All students eligible for 2023-24 housing were sent an email from housing@ucsc.edu on 2/23/23 with information on whether or not they have Priority Status.

For more information on Priority Status, check the Priority Status page of the housing website linked here or watch the video regarding Priority Status and Off Campus Resources linked here.

Yes. The housing application will remain open throughout the summer and can be accessed at studenthousing.ucsc.edu. Log in to studenthousing.ucsc.edu and click on the “Housing Application” button. Then select “Undergraduate Housing”. You will then be prompted to select “2023-2024 Academic Year”. Follow the instructions in the application.

For a more in-depth look at the application, please watch the Application Breakdown Video linked here on our youtube channel. 

As it is after the Continuing Student Housing Application Period, your application will be considered LATE and you will be placed on the general waitlist. 

For a more in-depth look at the waitlist process, please refer to the Waitlists, Chances, and Alternate Offer section of this FAQ and watch the Waitlist and Alternative Housing Offers Process Video linked here on our youtube channel. 

Honesty about your lifestyle and Flexibility with your room type. The housing coordinator's job isn't to judge how you live your life, their job is to try to find a room or apartment where you will be happy living with people with similar lifestyles.

NOTE: if you have a medical need for a certain kind of room, please work with the Disability Resource Center to get a housing accommodation.

No. You can only apply to one community.

You can maximize your chances of being assigned by ranking as many room types as you agree to accept in your housing application.

Tip: After completing your housing application, you will have the option to add more room preferences, including those in other communities. We highly recommend taking this additional step!

If possible, you will be assigned to your preferred housing community, but you may be assigned to any room type in your application even if it is not in your preferred community. 

Yes, College 9 and John R Lewis College are different communities. If you want to live with a roommate or roommates, please make sure you all apply to the same college, be that College 9 OR John R Lewis College.

Yes, and...

As this is a late request, it is at the discretion of the housing coordinator and based on their ability to reassign/rearrange your current assignment. Furthermore, the housing coordinator can only assign students together as a roommate group if all parties consent to living together.

For our office to get consent, you AND your requested roommate(s) must email 9housingJRL@ucsc.edu using your UCSC email.

This email MUST follow these guidelines or it will not be considered valid consent:

• from UCSC email
• private/separate emails - no one cc'd on the email
• their name
• your name
• the desire to have you live with them
• Recognition that the housing coordinator may not be able to meet this request
• Recognition that to meet this request you may be assigned to a space you do not prefer

For students who are unable to participate in Room Selection, the housing coordinator will do their best to meet roommate requests. The chances are low that multiple spaces will open in a room or apartment that will accommodate a large roommate group. But there are a few ways to improve the chances of getting assigned to preferred roommates:

1. Apply to the same community: only students who apply to the same community can request each other as roommates.
2. When available to student without priority status, request each other as roommates.
3. List at least one room type in common with your roommates.
4. Make sure you fill out the lifestyle questionnaire accurately.
   
   • If the housing coordinator is unable to assign you to your preferred roommate, they will still try to assign you to the best roommate match.
     
     • It does not matter how similar or different your questionnaire answers are, if there is a roommate request, housing coordinators will do their best to meet roommate requests.
   • Tips on making a good housing application can be found under "What Makes A Good Housing Application".

Talk to your friends about what housing you prefer and what are things you are willing to compromise. If you are unable to come to a compromise that leaves all parties happy, consider different roommates or a smaller roommate group.

For students WITH priority status, most students will be able to assign themselves during Room Selection. Roommates will be able to place themselves and their roommates into rooms. It will be up to the student assigning their roommate group to ensure that everyone's room preferences are met.

Keep In Mind: The College 9 and John R Lewis College apartments have specific configurations that may not accommodate everyone's first choice in room type. 

For students who are unable to participate in Room Selection, the housing coordinator will do their best to meet roommate requests. However, if a roommate group has NO room types in common, the housing coordinator will then assign students based on their room preferences and try to keep students in similar areas. 

Keep In Mind: The Housing Coordinator will assign people to housing as there are available spaces. Even if all roommates have the same room type on file, the housing coordinator may not have enough spots in a room to completely assign all roommates. For example: three (3) roommates will all accept a triple room, but there is only one triple available with two (2) spots. 

We STRONGLY recommend all roommate groups have at least one multi-occupancy room type in common. If you have a 5-person group, roommates should list a triple room option in case a smaller room type is unavailable.

No, every student should fill out the lifestyle questionnaire accurately. The housing coordinator will do their best to meet roommate requests, even if your lifestyle questionnaire might inform us that you live slightly different lifestyles.

