Rising Sophomore Students

• Weekly Zoom Q&A (password: Hawks) - February and March Fridays from 11:00am-1pm
  • Click into the link during these times to ask Residence Life staff any questions you might have about the Housing Selection Process.

FEBRUARY

• Housing Tours - Friday, February 20th, 12:00pm-4:00pm
  • Current students in these communities have volunteered to open their rooms during these hours to allow rising sophomores to see spaces and ask questions. Residence Life Staff will be available to show you open rooms and talk about the amenities of each unique community.
  • These Housing Tours are offered for STUDENTS ONLY. We wish to respect the privacy of the students who have volunteered to show their rooms. Additionally, we do not want to restrict our ability to offer tours to SJU students due to an increased capacity of other individuals.
  • Just stop by the main lobby of the following locations during the designated time period and we will take you on a tour. Check out the SJU Shuttle schedule for transportation assistance to these locations.
    • Ashwood
    • Lannon & Rashford
    • Moore Hall & Morris Townhouses
    • Merion Gardens
    • Sourin
  • Not able to attend the Housing Tours? Follow us live on Instagram at sju_reslife!

MARCH

• Information Tables - To be scheduled
  • Residence Life staff will be available in the lobbies of McShain, Sister Thea Bowman, and Villiger to answer any questions that you might have as you prepare for the Housing Selection Process.
• Extended Zoom Q&A (password: Hawks) - Thursday, March 12th & Friday, March 13th, 9am-5pm
  • Residence Life staff will be available on Zoom to answer any questions you might have or to review next steps in the Housing Portal prior to the Housing Selection Process.

January 12

• Applications available to complete the 2026-2027 Housing Agreement within the online Housing Portal
• "Create Profile" and "Roommate Search" available to begin creating roommate groups. **Hawk Hill students must have a roommate group that can fill a space to capacity to make a selection.

February 13

• Deadline to submit the 2026-2027 Housing Agreement due to participate in Rising Sophomore Housing Selection

February 19

• Housing Selection Dates and Times are available to view within the Housing Portal.
• "Browse Rooms" feature will be available to view all housing options

March 16-20

• Rising Sophomore Housing Selection for Hawk Hill

1. Create/Join your Roommate Group - Your Roommate Group can be created through the Housing Portal. If you have not yet found a roommate group or find yourself without a roommate(s), you may utilize the Roommate Search Feature or the Finder Binder. Completed Finder Binder forms are available to view in the Office of Residence Life in LaFarge Hall during business hours (Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm).
    
2. Understand the capacity (number of bed spaces) in the apartments. All room/apartment spaces must be filled to capacity (if you want to select a 5-person apartment, you must have 5 people in your roommate group). If you do not have the same number of roommates in your group as the occupancy of the space you wish to select, you will not be able to select that space. There is not a process that would allow a "random" student to select into partially occupied spaces.
    
3. Have Back-Up Plans - Use the Housing Selection Worksheet to prepare at least 3-5 backup plans in case your first choice is not available when it is your time to select. Make sure that you and your future roommates are in communication and agree with the original and all backup plans. Residence Life does not hold back any spaces during the selection process. What is available at the start of selection are all the spaces available for students. Spaces will not be opened later on for students later in the selection process.
    
4. Administrative Placement Option - If you find during the process that there are no spaces that can be selected based on the size of your roommate group, you will be able to submit an Administrative Placement Form, on which you can indicate your preferences from what is available and we will manually assign you (and your roommates) into a space after the selection process is finished.
    
5. Changing your Selection - If your group selects a space and wants to change it during the selection process, the only option would be to have everyone agree to being removed from the assignment and the selecting student will be given a selection time at the end of the process. The student with the next selection time in the group can make a selection at their assigned time.
    
6. Room Change Wait List - If you do not get to select a space that was your top choice, there will be a summer room change interest and fall room change interest process that students may apply for and depending on availability over the summer/fall, you may be offered the option for yourself or your group to switch spaces.

• Housing Selection Worksheet
  • Make your Housing Selection Plan with your roommate group using this worksheet to identify all options for your group size as well as back-up options if your first choices are not available.
• Overview of Housing Options and Availability by Selection Time (16:45 minutes)
  • Timeline overview (0-1:20)
  • Housing options by capacity (roommate groups) (1:20-4:10)
  • Housing options by building (4:10-8:59)
  • Understanding the "Browse Rooms" feature (8:59-10:35)
  • What will be available at my selection time? (10:36-14:52)
  • Housing Selection "Homework" - review of Housing Selection Worksheet (14:52-16:45)

Before Housing Selection:

• Zoom Q&A Hours (Password: Hawks) are available at the following times to answer any questions you might have:
  • Fridays (January 23-March 20) from 11:00am-1pm
• Email us at reslife@sju.edu, call us at (610)660-1060, or stop by our office in Sister Thea Bowman Hall during business hours.

