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Applying with Friends In Graduate Housing

If you want to live on campus with one to three friends, you may apply for housing in a group. Applying as a group gives you the best opportunity of being assigned together with your preferred roommates—especially if everyone in the group has the same gender, student status and assignment priority level.

Applications

  • Students may apply for housing as a group during the First and Second Rounds of the autumn quarter and in the First Round of the winter, spring and summer quarters.
  • Groups cannot be accommodated during the Rolling Assignment rounds.
  • Each group member must submit an application.
  • All group members must be seeking housing for the same quarter.
  • Group size can consist of two to four students and can be a mix of genders.
  • There is no guarantee that all members will be assigned to the same residence, or to the same apartment within a residence. During winter and spring quarters when wholly vacant apartments are rarely available, you are likely to be split between residences.
  • It is very unlikely that groups containing both first-year students and continuing students will be assigned together because they do not have the same assignment priority.

Coed Groups and Gender-Inclusive Housing

By default, coed groups will be assigned to neighboring apartments with group members of the same gender. Coed groups who wish to live together within the same apartment should indicate that they would like to be assigned to gender-inclusive housing with their group on their housing application. If groups would like to make that request after they are assigned, they should submit a Gender-Inclusive Housing Room Assignment Request on Axess once they are assigned to the same residence and type of housing.

More information is available on the Gender-Inclusive Options web page.

Application

All group members must submit an individual housing application in Axess with the group information.

  • The first group member to submit a housing application creates the group by entering a group name and password. This person becomes the group leader.
  • Choose a name that is not easy to duplicate. The name and password should include five to eight characters, at least one alpha and one numeric character and no symbols—for instance, gr8music and play4us.
  • Subsequently, each member of the group then files their own housing application and selects to join the group by entering the same group name and group password. Please allow a few seconds for the group information to post before the next person attempts to join. (The first student must submit their application before the group is created.)
  • You should decide whether or not to use the group retention feature which allows you to move to a lower preference in order to keep your group together should there not be space in a higher preference.
  • All group applicants must list the same residences in the exact same order for the group retention feature to work. Listing different choices may cause the group to become split at the point where the choices diverge.
  • The housing application gives group members the option to copy their group leader’s list of choices. If the group leader changes their choices after a group member has copied the leader’s choices, that group member must go back and recopy the group leader’s choices. Otherwise, the old choices will remain on the group member’s application.

Group Retention

Group retention allows a group to indicate through how many choices they would like the assignment program to keep their group together. Groups are required to set a group retention level on their application.

  • The “Group Retention” feature is only available for groups applying for the First Round Lottery. Group retention is not available after the First Round Assignments.
  • The group retention feature will not work if you do not have the same assignment priority so new graduate students and continuing graduate students cannot use group retention.
  • For summer-only assignments, group retention will not work for enrolled students applying with un-enrolled students, as enrolled students have a higher priority for summer housing.
  • Law students with priority to Munger Graduate Residences or GSB students with priority to the GSB Residences should not use the retention feature if not everyone has the same degree priority level. Using the group retention feature will reduce your priority to match that of the lowest priority in your group. Your priority does not transfer to non-law or non-GSB students in the group.

Changing groups or deciding not to be part of a group

You can change your application until the application deadline. Go to the Housing & Dining link in Axess under the My Information section, select Housing & Dining Login and then select the Edit Application tab.

  • Delete group information
  • Change residence choices
  • Create or join a new group

Special Considerations

If you apply with a student who has applied for assignment through the Office of Accessible Education (First Round only), you will be assigned through the OAE, but must still file an application. See specific information on the Medical Accommodations page.

If You are Split from Your Group

If you are a member of a group that is split the First or Second rounds of the autumn assignments and you want to be assigned to the same residence as your group mates, you may file a reassignment request on Axess, indicating that you have been split from your group and listing your group members in the comment field on the application. Every attempt is made to reunite split groups by the start of autumn quarter. Split group priority is given to students only if:

  • The group was not split because the members selected different group retention choices
  • All members have the same assignment priority
  • All members listed the same choices in the same order
  • All members who wanted to be reunited applied for reassignment by the next round of assignments.

If your group does not meet the split group qualifications above, you should still apply for reassignment, listing your group members and we will attempt to reunite you through the regular reassignment process.

Specific Apartment Assignments

Once you and your group members are assigned to the same type of housing, we will try to assign you within the same apartment. If that is not possible, we will try to assign you to apartments nearby within the same neighborhood. If you are applying with a coed group, please refer to the coed group information above.