Housing Lottery Changes

In the spring of 2005, after several months of work, the Undergraduate Residential Life Working Group – a committee composed of faculty, students, and administrators – offered a set of important and far-reaching recommendations for the student residence system at NYU. These changes were meant to further improve the undergraduate residential experience for NYU students and better foster an overall sense of community on campus, and were implemented in the Spring 2006 Housing Lottery.

Rationale

The University has made great strides in improving residential life for students through a variety of service and program enhancements. In recent years, these have focused primarily on freshmen, resulting in a number of new residential education initiatives, including the First Year Residential Experience (FYRE) and Explorations theme floors. Positive feedback in these areas provided a solid platform for considering further steps that would achieve still broader benefits both for resident students and the University community as a whole.

Process

The Undergraduate Residential Life Working Group, meeting regularly between May and December, 2004, engaged in a wide range of fact-finding activities, including:

• Presentations by Working Group members
• Reviewing reports from the Inter Hall Residence Council, the University’s Middle States Reaccredidation Self Study, and a group of undergraduate students in a Stern School of Business consulting course
• Examining published research on the developmental stages and needs of undergraduate students
• Guided tours of all residence hall facilities
• Town hall meetings

As the members of the Working Group conducted their exploration of housing and residential education at NYU, a growing focus on the sophomore year experience and transfer students emerged from their discussions. These issues, in turn, were linked to potential improvements in the housing lottery process that could be made in the short term and a number of related issues that were targeted for further consideration, including:

• greater and more specific attention to the needs of juniors and seniors
• amenities such as dining options, cable and internet services, common space and transportation in residence halls more distant from Washington Square
• needs of transfer students
• housing choices for students who participate in Greek organizations
• preserving opportunities for all upperclassmen to participate in special interest and themed housing (e.g. Explorations floors)

Outcomes

After considerable reflection and deliberation, as well as feedback gained from both informal and formal (e.g., town hall) settings, the University decided to adopt the changes the Working Group proposed. These changes were enacted for the housing lottery that took place in Spring 2006, and were felt in the housing system beginning in the fall of 2006. These actions include:

• Giving sophomores top priority in selecting their housing placements, (followed by seniors, then juniors) in any accommodation not designated as a freshmen cluster site or an Explorations program site (the designation of certain floors to the Explorations Program will take place in advance of the sophomore selection process).
• Alleviating current problems associated with housing for transfer students by assigning incoming transfer students to accommodations on the basis of availability during their first year at NYU, and subsequently treating them as seniors in the housing placement process.
• Recommendation to explore ways to further enhance the residential experience for juniors and seniors.
• Recommendation to explore accommodations to provide to members of the Class of 2008, who under the new lottery model will likely not have the opportunity to live in Union Square.

As a follow-up to the review and report described above, another group of students, faculty, and staff was assembled to identify additional support that could be given to upperclass students and members of the Class of 2008. Based on this committee’s recommendations, we implemented the following initiatives for the fall of 2006, (with noted timelines and exceptions):

• After building assignments are given through the selection process, members of the Class of 2008 will have priority for choosing rooms within the hall, followed by rising seniors, then rising sophomores (for fall 2006 placement only).
• Provide additional Campus Cash options for the Uptown and Downtown areas.
• Provide one free laundry procurement card (which enables students to place monies for washer / dryer access) for the residents of 200 Water and Cliff Street (for 2006-07 academic year).
• Create new lounge spaces in Cliff Street and 26th street residences.
• Provide free printing service for computer lab in Water Street.
• Provide an equal number of spaces for the Mixed-Sex Housing option in 26th street and 200 Water Street.
• Increase programming funding for each hall council/RAs in the downtown and uptown areas.
• Creation of new or additional Explorations theme community floors targeted to upperclassmen. The Explorations themes will include but not be limited to, Diversity in the Work Place, Entrepreneurship, Returning to NYU after Study Abroad, Leadership, and Pre-Health Programs (i.e. nursing, dental hygiene).
• Implement an intentional programming model for upperclassmen that will include but not be limited to, career development, graduate studies, and post graduation.
• Enhance the Carriage House space at U Court/25th Street to include painting, new lounge furniture, new carpet, and a large flat screen TV.

Please contact Dr. Tom Ellett at tom.ellett@nyu.edu or x84166 if you have any questions, comments or concerns about this website. Questions about the lottery process itself should be directed to the Housing Office at x84600 or the Housing web site at http://www.nyu.edu/housing/lottery.