25.020:  Upperclass Housing Contracts

In order to provide adequate housing for those students required to live on campus, this policy provides guidelines for equitably making excess bed space available for upperclass students (juniors, seniors, transfer students, and graduate students) who wish to live on-campus. This policy does not apply to residence life staff members, whose housing is pre-assigned.

It is necessary to manage the number of bed spaces on the Athens campus in order to provide adequate housing opportunities for those students who are required to live on campus, and to preserve the housing system's fiscal integrity.

• the Admissions Office (e.g., the projected freshman yield for the following academic year);

• the Enrollment Management Team (e.g., historical data, including average attrition rates);

• Auxiliary Services (e.g., funding availability for future residence hall renovation projects); and

• University Planning and Implementation (e.g., timing and scope of residence hall renovation projects).

I.  Overview

A.  Preparation

The Housing Office will project available bed space by October 1 for the following academic year.

The Housing Office will notify the Off Campus Living Office of the projected number of upperclass on-campus bed spaces available so that it can assist the Housing Office with notifying and preparing students and landlords in the local community.

The Housing Office will coordinate information sessions for all sophomore, junior, senior, graduate, and regional campus students, providing information about the anticipated number of available beds for the following academic year and making available an application process to better gauge the upperclass housing need.

B.  Application

Students who are not required to live on campus may apply to do so, using the standard paper or online application form for this purpose. The application form includes opportunities for the student to provide the following information:

• Disability considerations as recommended by Disability Services.

• Students requesting partial year contracts (fall quarter graduation, study abroad, co-op, etc.).

• Currently living in substance-free housing and wishing to remain in substance-free housing next academic year.

• Currently living in the Read Johnson scholars complex and wishing to remain in the complex for the next academic year.

• Other extenuating circumstances as described by the student.

C.  Prioritization

Applications will be reviewed by a committee comprised of the Associate Director of Housing, one member from Residence Life senior or central staff, one graduate student (appointed by Graduate Student Senate), one member of Student Senate, one member of tRAC, and a representative of the Off Campus Living Office. Early identification will be completed using the following criteria. Priority will be as follows:

1. Student is in good financial standing.

2. Disability considerations as recommended by Disability Services.

3. Special circumstances in any of the categories listed immediately below. Designated blocks of bed space, up to the limits of the set aside capacity, on a first-come, first-served basis within each block. Blocks include the following:
   • Partial year housing for students graduating early or participating in a study abroad program or co-op.

   • Students currently living in and wishing to return to substance-free housing.

   • Students currently living in the Read Johnson scholars complex and wishing to remain in the complex for the next academic year.

4. Space will be held automatically for new incoming upperclass and graduate international students, incoming and transfer graduate students, and for transfer or relocating students.

5. Remaining applications will be reviewed for extenuating circumstances, and either rejected, or put into the pool for allocation by lottery.

II.  Timeline

A.  Early Fall Quarter

The Housing Office will establish and publicize the deadline date for applications from upperclass students who want to live on campus the following year. That date will typically be between October 1 and October 15.

B.  Mid Fall Quarter

During the month of October, the Housing Office will evaluate the applications based on the criteria described above.

Students selected through the early identification process will be notified of their status by October 31, and will be required to complete a housing contract and submit a required housing deposit no later than November 15 to reserve their space.

C.  End of Fall Quarter

During the last two weeks of November, the Housing Office will conduct a random lottery to allocate the remaining available rooms to those students who completed an application on time, but were not selected through the early identification process.

No later than November 30, the Housing Office will notify the students who were in the lottery and those resident students who did not complete an application and will not be provided on-campus housing in the following year. The notice will include information about how they can continue to be considered for space as it becomes available.

Students who are selected via the lottery system will be notified that they will have housing on campus and will be required to complete a housing contract and submit a required housing deposit no later than December 15 to reserve their space. The Housing Office will also inform these students of the process for upperclass room selection.

Students who were not selected via the lottery system will be given the opportunity to be placed on a waiting list that will be used if selected students opt not to live on campus at a later date, if they do not meet the deposit requirement, or if for some other reason more space becomes available than was anticipated.

The initial population of the waiting list will be those students who applied on time, but were selected by neither the early identification process nor the lottery. Those students' ranks in the waiting list will be established on the basis of the lottery. Other students will be added to the end of the waiting list, after all the students who applied by the original deadline, on a first-come, first-served basis. The Housing Office will accumulate those names, starting immediately after the application deadline.

The Housing Office will encourage students who were not selected through the lottery to contact the Off-Campus Living Office or refer to their web page, http://www.ohio.edu/offcampus/, for assistance with rental information.

D.  Winter Quarter

Deposits will be returned without penalty only if the student cancels the contract in writing by January 31. Students who are still on the waiting list will be notified as space becomes available.

E.  Early Spring Quarter

The upperclass room selection process will proceed with the sequence for selection based on credit hours earned. Freshman assignments will then be completed.

F.  Summer Quarter

Any identified available beds after upperclass room selection and new student assignments will be made available to upperclass students using the waiting list described in sub-subsection C, above.

If enrollment exceeds projections, resulting in a shortage of space, the Housing Office will consider modifying the Housing Requirement in the Undergraduate Catalog by:

• reducing the age requirement for students to be exempt from 23 years old to 21 years old,

• relaxing the commuter exemption requirement,

• expanding a selected group of rooms within Bromley Hall to be converted to triple occupancy for students who are willing to utilize this option, or

• utilizing temporary rooms until final no-shows are determined.

1. President

2. Executive Vice President and Provost

3. Executive Staff

4. Director of Undergraduate Admissions

5. Associate Vice President for Facilities, University Planning and Implementation

6. Assistant Vice President for Auxiliary Services

7. Director of Residence Life

8. Dean of Students

9. Associate Provost for Enrollment Management

10. Student Senate

11. Graduate Student Senate

12. Policy and Procedure Review Committee

1. The application form for on-campus housing is available from the Housing Office.