate groups will be able to break into smaller groups and/or singles in order to select a room(s). The requirement to fill a room or suite will no longer apply therefore students would be able to select bedrooms within a suite. Students participating in Day 2 will be given an updated lottery start time preserving the same order as the day before.

Watch our video to see how it works!

If you are looking to live with a roommate or group of people, you will need to go through the roommate matching process for your lottery event in MyHousing.  Only fully matched roommate groups will be able to choose as a group in any lottery event. Some matching processes are limited to eligible students.  If you can’t find your intended roommate, check the following:
a) Are they eligible based on their class year? (underclassmen are not included in the Senior Only Lottery)
b)  Have they completed the required application?  (Wellness)
c)  Is their housing unassigned for the fall? (students assigned through another process cannot participate in further events)

Groups need to be fully matched by the posted deadline (typically the day before the Lottery event) to receive a lottery start time.  Review the step by step instructions(pdf) for assistance.

Lottery selection times are assigned to individual students randomly within each class year for each lottery event. It is a seniority-based system which means rising seniors get earlier selection times than rising juniors, who get earlier selection times than rising sophomores.  Selection times are then recalculated for roommate groups by averaging the individual times.  In this weighted system, a group with all rising seniors will have an earlier selection time than a group with mixed class years.  You will be prompted by email to view your selection time in MyHousing the day before your lottery event. Fully matched roommate groups receive one selection date/time.  Any roommate can choose housing for the group.

If you believe you/your group will be unable to choose housing at your selection time please contact Residence Life in advance of the start of the Lottery event.

Lottery selection times are unique to each lottery event.

The list of available rooms is based on availability of spaces and the number of the students who are eligible to select in the Lottery (those who are not already assigned). A preview of available spaces will be accessible in MyHousing the day before each lottery event.  You will only be able to view the available spaces for your group size and gender. For instance, four person spaces will not show if your group is made up of three people and female only spaces (ie. Soles) will not show to male or mixed gender groups.  To give you an idea of where rooms exist, you can review this document containing room configurations by residence hall including notes about halls that have a single gender designation.  Review this list for an overview of college-owned off-campus locations.  Floor Plans are available as well.

The Waitlist is the final phase of the housing assignment process. Each year, there are students who are not able to select their rooms through Lottery.  Instead, they are assigned over the summer as rooms become available.  Any eligible student who doesn’t select a room through Lottery is automatically placed on the Waitlist and will be prompted to register assignment preferences.  The Waitlist opens after the last lottery event.

The Waitlist also provides an opportunity for students who selected a room through lottery to request a different assignment, should that space become available.  More details can be found on the Waitlist webpage.

Consult with the Residence Life staff on general Room Selection topics at two events in February:
Friday, Feb 23rd 1:30 – 3:30pm
Tuesday, Feb 27th 9:30 – 11:30am

Drop-in Hours will also be held in the Residence Life Office from 9:30 – 11:30am prior to each lottery event.

Senior Only:  March 5 and 7
Wellness:  March 26
6 -7 person: April 4
3-person: April 9
4-person: April 12
Single: April 16
Double:  April 19