This year’s student housing lottery, scheduled for April 11-15, will feature the university’s first official online housing lottery system.
Capital’s Office of Residential and Commuter Life has found a more simple and effective way for students to complete the housing selection process. Director Jennie Smith said she is aware of how tiring and long the lottery process can be for students.
“It was very stressful, and you weren’t very sure what was really going to happen to you,” senior Abby Mayer said.
Although students will no longer line up at the Bridge of Learning and wait for their number to be called, the requirements for living in the neighborhood will remain the same. Students still will be generated a selection number but now will be given a time to select their housing online.
“The system will flush out those pieces in terms of the GPA requirements and the conduct requirement. You still will have to have 60 or more credits to live in the neighborhood… so none of that is changing… it is just the way in which we physically select the spaces is going to be different,” said John Geyer, assistant director of the office of residential and commuter life.
Residence Life purchased the system from Simple Campus Housing. The system will allow students to move between buildings, look at available rooms, and select the location and roommates. The individuals that are selected will receive a confirmation email. The individuals then have a choice to confirm the transaction and complete the housing process.
Residence Life is planning a system launch kickoff party whose date are yet to be finalized. The event will include a synopsis of the system’s features, a tutorial on how to use it, and a student Q&A session. Residence Life will also have its annual information sessions that will go over the selection process.
The selection process will be taking place in the late evening to accommodate students’ schedules. Students who are unable to select within that time period will be able to participate in a proxy process that will allow Residential Life to approve someone else to select the student’s housing for them.
“We are looking forward to a little bit more flexibility in the timing and the scheduling of the selection process, giving students a little bit more ease in terms of a less pressured situation,” Geyer said.
Around the middle of February and the second week of April, more information regarding these upcoming events can be found in Capital students’ email.
