2023-2024 Returning Student Housing Selection Process Overview
Welcome to the housing selection process overview page! We have a housing application process that allows you to find roommates and complete the housing selection process from the comfort of your own room. Please review this page carefully so you are aware of how the housing selection process will work.
Application
The 2023-2024 housing application will open on February 7, 2023. All students will access the housing application in the Res Life Portal.
Our application allows for matching of roommates based on the answers to the questions in the housing application. Please answer each question honestly.
To get started, please complete the following in the Res Life Portal:
1. Complete the ‘Returning Student Housing Application' or the 'Transfer Student Housing Application’
2. Complete the information requested in ‘My Info’.
3. Find and match yourself with your roommates. Only students who have completed a housing application will be able to search/be found in the roommate matching process. Each student in your group will need to match themselves with all the others in your group.
4. Select a ‘Dining Plan’.
Priority Numbers
For returning students, priority numbers will be used to determine when you will select your housing. The highest priority numbers will be given to those students with the highest number of earned credit. Credits in progress will not be considered when determining priority numbers. The highest priority is '1'.
When choosing a roommate group, keep in mind that the priority numbers of all roommates will be averaged to determine when you will select your housing.
Roommate Matching
Roommate matching can occur in one of three ways:
1. You can search for and select specific people you know and would like to live with during the application process. All roommates will need to add each other as roommates in the roommate finder, which is part of the housing portal.
2. You can use the search function in the roommate finder in the housing portal to find students who answered application questions similarly to you. You have full control to focus your search on specific questions or all questions.
3. You can let us use the new roommate matching software to find you the best match based on your application questions. For returning students, this process will occur after the housing selection nights.
Help Guide for Selecting a Roommate
Housing Selection Details
When you go through the housing selection process on your selection night, students must fill a complete room. Stuyvesant Hall will allow for students to sign up for one half of a suite (2 students), and Hayes and Welch require students to fill an entire suite (4 students).
Groups who do not have a full roommate group capable of filling a suite (group of 2 in Stuy, group of 4 in Hayes and Welch) will not be able to select housing on their housing selection night. Students in this situation will be assigned a room on April 13, and any vacant spots within a roommate group will be filled with another student using the Roommate Finder system.
Bradford Milligan Hall
Bradford Milligan Hall is for seniors only (see below for details). To find out more about the building, including apartment layouts and room information, click here.
Eligibility
Bradford Milligan Hall is for seniors only. For fall semesters, we define 'senior' as a student who has earned 23 or more credits by the end of the preceding spring term. That earned credit total will include spring credits in progress (for apartment selection only) and transfer credits. If you will have fewer than 23 credits by the end of the spring term, you will not be eligible to participate in housing selection for Bradford Milligan Hall. Residential Life will notify everyone who is eligible to participate in housing selection for Bradford Milligan Hall.
Priority Order
The order in which students will select housing during their designated housing selection night is determined by credit hours. The order in which you completed the housing application has no bearing on your priority number. Students with the most credit hours, as detailed above, will have the highest priority number and select housing first. Matched roommates will have their priority numbers averaged, and the group's new (averaged) priority number will determine when they select housing.
Filling Apartments
In order to select to live in a 4- or 6-person apartment, students must fill the apartment with a set of matched roommates (you must match with all other roommates in the Res Life Portal). Please see the 'Roommate Matching' section offered near the top of this webpage for information about how to match with roommates in the Res Life Portal. For example, a group of 3 people will not be able to select a 4-person apartment because they did not fill the apartment.
We also have 8-person apartments. Each 8-person apartment has 6 single rooms and 1 two-person room. Each single room can be selected by a single person during housing selection, and the two-person rooms can be selected by two people who have matched as roommates. You do not have to fill an entire 8-person apartment to be able to select a room within it.
Apartments are not single gender spaces, so your roommate group can include all genders.
Interest in the apartments is high, and we encourage you to have a contingency plan in the event your first choice option is not available when it is your turn to select housing. For instance, if you had planned to select a 4-person apartment but none are available when it is your turn, you could then perhaps select 4 individual rooms in an 8-person apartment.
Vacancies and Waitlist
If there are vacancies in Bradford Milligan Hall at the end of the apartment housing selection process, junior-status students may be offered those spaces. The students with the highest amount of earned credit will be offered those spaces first.
