• Monday, November 25, 2024:
  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 4, 2024:
  Selection times are visible on the Housing Portal by 4:30pm EST.
• Friday, December 6, 2024:
  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 9, 2024:
  Tentative list of available rooms will be in the Housing Portal for all room selection participants.
• Wednesday, December 11, 2024: 
  December Room Selection (2:00pm EST - 8:00pm EST)

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.

December Room Selection: Wednesday, December 13, 2:00pm - 8:00pm EST.
December Room Selection will be held in the Housing Portal on Wednesday, December 11, 2024 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 2025 will have the earliest times; Class of 2026 will be next, and so on. Your selection time will be visible in the Housing Portal beginning on Wednesday, December 4. A list of tentative available rooms will be visible in the Housing Portal by Monday, December 9. 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 8:00pm 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 matched roommates. If you would like to select a double room with a roommate, you should wait to select at the latest time between the two roommates. That way another student cannot pick into the room between when the first roommate picks and when the second roommate picks. For example if Liv and Danika want to live together, they should both select at Danika's later selection time of 3:40pm instead of Liv picking at her time of 2:04pm and Danika waiting until 3:40pm.
4. Once you select a room, you will receive an email confirmation. You cannot change your selection once you have picked.

Proxy Requests
If your schedule or internet connection does not allow for you to select before 8pm, please email housing@swarthmore.edu with a list of rooms you would like, and we will serve as a proxy for you. Proxy requests must be received by 9am (EST) on December 9. Requests received after that time will not be fulfilled.

Understanding Your Selection Time
The times given are your lottery number. The lottery is scheduled to begin at 2pm. If you receive the time of 2:46pm, there are 47 people in front of you. If you see a time that is outside of the 2pm-8pm window, it is because your computer has updated your time to your timezone. Doublecheck the math to be sure you log in at the correct time.

How long will I have to select my room? 
Once your time slot arrives, you will have one minute to select your space before the person after you is able to log in. You can take more than one minute, but other students will begin getting access to the portal so they may select a room you were considering. The portal will then remain open until 8pm. Once you select a room, you cannot change your selection.

Think of it kind of like a restaurant. If your reservation is at 2:12, you can look at the menu ahead of time and start thinking about what you want to order. You can keep looking at that menu up until your reservation at 2:12. At 2:12 the restaurant lets you in. When you get inside there might already be 12 people still eating, but some may have finished and left the restaurant. Another person will be let into the restaurant at 2:13. Everyone in the restaurant can stay until 8pm if they are having trouble deciding what to eat. However, the menu options will diminish as you wait. Once you start eating something, you can't change it.

What does the selection interface look like? Will I be able to find a room I want quickly? 
The interface is very simple to navigate. You can search the room list by building and/or room type. If you want to see all the rooms available in Worth, you'd simply select Worth. If you want to see all the singles available at your time, you'd select single. If you want to see the singles in Worth select both. You will only be able to see rooms you are eligible to pick. If you don't see a room listed, it means someone has picked it already or you are not eligible to pick that room. For example Willets is limited to first year students. The more you prepare and prioritize your wants, the faster the process will be for you.

Click here to see screen shots of the process.

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.

If you have approved housing accommodations and are requesting new housing accommodations for Spring 2025, 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.

​​​​It is likely most students with approved accommodations for Spring 2025 will be able to participate in regular room selection rather than a specific accommodations process. After selection numbers are available we will be in touch with any students who will need to be pre-assigned a room rather than 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.

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 Success, 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.

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 November 25, 2024 to participate in December Room Selection. Please continue to review the information on this site regarding the process.

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

Floor plans will be available on the Housing Portal by December 9. Due to the sensitive nature of floor plans, we ask students not to print, screen grab, or share floor plans in any way.

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