Housing & Residential Living

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Room Assignments and Room Changes

All first-year students are assigned rooms and are informed of their room assignment by mail in early August. Roommate assignments are based upon the information provided by the student in the Roommate Preference Questionnaire. Staff carefully review all questionnaires and house students based on their responses to questions regarding interests and living conditions.

Housing is available to full-time registered students only. During the Spring Term of each year, students who expect to enroll in on-campus classes for the subsequent Fall Term participate in Room Draw. The housing selection process is conducted in three phases with the assistance of a student Housing Selection Advisory Committee:

• Students are assigned random lottery numbers according to their class year.
• A limited number of senior students are released from the residency requirement through the Northfield Option Program. These students submit a request to seek their own living arrangements in the Northfield area for the subsequent academic year. Students are advised not to sign a lease for off-campus accommodations until they have been excused from the residency requirement. Release from the residency requirement occurs by about March 1 for the following academic year. Student lottery numbers determine placement on the Northfield Option wait list during the initial sign up period.
• The second phase consists of shared interest housing selection. Student interest groups petition for special group housing based upon programmatic goals. Shared interest houses in the past have included art, music, culinary, sustainability, environmental activism, and science fiction.
• The final phase is the actual selection of rooms which is known as Room Draw. Students select rooms in order of their class and lottery number.

Detailed information regarding room selection and housing options is made available prior to room draw online and through campus mail and various on-campus publications, as well as through the residence hall staff.

A student desiring a room change must contact his/her RA, House Manager, or Area Director. The Residential Life staff will work with roommates to resolve conflicts, and permit room changes only when conflicts cannot be resolved. During the first and last two weeks of each term a room change freeze is in effect, during which time room changes are not permitted. Students may not change rooms unless approved by a Area Director or a member of the Residential Life office staff. Unauthorized room changes will result in the forfeiture of a Room Draw lottery number, denial of release from the residency requirement, or possible disciplinary action. If a vacancy occurs in a room the College reserves the right to place another student in the location. We reserve the right to move the remaining residents of two rooms with vacancies into one of the two rooms that has a vacancy. Whenever possible, vacancies are filled with the concurrence of the students involved.

The College reserves the right to use any residential facilities for break or vacation housing for those students or other groups who have permission to stay on campus during these periods.

For: Students

Last Reviewed: September 15, 2014

Maintained by: Residential Life

List all Policies & Guidelines for Housing & Residential Living