As vacancies arise in Bradford Milligan Hall, we will fill them from the 'Apartments' waitlist, which will be available via the Res Life Portal after housing selection is complete. Students on the waitlist with the highest earned credits will be offered a space in the apartments before students with lower earned credits. This is different than our other waitlists, in which order is determined by the order you add yourself to the waitlist.
First Year Housing Options
All First Year students live together because we understand first year students are going through similar issues as they relate to their transition away from home. In their first year, OWU students will live in Smith, Welch, and Hayes. For more information on our housing options, please our Housing Options web page.
Early Housing Placement Process
The following houses and circumstances will go through the early housing placement process, which takes place before other returning students go through the housing selection process. Early placement applications will be available November 14, 2022 and are due on January 20, 2023. Full timeline details is available under the "Returning Student Housing Selection Timeline" below. Students not selected for an early housing placement will be asked to complete a Returning or Transfer Student Housing Application.
Bigelow Reed House |
This house is reserved for students majoring in Business Administration, Economics, Accounting, Finance, Entrepreneurship and International Business. Students and roommate groups comprised of students all studying in these majors will be given priority assignments in Bigelow Reed House over others. |
House of Black Culture |
Students who have lived in the house in the past will be given priority. All other placements are decided based on application question responses. |
Panhel House |
This house is reserved for women in a sorority. Each sorority is allowed 5-6 spots in the house, though spots unfilled by one sorority can be filled with members of another sorority. For those interested in living in the house, selection will be based on credit hour and involvement in sorority or Panhel leadership positions. |
Honors House |
Only students in the Honors Program may live in the Honors House. For those who express interest in living in the house, selection in to the house is decided in consultation with the Honors Program. |
SLUs |
SLUs recruit and select their own members. SLU Moderators will communicate rosters and room assignments to Residential Life. |
Fraternity Houses |
Fraternities recruit and select their own members. Fraternity RAs will communicate rosters and room assignments to Residential Life. |
Housing Accommodations |
For those with official housing accommodations through Student Disability Services. |
Special Interest Floors |
Any other special interest floors that require early placement |
Resident Advisors/Moderators |
Those hired for a Res Life staff role will be placed in their housing assignment |
Returning Student Housing Timeline
November 14, 2022 |
Early housing process applications available |
January 20, 2023 |
Early housing process applications due |
February 6, 2023 |
Early housing assignments out to students |
February 7, 2023 |
Returning student housing application available |
February 7, 2023 - March 29, 2023 |
Roommate matching is open |
March 29, 2023 |
Returning student application closed for housing selection |
March 31, 2023 |
Housing priority numbers sent to each returning student |
April 3, 2023 |
Housing selection night 1, 6pm-9pm |
April 4, 2023 |
Housing selection night 2, 6pm-9pm |
April 5, 2023 |
Housing selection night 3, 6pm-9pm |
April 6, 2023 |
Housing selection night 4, 6pm-9pm |
April 7, 2023 |
Returning student housing application and roommate selection reopens for late applications |
April 19, 2023 |
Students who didn't go through housing selection assigned to residential spaces |
April 19, 2023 - August 1, 2023 |
Late applications processed and placements made on rolling basis |
First Year & Transfer Student Selection Timeline
February 7, 2023 |
First year and Transfer student housing applications open |
February 7, 2022 - June 15, 2023 |
Roommate matching is open |
June 15, 2023 |
Final deadline for first year and transfer student housing applications |
June 30, 2023 |
Housing placements shared with first year and transfer students |
Small Living Unit Application & Renewal
The application for new and renewing Small Living Units (SLU) will be available on November 16, 2022. Please review the information below for a full timeline and overview of the application and renewal process. If you have questions, please direct them to reslife@owu.edu.
New & Renewing SLU Application
The new & renewing SLU application will be available on November 16, 2022.
Apply --> SLU Application
2023-2024 SLU Selection Important Dates
November 16, 2022 |
SLU application available, shared with SLUs, Mods, RAs and OWU Daily |
December 16, 2022 |
SLU applications due |
January 13, 2023 |
Moderator application due, SLUs must each have two moderator candidates. |
January 30, 2023 |
SLUs notified of application status and house assignment |
February 12-18, 2023 |
SLUSH |
February 20, 2023 |
SLUs provide Res Life with list of potential new member candidates |
February 20-24, 2023 |
SLU interviews of potential members |
February 26, 2023 |
SLU membership decisions |
February 27, 2023 |
SLUs notify new members and those not selected |
March 3, 2023 |
New member acceptance deadline |
March 6, 2023 |
SLU rosters and placements due to Res Life |