Room selection changes to lottery

The Office of Residence Life will implement a new system of assigning on-campus housing beginning this year.

The new system will randomly assign students priority positions for room selection, in contrast to a seniority-based system used until this year. The former system gave students housing numbers based on how many credits the students have. The smaller the number, the sooner students could sign up for housing. This year, students will still receive a number, but the number will be given randomly.

"We looked at who was living on campus," said Jim McConnel, senior director of residence life. "Two-thirds are first-year students, and the majority of the remainder are second-year students. We’ve been encouraging first-year students to stay on campus for a second year, but the previous priority system had them getting bumped off campus."

McConnel said representatives from residence halls were surveyed in the fall, asking for feedback on the random priority system. A similar Web survey was distributed to residents a month later, McConnel said.

Finalized plans were released in residence life literature in December 2004 and the first stages of the new process are underway. Students’ applications for on-campus housing were due Jan. 31, and McConnel said housing contracts will be offered to students beginning today.

Students wishing to remain in their same hall and room will receive priority registration, McConnel said. "There’s no impact for them because we don’t have to move them," he said.

A computer then will process the names of students who returned housing contracts and will randomly assign them a registration number.

"It’s like the Virginia Lottery," McConnel said. The last day for room assignments is March 31.