Student Life 

HOUSING LOTTERY is the time for current resident students to choose their rooms for next year. The housing lottery will be conducted via the web, much like class registration. All of the Lottery “rules” will be the same as previous years (i.e. in regards to filling a room to capacity).

Guidelines for the Housing Selection

• The submission of the $350 deposit and thus entry into the Lottery is considered your contract for housing, therefore, it is NOT an option to come to the lottery and walk away without choosing a room “and simply lose $350.” If you do not choose a room, one will be assigned to you after the lottery.
• Resident students must sign into a room to capacity. Therefore you have the option of “pulling in” another deposited resident student(s) as your roommate(s) at your lottery time.
• ALL parties wishing to room together should gather together at the same time (the earliest lottery time within the group) to choose a room. You will need the student I.D. number(s) and the Housing PIN Number(s) of the students that you are signing into your chosen room.
• ONCE A ROOM SELECTION IS MADE, NO CHANGES CAN BE MADE.
• Failure to log on at your scheduled lottery time will result in the lottery progressing without you. You may log in and select your room any time after your assigned day and time.
• Residence Life reserves the right to close halls to current resident students in order to provide space for incoming students.
• In order to maintain a specific male-female ratio in the housing areas that are “not designated” at some point during the lottery some rooms may be turned over to one gender or another once those ratios have been met.
• Anyone found lying, cheating, falsifying information or in any way trying to circumvent the housing lottery and selection process will lose their priority and will be subject to the discipline process.
• All final interpretation of policies and procedures will be made by the Director of Residence Life.

• HOUSING PIN NUMBER:   Is the unique number assigned to you and required in order to select a room. Do not give this number to anyone other than the person(s) with whom you wish to live.

• SIGN INTO CAPACITY: All students MUST sign into a room, apartment, or townhouse to capacity.This means that if you are signing into a double, you must sign into that room with a roommate. If you are signing into a quad, three other residents must sign in with you, etc. (See “Pulling in” below). 
  
• “PULLING IN” — Students must fill the room, apartment, or townhouse to capacity, and therefore may need to “pull in” another resident student(s) at the same time. To be “pulled in” as a roommate, an individual must be a current resident student who has also made it into the Lottery. You will need the I.D. number and the Housing PIN number of any students that you are pulling into a room with you at the time you are selecting your room.
  
• FLEXIBILITY AND PREPARATION - Go on-line prepared with several housing options/choices. Be aware that at your lottery time, the room configuration and building choice that you most prefer may no longer be available. Therefore, you need to be prepared to break into a group of i.e. three instead of two. If you do break up into different groups, only those students signing in with you can be “pulled in” at your Lottery time.
  
• For current Freshmen & those upperclassmen offered housing via the Housing Selection Process... WE GUARANTEE HOUSING ONLY. We do not guarantee you will sign into your first housing choice.

Failure to log on and choose your room at your scheduled lottery time will result in the lottery progressing without you. You may go in and select your room any time after your assigned day and time.

PLEASE NOTE: No room changes will be permitted until the second week of fall semester (during Open Room Change Process).

Top Five Student Mistakes made in the Housing Lottery & Room Selection

• Not Getting to know your roommates before the housing selection process    The formula that students utilize to select roommates can often be more complex than Einstein’s theory of relativity. Students may select future living arrangements based on a variety of characteristics, such as friends from the past, similar social habits & groups, proximity to their academic department, or anxiety of being left out of the lottery. Regardless of the motivation for selecting next year’s roommate(s), please encourage your student to get to know their future roommate(s). Ask questions: What time do you go to bed? How much do you socialize? Do you mind if we have guest over? Do you smoke? Taking a few minutes and being thorough now can save us all many hours of disappointment in the future.
• Selecting roommates based on who has the earliest housing selection date & time   In an effort to increase one’s chance for a premium housing option, some students choose roommates based on one’s housing selection date & time. In the short-term, this seems like a great solution for someone with a late housing randomly assigned selection time slot. However, more-often than not, these situations take a turn for the worst and unfortunately feelings get hurt. So again, please encourage your student to really get to know their roommates, because they will be spending a lot of time together throughout the next academic year.
  
• Abandoning a good friend, without any notice at the last minute, in order to live elsewhere.    Although this sounds harsh, the reality is that it does happen. Usually, students have it all planned out. “The five of us are going to move into Merion Gardens and everything will be great.” Then minutes before the first student’s selection number comes up, it happens.
  
  “Well…Ah….What had happened was we did'nt’t think any of the apartments in the new building were going to be open. And you know only four people can sign into those apartments, so… I’m sorry, good luck with your housing selection.”
  
  There is no worse feeling for a student during this entire housing selection process than to be abandoned by “friends” at the last second. The student is left feeling alone, with nowhere to live and no one to live with. Please encourage your student to consider others’ feelings and emotions when making housing choices. Furthermore, students should be up front and honest with one other; if there are other possible living arrangements, then all parties involved should be made aware of these potential scenarios. Finally, if all else fails and your student has been left out, they are not alone. The Office of Residence Life maintains information and records that may be able to assist your student in finding potential roommates for the upcoming year.
• Attempting to contract, then trying to get an off-campus apartment  This commonly affects rising juniors that will soon be eligible to live off-campus. Some students attempt to get “two bites at the apple.” First they “contract and deposit” with Saint Joseph’s University. Later, after not getting a favorable housing selection date and time or finding out that friends will be moving into a local off-campus apartment, students attempt to withdraw from university housing. However, under the terms of the “Housing Contract” this is not allowed, except in extraordinary circumstances. Therefore, parents may be left paying for two housing contracts or large contract release fees. In an effort to prevent this from happening, talk to your student and encourage them to confirm their housing decision. Get involved and assist the student in making a list of the pros and cons to living both on-campus and off-campus.
  
• Not having a couple of housing options in mind   As it was aforementioned, there are pros and cons to living anywhere. However, students have a tendency to look only at one particular location, because it has single apartments or hardwood floors. During the Housing Selection Process students can use the “Housing Search” screen as often as they wish to keep track of what is still available. The reality of the situation is that students are not guaranteed to get their first choice. Therefore, it is highly encouraged for students to have a couple of options on different floors, in different buildings, and even in different areas of campus. If a student is contracted and deposited they are guaranteed university housing, but are not guaranteed placement into a specific housing assignment until they have completed the housing selection process.