Room Draw Policies

Students are assigned by default to the room draw associated with their academic year. If their academic year does not align with their original matriculation class, students may request reclassification to their matriculation class. To request reclassification, a student must email undergraduatehousing@yale.edu during Intent Declaration. After Intent Declaration has ended, requests for reclassification will not be considered.

Students must adhere to all deadlines associated with the Housing Selection Process. Any student who has not registered intent to live on campus by the time Intent Declaration closes, and who is not required to live on campus, will be assumed to be living off-campus. Any student who fails to submit intent by the deadline and is required to live on campus, will be moved to the bottom of their respective draw. Students who miss the Intent Declaration deadline and wish to live on campus can submit a request for housing via the Housing Portal. After the housing selection process has ended for participating students, any remaining beds may be offered to students who requested housing, on a first-come, first-served basis.

First-Year Counselors (FroCos) are housed in one of the entryways for first-year students, either on Old Campus or in Benjamin Franklin, Pauli Murray, Silliman, Timothy Dwight. FroCos receive housing assignments outside of the regular housing process, so participation in Room Draw follows a different path. Students applying to be FroCos should declare their intent to live on-campus. Students who are not selected, or who decline/withdraw from the program, and do not intend to live on campus, will have the ability to withdraw from the housing process at that time. Once a student accepts a FroCo position, they will be removed from any group they formed or are part of, and remaining group members will be responsible for regrouping accordingly. Once a student is offered and accepts a FroCo position, they will be removed from the Room Draw process, and their status in the Housing Portal will update to Pending Room Assignment. FroCo housing assignments are typically released in April once placements are finalized.

If you are planning to live on campus but prefer not to participate in grouping, you can select to Opt Out of Grouping. If you select this option you will be assigned to a bedroom by the housing office, you will not participate in group formation or the remaining stages of the room selection process, and your status in the portal will show as Pending Room Assignment.

• Opt Out of Grouping should not be used as a pathway to guarantee a single room.
• Opt Out of Grouping is not a pathway for students to guarantee an SAS Housing Accommodation.
• When Group Formation opens, students with approved accommodations will see further information in the Housing Portal regarding their accommodation and how they should proceed.
• Selecting this option is meant for students who truly do not have a preference as to where they are placed.
• If being able to select your room and suitemates/roommates is important to you, it is not recommended to select this option.
• Students will be assigned to a partially filled suite with students in their same draw (class year), and they will have suitemates and/or a roommate.
• Students who opt out of grouping will receive email notification of their assignment, along with the names of any suitemates, after room selection has ended in April.

Each college will have 1-2 placeholder students rostered in the group formation process. Each placeholder student represents an incoming transfer student, reinstated student, student who opted out of grouping, or a student who requested housing outside of the room draw process. Any group may opt to add a placeholder with the understanding that a student will be added to the suite at any point prior to or during the fall term. Each placeholder request must be reviewed and approved in advance of group formation closing. Students must submit a written request to undergraduatehousing@yale.edu to request approval for a placeholder.

In the case of oversubscription of a certain suite configuration, a pre-lottery will be held to determine which groups will be able to select those suites. If there are also some undersubscribed suite configurations, the groups with lower lottery numbers will be broken up and asked to reorganize into the undersubscribed configurations. This is most likely to occur in the sophomore draw. If there are no or insufficient undersubscribed suite configurations, students with low lottery numbers may not be able to secure on-campus housing during the Room Draw. In these instances, a student may submit a request to be placed in housing when it becomes available, or they may choose to move off-campus.

Pre-set annex housing (McClellan, Arnold Hall) will be divided up and pre-assigned to specific residential colleges in advance of room selection. Annex housing is limited and is not guaranteed. If made available, students will be able to view and select these rooms during room selection.

Students who withdraw from the process after a given deadline will incur a financial penalty. This applies to all students participating in Room Draw, including students in groups of one, or those who have opted out of grouping. To withdraw from the housing process without financial penalty, students must submit a written request to undergraduatehousing@yale.edu before room selection begins for their class year:

• Sophomores and Juniors: Requests must be made no later than 5:00 PM on Tuesday, March 24th
• Seniors: Request must be made no later than 5:00 PM on Wednesday, April 1st

Withdrawal requests received after these deadlines will be subject to the following fees:

• A student who withdraws after the above deadline, and does not select a room, will be assessed a $200 fee for leaving their group.
• A student who selects and confirms a room, and subsequently withdraws and relinquishes that room will be assessed the standard one-quarter relinquishment fee as outlined in the Undergraduate Financial Regulations.

Any student who has not secured housing at the end of room draw, and still desires to live on campus may submit a request for housing via the Housing Portal. As space becomes available, students are assigned to vacancies first within their residential college. If no spaces remain there, assignments may be made in annex housing and/or across the residential colleges.

• The request form will be available in the portal after the intent declaration period closes.
• Students in the housing request queue are not eligible to participate in the room draw process and will not have access to form, join groups, or participate in room selection.
• Students who have submitted a housing request by Thursday, April 9th will be eligible to participate in a short open selection period to join, form groups, and select a housing assignment with other students in the housing request queue. This short open selection period takes place after the room draw process has concluded for all students.
• Students will be assigned to a partially filled suite with students in their same draw (class year), and they will have suitemates and/or a roommate.
• Students may be placed in Annex housing if there are no available spaces in a residential college.
• When submitting a request for housing, students will have the opportunity to provide additional relevant information to aid in their placement. Requests related to placements will be considered, but they are unlikely to be met.
• Upon submitting your request, you will see your status in the housing portal as Pending Room Assignment.
• Historically, in recent decades, there has been room for every student who wishes to live on campus.

In-suite room changes can be made via the Housing Portal. Changes can be made after Room Draw has completed for all participating students. Requests for in-suite room changes received after the room switch period will not be reviewed until the Fall 2026 move-in period has concluded.

Any and all available beds within the college can be filled at any time. In the event that, after all room draws have been conducted, there remain one or more empty rooms or suites, this space will be made available for assignment to students without other housing. Should a bed become available due to a student taking a leave of absence or study abroad, that empty bed may be assigned according to the needs of the college.

Once a student has participated in the room draw and selected a room, they agree to abide by all Yale College Housing Regulations. As such, they are subject to housing fees as outlined in the Undergraduate Regulations. A student who participates in room draw in the spring but who later relinquishes the room they have accepted will be subject to associated relinquishment fees listed in these regulations.