During Housing Selection Week:

• Connect with a Residence Life Staff member during active selection times over Zoom (Password: Hawks)
• Call our office at (610)660-1060.
• Email us at reslife@sju.edu.
• Stop by our office in Sister Thea Bowman Hall during business hours.

We looked through the Housing Selection patterns over the past 3 years and estimated the availability by date based on trends from previous years. 

It is important to note that every year is different - each year, Rising Sophomores (individually and as a group) have different priorities, interests, perspectives that change the order of when buildings are completely filled. Additionally, there might be different buildings that are available each year. For example, Sourin Hall is available for Rising Sophomore Housing Selection this year and Moore Hall and the Townhouses were only recently made available for sophomores last year.

Because these buildings were not available for Rising Sophomore Selection in recent years, we do not have the same information to identify trends for the selection of this location. We have included some hypothetical availability scenarios based on overall selection trends.

Building Availability by Selection Time - Historic Trends

Roommate groups can be created in the Roommate Search step in the Housing Portal. One person should create the group and can invite others to join through the "Search for Roommates" options:

1. By Screen Name: Use this if you know the screen name of the person you are looking for.

2. By Profile Questions: Use this if there are certain preferences that are more important to you.

3. Matching Roommates: This will show you a list of the most compatible students based on their total profile.

If the group has already been created and you wish to join, you can click on "Join Group" and enter the name of the group you wish to join.

Updated Roommate Group information will be available on this page and can be modified up until your housing selection is complete.

All students are required to fill a housing selection to its listed capacity.  If your roommate group does not have the same number of people as spaces in the room/apartment, you will not be able to complete the selection.

If you are looking for another roommate(s) to create or complete a roommate group, you may utilize the Roommate Search feature within the Housing Portal to search for other students who may have profile responses compatible with yours. 

Additionally, you may wish to complete a Finder Binder Entry Form. These entries will be collected and printed for students to view in the Office of Residence Life during business hours. This form will allow you to identify other students who have also completed the form indicating that they are looking for roommates.

YES! Gender-inclusive housing allows interested students to live in the same housing unit with other students of their choosing, regardless of sex assigned at birth, gender expression, or gender identity. Gender-inclusive housing is an option that is available to all students; students must expressly state and affirm their interest in a gender-inclusive housing assignment and complete a Gender Inclusive Housing Agreement in addition to the standard housing agreement. To explore gender-inclusive housing, please contact the Office of Residence Life at reslife@sju.edu or 610-660-1060.

In order to maintain a consistent process for the large number of students participating in this process, we are not able to change selection times once they are assigned. As a reminder, your roommate group can and should use the earliest selection time within the group.

The selection times do not expire until the very end of the process, so if you are unable to make a selection at your assigned time, you may do it at a later time within the Housing Selection Week. We will be closing the self-selection part of the portal at 5pm on Friday, March 21st.

Students with a documented accommodation need should include this information in the Housing Application and submit their documentation to the Office for Student Disability Services. Students with an approved accommodation will have an option for an administrative placement into a space that meets the documented need OR to participate in housing selection on their assigned date and time. Students who choose an administrative assignment may only request one roommate and will not be able to choose the specific building placement. Individual correspondence will be sent to any student who has indicated a specific need to explain these options further.

Accommodation placements will not be placed during the Housing Selection week. If a student submits a request during Housing Selection, we will work with them after the process is completed. We may not be able to accommodate roommate requests for late accommodation requests.

Yes, however, the Housing Agreement will become void for the semester that the student will not be on-campus. They will be required to live on-campus for the other semester.