We trust that roommate groups have already discussed their difference in lifestyles and will come up with roommate agreements that help address any conflict that might arise.

Furthermore, an accurate lifestyle questionnaire allows the housing coordinator to make a good roommate match should you only have a partial group from room selection.

1. Application Community
   • College Nine  ≠ John R. Lewis College
2. Themed Housing Areas if you want to live at the ILC, for example, together.
   
3. At least one room type or (set of rooms that comprise an apartment) that can house the entire roommate group. For example,
   • College Nine and John R. Lewis College do NOT have 8 people apartments.
   • If a roommate group of 8 applies, the housing coordinator cannot house them anywhere at College Nine or John R. Lewis College without breaking the group.
4. Gender composition preferences (should not contradict)
   • If Sammy Slug will not accept single-gender housing and Beatrice Butterfly will not accept mixed-gender housing, the housing coordinator CANNOT assign them to a spot together.
   • If Sammy Slug will accept single-gender housing, but prefers mixed-gender housing, and Beatrice Butterfly will accept mixed-gender housing, but prefers single-gender housing, the housing coordinator CAN assign them together.

1. Your lifestyle questionnaire (unless all parties actually DO live in the exact same way).
2. Your ranking of room types (unless all parties all want the same kinds of rooms in the exact same way).

The housing coordinator will do their best to assign roommate groups together. However, there are a few situations where we may not be able to meet your roommate requests:

• Person A does not prefer single gender housing and Person B does not prefer mixed gender housing - we do not have a Schrodinger's gender composition floor
• Person A only wants a single occupancy room and Person B only wants a multiple occupancy space
• Person A strongly prefers a themed floor and Person B does not prefer that themed floor

May 10th - 26th.

• Pass 1: Affiliated students with Priority Status who applied to their residential community who can fill an entire residential space at the community of their application.
• Pass 2: Affiliated students who applied to their residential community who can partially fill a residential space at the community of their application.
• Pass 3: All students with Priority Status, regardless of affiliation, are able to select housing at the community of their application.
• Pass 4: All students with Priority Status, regardless of affiliation, is able to select housing at any location regardless of the application community
• After Room Selection ends, any students with Priority Status who are unassigned are put on a waitlist for their applied community. 

No. The first three passes of room selection are ONLY at the college where you applied to live.

As the Oakes College students are not affiliated with College Nine, they will not a time in the first two passes of room selection.

The following students groups are eligible to be assigned prior to Room Selection:

• • Resident Assistants (RAs) and Neighborhood Assistants (NAs)
  • Students with documented Disability Accommodations for the 2023-2024 academic year
  • Students accepted to campus-wdie themed communities such as the International Living Center.  

Pre-assignment is ONLY for students with Priority Status. The ONLY exceptions are RAs and NAs as living on campus is part of their terms of employment.

Roommates are not a disability accommodation UNLESS they are licensed medical professional who must reside with you.

If you have priority status, have a DRC accommodation on file for the 2023-24 school year, and apply by the deadline, you will be offered the option to get pre-assigned. Disability-related pre-assignment is an offer, not a requirement. Students can decline the offer of preassignment and choose to take part in room selection.

During Room Selection, students can assign themselves to housing.

After Room Selection, housing coordinators assign students off the waitlist based on rooms available and what rooms a student has requested. When looking at roommate compatibility, housing coordinators will do their best to make good matches best on what is listed on the student's housing application. We have some tips on what makes a good housing application!

If there isn't an available room of the type you requested, housing coordinators will try to offer alternative housing. However, housing coordinators will first assign everyone who has requested available room types before offering alternative offers.

If Student A and Student B both want a residence hall large triple, but Student B has also listed a residence hall (regular) triple, and there are no residence hall large triples available, the housing coordinator will assign Student B to the regular triple.

After every student who requedted a residence hall triple on their housing application are assigned and there are leftover spaces, only then will the housing coordinator offer housing to those who did not request that room type like Student A. 

NO! You do not need to change your college affiliation to live in another community as a continuing student. All you need to do is apply for that community during the continuing student housing application period.

However, Priority Students will only be given a timeslot for Room Selection during the first two passes if they apply to the college of their affiliation. For more information, please refer to the Room and Apartment Selection section of the Continuing Student Housing Application Period Website linked here. As of 3/18/23, changing your College Affiliation will become effective as of Fall Quarter - not in time for room selection.

If you'd like to change your college due to that college's themes, resources, and academic support, you can learn more about the College Change Procedure on the registrar website.

