The New Housing System: A Recap

by Soren Ryan-Jensen

Housing! Once again, the mad dash to figure out roommates and what dorms to aim for has begun. As some may remember, your position in the housing lottery used to be determined by seniority, gender, and randomness. This year, however, the system is different.

If you’re unfamiliar with the housing lottery at Centre College, the process is pretty simple: you are assigned a timeslot, and during that timeslot, you can apply to any available housing on campus on a first-come-first-served basis, so long as the chosen housing meets your roommate situation.

Unlike previous years, however, the housing lottery is now completely online, and the lottery process itself has changed. Your lottery timeslot is now determined by your housing application, submission date, and seniority. The window to select housing will vary for each person according to these factors, though housing selections can still be made after the next group’s window opens. In each window, other students will be competing for housing on a first-come-first-served basis, so submit your housing applications ASAP!

The application itself can be edited after being submitted, but be warned: editing your submission directly will give you a different window. Instead, if you need to edit your application, you should visit the Residence Life Office so they can add your changes without making you lose your timeslot!

And while we’re on the topic, the preference list in your application has nothing to do with what options you can pick from. Instead, it will be used by the RLO to assign housing if you fail to get anything during the lottery.

Now onto the lottery itself. If you are selecting housing as a group, only one person (preferably the person with the earliest window) needs to select the housing choice for the group. As such, only one person’s place in the lottery is relevant to a group’s likelihood of getting a specific housing option.

Groups are made by inviting up to 7 other residents to a group; the group tab can be found under “Housing” and in “Roommate Groups” in eRezlife. Keep in mind that all spots for the housing selection need to be filled by your group, and while in a group, you can only apply for housing options with as many slots as residents in your group. You can make as many groups as you want, and quickly swap between them at any time, though you can only be in one group at a time as an owner of the group. After you are assigned your timeslot, you can view what is available in the lottery at any time, so pay attention if your dream suite gets taken before your window!

Another point to mention here is that suites and houses used to be single gender, but now they can be co-ed so long as bedrooms are single gender. Nonbinary residents can, however, live with any gender.

Medical accommodations are also seeing a slight change. Now, students with accommodations can participate in the lottery if they wish. As it stands, each student with accommodations will always have a room which meets their needs reserved. However, if a student wishes to select their own room during the lottery process, their reserved room is released to the general lottery pool. This means new housing options may enter the lottery over time. Keep your eye out!

Finally, if you’re planning to go abroad, you may ask yourself: how do you get a roommate to fill your spot when you leave campus? Well luckily, this part is easy. In your application, if you selected that you weren’t swapping with anyone in particular, you will be given a random roommate. If you want a specific person to replace you, you can visit the Resident Life Office to see a list of students studying abroad during Fall or Spring.

And just to give you a head’s up, here are some deadlines to look towards:

· Monday, April 8: Housing Applications are Due by 11:59 PM (yesterday!)

· Friday, April 12: Students Receive Room Selection Window

· Monday, April 15 – Friday, April 19: Housing Lottery

Good luck and happy room-hunting!