Every year, interest in living in specific residences exceeds the space available. We are unable to guarantee that you will be placed in a residence that is among your preferred choices. We reserve the right to assign rooms based on availability and priority. Therefore, it is important to provide as many choices as possible to facilitate your room assignment.

When completing your housing application, we ask questions about you and your lifestyle. We take all this information into consideration when assigning you a room.

Priority

We prioritize students with a housing guarantee who apply before the deadline, and then we assign other applications on a first come, first served basis, depending on availability. We highly recommend that you apply as early as possible.

If you have, or suspect you may have, special needs for which you would like to request housing accommodations, be sure to complete the medical condition section of your housing application and submit the relevant documentation.

Regardless of where you are assigned, you will have several opportunities to connect with other students and staff. Each residence provides support, offers a community environment, and has activities developed by students and professional staff to ensure your experience in residence is memorable! 

If you want a single occupancy unit, indicate it in your preferences and apply early to increase your chances. We cannot guarantee that single occupancy units will be available.

Roommate matching

Roommate matching is based on the answers provided in the housing application. We make every effort to match people with similar lifestyle habits, such as sleep schedules, study environments, tidiness, noise tolerance, socialization style, and more.

In July or August, you will receive the name and contact information for your roommate(s) (unless the student did not agree to the share this information when they applied). This will give you the chance to reach out and get to know them better!

Roommate requests

If you already know who you want to live with, and you have both been accepted to the university, you can request to be placed together. Such roommate requests must be mutual.

When you get to the roommate question in your application in the Housing Portal, specify the name and student number of your roommate. We recommend that you both submit your applications at the same time.

Roommate requests are assigned a high priority, which means that our assignment team will prioritize putting you together as roommates rather than your room preferences. This could mean being assigned a room type that is lower in your list of preferences.

We strive to meet requests wherever possible; however, we do not guarantee that roommates will be paired.

Conflicts with a roommate 

Follow this step by step process to resolve conflict(s) with your roommate(s):

1. Speak with your roommate and address the issue or conflict. Speak face to face (not by text, online or handwritten notes) and work together at resolving the issue.
2. If you haven’t already done so, review the Shared Living Guide and complete the Roommate Agreement with your roommate(s).
3. If the issue is not resolved or if you are unable to complete the roommate agreement with your roommate(s), speak with your C.A. (Community Advisor) or P.S. (Peer Support) about the situation.
4. The C.A. (Community Advisor) or P.S. (Peer Support) can:
   1. Listen to you and offer guidance on how to resolve the issue yourself
   2. Help you and your roommates complete the first version of your roommate agreement
   3. Facilitate a mediation meeting by reviewing the existing roommate agreement and what didn’t work
5. Individual meetings will be conducted with every roommate before the mediation in order to give everyone a chance to explain their perspectives.
6. All roommates are required to show up to the mediation meeting.
7. Roommates are required to live with the decided arrangement outlined in the Roommate Agreement for a minimum of 2 weeks.
8. After 2 weeks, either roommate can contact their C.A. to report if the arrangement isn’t working.
9. The Residence Life Coordinator might step in at any time to assess the situation and guide you and your roommates for alternative solutions.
10. Room changes are based on availability, level of severity and at the sole discretion of the Residence Life team. There is an admin fee for a room change. See room change section for details.

Important: Room change requests are not processed in the first three weeks of the academic year. There is an administrative fee for approved room changes.

Room changes are not always approved and are based on availability of rooms and level of urgency. It is possible that the room you are offered may not be your preferred style or preferred building. The Residence Life Manager approves the room change requests, which can take up to three weeks to be processed. 

If you are experiencing a roommate conflict first refer to the Roommates and shared living section, fill out the Roommate Agreement, and browse through the tools and resources. Always connect with your CA for help and advice early on. You are not alone!