The First-Round Lottery - Housing for Single Graduates, Couples without Children, and Students with Children

To participate in the first-round Lottery for the 2015-16 academic year housing or Summer 2015, submit an application in Axess between April 8 and May 7, 2015. The results will be announced on May 23, 2015.

To submit your application:

• Log in to Axess.
• Select Housing and Dining from the Student menu.
• Select Apply for Housing and follow the prompts.

Assignments are made in "rounds", beginning with an exemption round for students requiring special housing consideration due to a documented medical condition and for students whose spouse, domestic partner, or child is disabled. See Students with Disabilities.

• First-round lottery assignments
• Second-round waiting list assignments
• Continuous assignments

Who can participate?

All matriculated students who apply for the Lottery must be eligible to live in Student Housing. For Summer Quarter, enrolled non-matriculated students may apply for housing if eligible.

Lottery Process

During the Lottery, a computer-based assignment program will try to place you into the first residence choice you've listed on your housing application. If your first choice of housing isn't available, the assignment program will try to place you in your second residence choice, and so on. You should list as many choices as possible in your preference order.

Shortly before classes begin, and after you receive your general residence assignment, a staff member at the Housing Front Desk serving your building will assign you to your specific apartment and, if you are a single student in a shared apartment, your roommate/s.

If you are a new matriculated student attending Stanford University for the first-time, you are guaranteed a housing assignment for your first academic year if you:

1. Apply by the application deadline and
2. Indicate on your application that you are willing to live in any residence for which you are eligible.

If you miss the first-round deadline in May or do not indicate you are willing to live in any residence, you are no longer guaranteed housing, but will continue to receive a high priority for assignment throughout your first year.

It is important to know that the commitment to live anywhere does not include the Munger Graduate Residence, the Schwab Residential Center or the Kennedy premium studio in Escondido Village. You will not be automatically assigned to those locations unless you list them as specific choices, because the housing rates may be prohibitive for some students.

If you are a coterminal student who has used your four years of guaranteed Undergraduate Housing, you will have an intermediate priority for your fifth year. You will be assigned after the first-year graduate students who are new to Stanford, but before the continuing graduate students. Your chance of  depends on:

1. Your randomly-assigned application number
2. The number of vacancies that are available in the housing category for which you qualify

Only a limited number of coterminal students are assigned during the Lottery and the Waiting List assignments because of the priority given to new students and their demand for housing.

If you are a continuing matriculated graduate student living in an on-campus Stanford residence that is open all year, you may be able to renew your housing contract if you remain in continuous occupancy over the summer and have one or more years of assignment priority. See Renewing your housing contract.

If you are a continuing matriculated graduate student planning to enter the Lottery, your chance of assignment depends on:

1. The number of years you have already lived on campus
2. Your randomly-assigned application number
3. The number of vacancies that are available in the housing category for which you qualify

Very few continuing students are assigned during the autumn unless they renew because of the priority given to new students and their demand for housing.

If you are applying for summer housing, Stanford University guarantees you a summer housing assignment if you:

1. Apply by the application deadline,
2. Indicate on your application that you are willing to live in any residence for which you are eligible, and
3. Are willing to live in off-campus subsidized housing.

If you don’t need University housing until Winter or Spring Quarter, you still should apply for a spot on a Waiting List by the May Lottery application deadline to receive a first-round number. The higher your position is on the list, the better your chance of being assigned to a University residence.

Your Application Number

The Lottery randomly assigns application numbers to students who enter the Lottery, or who join the Waiting List for winter or spring term by the application deadline in May.

What You Should Know About Application Numbers:

• If you apply for housing with several friends as a group, everyone in the group receives the same application number. This way, you have the best chance of being assigned to the same residence and apartment. See Applying in a Group.
• If you and your spouse/partner are both Stanford students, you may submit two housing applications for the Lottery. The application with the better assignment priority and application number will be considered for assignment, and the other will be withdrawn. To take advantage of this option, be sure that both applications include both Stanford ID numbers.
• If you apply for housing after the Lottery deadline, you will be given a sequential number based on the date your application is received, and added to the Waiting List.
• If you want to join a Waiting List for Winter or Spring Quarter, try to apply as early as possible. After the initial May deadline, Waiting List numbers are assigned in the order applications are received.
• If you receive an application number but are not assigned housing, you may retain your application number for the remainder of the summer or academic year, as long as you 1) do not refuse a housing assignment, and 2) apply by the next assignment round deadline for the same category of housing.

NOTE:

• It is your responsibility to check Axess to see if you have been assigned.
• Click on Once You’re Assigned for room/roommate information, or Cancelling your Housing to cancel an assignment.