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December Housing Selection for Spring 2024

 

The December Room Selection Process is for all students who will be returning to campus housing for Spring 2024. This includes students who are participating in Fall Off-Campus Study and students who are on leave from the College who have been approved to return for Spring 2024. Please review the information below to learn more about the process.

Timeline & Important Dates

  • Friday, December 1:
    Deadline to complete Housing Agreement in your Housing Portal to indicate you will be living on campus in the spring. Students who are living off campus should complete the Off Campus Housing Application to provide their local address.
  • Wednesday, December 6:
    Selection times are visible on the Housing Portal by 4:30pm EST.
  • Friday, December 8:
    Deadline for returning students to be pulled into a room for spring. This is typically done by students living in a double with a vacancy in the spring. Note: students currently living on campus and taking a leave in the spring cannot gift their fall rooms to returning students. 
  • Monday, December 11:
    Tentative list of available rooms will be in the Housing Portal for all room selection participants. 
  • Wednesday, December 13: 
    December Room Selection (2:00pm EST - 8:00pm EST)

Seeking Campus Housing from a Leave

If you are currently taking a leave from the College or intending to take a leave and you want to seek housing for spring, the first step you MUST do is read the Taking Time Off site and contact Dean Liz Derickson , Associate Dean of Academic Succes, with the information described on the website. Dean Derickson is responsible for processing students leaving and returning to the College, and can assist you in the process.  Once the Office of Student Engagement receives official notice from Dean Derickson that you are approved to return, then you will be permitted to participate in December Room Selection. If you have received approval, please continue to review the information on this site regarding the process.  Please note that if you are approved to return AFTER December Room Selection, you should email housing@swarthmore.edu to explore what housing options exist.

Seeking Campus Housing from Abroad

If you are in a formal Swarthmore Off-Campus Study program for fall semester and are scheduled to return to Swarthmore for spring, you are eligible to participate in December Room Selection.  You must complete the Housing Agreement in your Housing Portal by December 1 to particpate in December Room Selection. Please continue to review the information on this site regarding the process. 

Housing Option 1: Being Pulled Into an Available Room

Deadline to be pulled in: Friday, December 6, 4:30pm EST.
For any rooms that are partially vacant (e.g. a double with one vacancy), you can be pulled into in these rooms. This is a popular option if you have a friend you want to live with when you return. If you are interested in being pulled into an available room for the upcoming semester, you should communicate with the individual in the room that you want to be pulled into.  Once an agreement is reached, simply email housing@swarthmore.edu stating the desired rooming option making sure to copy all parties involved.  

Please note: Stand-alone single rooms are NOT available for this option. This means that if there is an available single a current student CANNOT gift the space to an abroad student.  In other words, if you have a friend who is currently in a single, they cannot reserve or hold that room for you. There are no exceptions.  If you want a single room, you will have to participate in December Room Selection, as all single rooms are available in that process.

Housing Option 2: December Room Selection

December Room Selection: Wednesday, December 13, 2:00pm - 8:00pm EST.
December Room Selection will be held in the Housing Portal on Wednesday, December 13, 2023 from 2:00pm EST - 8:00pm EST.  All online room selection is completed via the Housing Portal.  

How the Process Works:

  1. Exactly like spring room selection, all participating students have a selection time.  Selection times will be assigned randomly by class year. Class of 2024 will have the earliest times; Class of 2025 will be next, and so on. Your selection time will be visible in the Housing Portal beginning on Wednesday, December 6.  A list of tentative available rooms will be visible in the Housing Portal by Monday, December 11. All off campus students are encouraged to check their access to the Housing Portal well before their selection time to be sure they can access it properly. Unfortunately, due to the dynamic nature of room assignment changes, we cannot provide an active list before this date. Typically a variety of double and single rooms will be available across a number of different residence halls.
  2. Participating students will receive an assigned time between 2pm - 8pm EST.  If your assigned time is not between these times and you are not located in EST, the Housing Portal has converted your time to your local time. The assigned time will be based on the lottery numbers of all students participating.  At this given time, you will be able to log into the Housing Portal, and select the room you wish to reside in for spring.  The time that you are assigned is the time your access is turned on.  Your access will remain on until 11:59pm EST, so if you are late, you will continue to have access.  Once you select a room, however, you cannot change.
  3. When you log into the Housing Portal you do not have any assigned roommates - this means that when it is your turn to select a room, you will only see single occupancy rooms.  If you are interested in a double, you will need to match with a roommate in the Housing Portal. 
  4. Once you select a room, you will receive an email confirmation.  

Housing Option 3: Living Off Campus

All upperclass students have the option to live in non-College owned housing. If you are an enrolled student who is planning to live in non-College owned housing for the spring semester, you must give formal notice by completing the the Off Campus Housing Application in Housing Portal under the Applications & Forms tab. The application will require students to list their off campus address. The Off Campus Housing Application should be completed as soon as you secure off campus housing. It can be edited if your off campus address changes.   

Housing Option 4: Housing Accommodations

If you have approved housing accommodations and are requesting new housing accommodations for Spring 2024, please complete the request process as soon as possible. Accommodations approved after December room selection may not be immediately met depending on available housing stock. 

Visit the Disability Housing Accommodations site for details on requesting new housing accommodations. 

​​​​Students with approved accommodations for Spring 2024 will be provided specific information regarding if they will be pre-assigned a room, or are should participate in December room selection. If students with accommodations wish to be pulled into a room with a friend, please follow guidance listed above for that process.

Floor Plans

Floor plans will be available on the Housing Portal beginning December 6. Due to the sensitive nature of floor plans, we ask students not to print, screen grab, or share floor plans in any way. 

Bathroom Designations

Please review the Bathroom Gender Designations, which highlight all bathroom designations in residence halls .  Use this information when planning for housing.

Questions?

If, after thoroughly reviewing this site, you still have questions, contact housing@swarthmore.edu.