Yes! The first two passes of Room Selection info linked here are exclusive to affiliates (and their roommates). Starting during the third pass of room selection, affiliation will not increase or decrease your likelihood of getting housing.

Here are some ways to increase your likelihood of getting housing on campus for the fall.

• Mark or flag housing emails as Important/VIP/etc. on your phone and in your email. 
  • The housing emails will be sent primarily from housing@ucsc.edu and 9housingJRL@ucsc.edu.
  • In particular, mark the "Housing Application acknowledgment" email you were sent when you applied to housing. By marking your “Housing Application Acknowledgement” email as important, your email will know to prioritize all housing emails so you are more likely to see an alternate housing offer.
• Opt into texts from UCSC in MyUCSC Notification Preferences. The Housing Office may text you to check your email for an alternative housing offer.
• Check your ucsc email daily. If you are offered an alternate housing assignment, you will have 48 hours to accept.
• List as many room types as you would be comfortable taking. The more room types you list on your housing application, the more often the Housing Coordinator will look at your housing application.
  • The most common room type currently available is a residence hall triple - if you would accept this room type but have not specified it on you housing application, you should do so.

Please understand that there is a limited supply of on-campus housing and not everyone will receive an offer for this housing.

The waitlist is NOT a numbered list and does not work as such. The waitlist is as long as there are students wanting housing on campus. Students are assigned off this list based on what spaces are available and how well they will get along with any current residents. 

To use a metaphor, the waitlist is a box of puzzle pieces and as there are spaces available, the housing coordinator will evaluate the available puzzle pieces and put the piece that fits best into the available space. Once a match is made, a student is assigned.

There are two waitlists for students without current housing assignments: Priority Waitlist and General Waitlist.

• The Priority Waitlist is made of students who have Priority Status.
• The General Waitlist is every student who applied to housing without Priority status and student who had Priority Status but did not accept an alternate housing offer. The general waitlist will be assigned only after everyone on the Priority Waitlist has been assigned housing. 

To continue the metaphor, each waitlist is a different box of puzzle pieces. Once the housing coordinator has used all the puzzle pieces in the first box, they will move on to the second box.

Technically, all students who have an active application for the 2023-2024 academic year and who have yet to be assigned to housing are on the waitlist. You can check if you have an active application by logging into your Student Housing Portal at studenthousing.ucsc.edu.

If you are a student with Priority Status who did not accept two alternate housing offer or did not reply by the 48-hour deadline, you are now on the General waitlist.

As stated on the Housing Contract (Article 6, Section 6, Subsection 12, Paragraph 6, Point ii), if a student has been offered two alternate housing assignments and either declined or did not respond to the email at all, “the University reserves the right to terminate the waitlist application. The Student will be required to submit a new waitlist application if interested in future university housing.”

Yes. We encourage all students waiting for housing assignments to look for Off-Campus Housing. The Community Rentals office has a lot of resources including a first-time Renter's Workshop.

If you secure Off-Campus Housing, it is your responsibility to cancel your housing application once you have signed the lease.

Students with Priority status should be able to select roommates as soon as they complete the application.

Students without Priority Status will be able to select roommates after Room Selection has concluded. This is to prevent confusion and any unnecessary stress for students during Room Selection.

If you cannot find your roommate, here are some common problems to troubleshoot:

• Have your roommates submitted an application?
  • You cannot add a roommate who does not have an application on file.
    
• Did you and your preferred roommates all apply to the same community? 
  • Keep in mind, College Nine and John R Lewis College are DIFFERENT communities.
• Did you and all your preferred roommates mark yourself as visible for roommate requests in the application?
  • If not, you can reenter the application and mark yourself as visible!

NO, you cannot change the community you applied to without voiding your Priority Status and/or lowering your chances of getting on-campus housing. You should immediately inform any roommates you had plans with so they can modify their plans. 

The only way to change your application community is to cancel your housing application. Doing so will void any priority status you may have had.

If you do not have priority status, you should add all the room types available at the residential community that you meant to apply to in your application. Keep in mind, your first choice of room MUST be at the residential community where you applied.

Cancellation fees are ONLY applied to your account if you have been ASSIGNED to housing. For more information please refer to the Continue Student Housing Application Website linked here.

• Community Rentals Office (linked here):
  • The Community Rentals Office serves as a resource for UC Santa Cruz students, faculty, and staff interested in seeking off-campus housing.
• Good Neighbor Initiative (website linked here):
  • Good Neighbor Initiative interns diligently work with the UCSC Community Relations Office to bridge communication between neighbors, students, the community, and the university.
  • 2022 Off-campus Housing Webinar linked here
•  Priority Status and Off Campus Resources Video linked here