We are able to release students from the Residency Requirement for the semester in which they are participating in Co-Op if the Co-Op placement is in a more reasonable location to their permanent address than campus. All that we need from you to verify this release for Co-Op would be a copy of the hire or placement letter/email from the Co-Op employer. This can be sent directly to reslife@sju.edu

Students should still do a Housing Agreement by the deadline. They can participate in Housing Selection if they wanted to - many students choose to do this if they haven't received their Co-Op Placement yet and wanted to have a housing assignment in case something fell through. If a student selects a space through the Housing Selection Process, their selected assignment would be removed for the entire academic year. We would be in contact with them in November 2025 with more information about submitting preferences for placement when they return in the Spring. This email will contain instructions to complete a Spring Housing Preference Form on which students can indicate your interest in a general community (or communities) and information about specific vacancies that you might be aware of. On this form, they would also be able to indicate a known vacancy and or specific roommate request as a part of their preferences. Most of the vacancies that are assigned to students returning to campus after Co-Op experiences are created from students who are leaving to go on Spring Study Abroad or Co-Op experiences. It is difficult to predict or guarantee the availability of specific spaces or types, but we do our best to make assignments according to the preferences that are provided.  If spaces are not available that meet their specific preferences and/or roommate requests, our office would be in contact with them to provide some options.

Because the Housing Selection Process is “live” and students will continue to select through the entire process, a housing selection cannot be changed unless the student(s) choose to have their original selection removed and get a new selection time on the last day of selection. The Office of Residence Life will offer a Room Change Waitlist, beginning on April 15, for students who are interested in a different housing assignment. Room Change Requests will be processed through the summer as new vacancies may become available.

We recommend that students who are considering transferring still participate in housing selection. This way, if you choose to stay at SJU, you have a housing assignment that you have chosen. 

If you intend to transfer from SJU, you would not be held to the Housing Agreement. We would simply remove your housing assignment (and any corresponding charges) when we receive confirmation of your intent to transfer through the Office of Student Success.

If you confirm that you are definitely transferring, you should contact the Office of Student Success to make sure that you have completed the appropriate documentation.

Office of Student Success
 

If a student decides to transfer after Housing Selection, we would remove their selected space when we received confirmation of their transfer. At that time, our office would send a "Vacancy Notice" email to you and your other roommates to let you know that we have processed a vacancy. You would have an opportunity to request a known roommate to fill that vacancy before we assigned a random student through our Room Change Waitlist.

The Office of Residence Life - 2026-2027 Housing Selection

Dear Rising Sophomores,

We hope this message finds you well! While March may seem far off, we are already preparing for the Rising Sophomore Housing Selection Process, which will take place during the week of March 16, 2026.

Key Dates and Deadlines

• January 12, 2026: Housing Agreements for the 2025–2026 Academic Year become available in the Housing Portal.
• February 13, 2026: Deadline to submit your Housing Agreement to receive a selection date and time for the process.
• March 16-20, 2026: Housing Selection Process

Housing Options for 2026-2027

The following locations will be available for next year’s sophomores:

• Ashwood Apartments: mostly 5-person (2-bedroom) apartments.
• Lannon Hall Apartments: 4-person (2-bedroom apartments)
• Merion Gardens Apartments: mostly 2-person (1-bedroom) apartments
• Moore Hall: traditional rooms with private bathrooms (1-4 person rooms)
• Rashford Hall Apartments: mostly 4-person (2-bedroom apartments)
• Sourin Hall: Two floors designated for sophomores with single-occupancy spaces with close proximity to Campion and the center of Hawk Hill
• Townhouses: 4-person (4-bedroom) and 7-person (7-bedroom) townhouses

Housing Selection Process Overview

The Rising Sophomore Housing Selection Process is similar to your first-year experience, with a few important updates:

1. Roommate Groups: You must have a Roommate Group with enough members to fill your selected space to capacity.
   • Example: If selecting Ashwood Apartments, your group should include five people (you and four others).
2. Gender-Inclusive Housing: Students who wish to live in gender-inclusive housing may complete a Gender Inclusive Housing Agreement in order to create this roommate group and select a space together.

Resources and Support

In order to answer questions and help you prepare for the Housing Selection Process, Residence Life staff will be offering Q&A sessions, Information Tables, Tours, and other opportunities to learn more. Take note of the following sessions that are currently scheduled and watch your email for additional events:

Zoom Q&A Hours (password: Hawks) - Fridays from 11am-1pm

• Join us by clicking into the zoom link above to ask any questions you might have about the Housing Selection Process. 

Sophomore Housing Tours - Friday, February 20, 12pm-4pm

• This is a chance to see room options in all of the sophomore areas. A selection of rooms offered by current sophomore residents will be available to see during these hours.

You can also review the timeline and FAQs on our website for more information.

Important Reminder

SJU has a 2-Year Residency Requirement, meaning all first- and second-year students must live on campus. Current first-year students must complete the 2026–2027 Housing Agreement online through the Housing Application Portal on The Nest.