Room Draw Information

Important Dates

  • ADA Housing Accommodation Request Deadline:
    • Monday, March 18
  • Request to Live Off Campus Deadline (via Housing Application):
    • Friday, April 5, by Noon
  • Housing Application Due:
    • Friday, April 5, by Noon
  • Room Draw Times Available in StarRez:
    • Tuesday, April 30
  • Room Draw:
    • May 2-4
 

Room Draw Information & Guidelines

 

Housing Application

All students must complete a housing application online via the StarRez portal. Students will indicate if they are participating in a Global Education program, requesting to live off-campus in non-CMC affiliated housing, or participating in any part of the Room Draw process. This application must be completed by Noon on Friday, April 5.

Non-Smoking Residence Halls

All CMC housing, including residence halls, the CMC Apartments and the Kendry Apartments, are smoke-free; this includes smoke generated by e-cigarettes and vaporizers. Students and their guests may not smoke in any part of the residence hall, including individual rooms.

Substance-Free Residence Halls (Stark and Beckett)

Stark and Beckett Halls are substance-free living environments, and students choosing to live in Stark and Beckett agree to not bring alcohol, tobacco products, or any other controlled substance into the building. In order to select a room in substance-free housing, students must request the “Substance-Free” option in the housing application via StarRez by April 5. This will allow Residential Life staff to plan for and guarantee a sub-free option for students who indicate such a preference. If a student is without a roommate, and there are no singles available, we will work with them to identify another student to live with in substance-free housing. Students who do not submit the housing application in StarRez by Friday, April 5, may not have the option to select a room in sub-free housing during Room Draw.

Students living in the CMC Apartments or the Kendry Apartments can choose to self-designate their apartment as substance free at any time. All residents of the space must be in agreement.

ADA Housing Accommodation

For Accessibility Services purposes, students seeking accommodations must have a disability. A person with a disability is defined as someone who has an impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities. This definition suggests that a diagnosis does not necessarily equate with a disability (substantial limitation) or necessitate an accommodation for access purposes. Housing accommodations provide 'access' to the Residential Life program. Thus, Accessibility Services will consider how the specific request allows access to CMC residential programs when considering housing accommodation requests.

Students with a disability seeking housing accommodations may apply via the Accessibility Services website by completing and submitting a “New Student Registration Form” AND uploading appropriate medical documentation. Students registered with Accessibility Services may sign in to the AIM Portal, complete and submit an “Additional Accommodation Request Form,” AND upload appropriate medical documentation. If you need assistance, please email accessibilityservices@cmc.edu. Students must renew their housing accommodation with updated documentation every spring in advance of Room Draw. The deadline to apply for Housing Accommodations is Monday, March 18. Students are strongly encouraged to share our appropriate medical documentation guidelines with their medical providers.

Housing accommodations, if approved, apply to the individual student (student with a disability), not groups (roommate/suitemate). If approved, students must meet with the Residential Life staff to discuss housing options. All housing accommodations are subject to space and availability.

If you have any questions or need assistance, please email accessibilityservices@cmc.edu.

Animal Allergies & Phobias

Some CMC students with disabilities may be approved for the use of a service animal or an emotional support animal for access purposes. See the Pets/Animals policy in the Guide to Student Life. The health and safety of all CMC students are important, and we want to make sure that we are aware of any concerns that may arise from having an animal in campus housing. Please contact Residential Life (residentiallife@cmc.edu) if you have a fear of a cat or dog. If you have a medically documented phobia or allergy that requires accommodation, please follow the steps highlighted above under “Housing Accommodation” to apply for housing accommodations. If you have any questions or concerns, you are encouraged to connect with Ari Martinez (accessibilityservices@cmc.edu), the Assistant Dean of Students for Accessibility Services & Academic Success. This is important information not only for room draw but also for consideration when placing new students in housing.

Kendry Lottery

Residential Life reserves the right to institute a lottery if there are more students requesting to live on main campus than there are available spaces. If there are spaces remaining after the Kendry Selection process, they will be filled via random lottery with students from the classes of 2026 and 2027. Students selected to live at Kendry will not be eligible to retain their room or be pulled into another campus space. Any student who is chosen via the lottery will not have to live at Kendry in subsequent years, unless they choose to retain or otherwise select into a space there.

Room Retention

Depending on class year and where they are currently living (detailed below), some students will be eligible to retain their current room for the following academic year. To do so, they must indicate their intentions on the housing application in Residence. All roommates in a given room must complete the Housing Application, select the room retention option, and meet with the Assistant Director for Residential Life, Luke Rufenacht, for final approval. Non-emergency room changes for students who retained from the previous academic year will be given a lower-priority.

  • Singles: Single rooms cannot be retained.
  • Doubles: Current first year students living in doubles can retain their room with their current roommate for the next academic year. Note: North Quad pods cannot be retained. 
  • Triples: Any students living in a triple, regardless of class year, may retain their triple for the following academic year. The room must be filled to capacity. For example, if there are two people currently residing in a triple room, they may retain only if they pull in a willing third person.
  • Kendry: The occupancy at the Kendry apartments in 2024-25 will be 2 students per 1-bedroom unit and 3 students per 2-bedroom unit. We are reducing the number of apartments available at Kendry. Students who are currently at the Kendry Apartments who would like to retain but do not currently meet the required occupancy, can pull someone in before room draw. Students who are approved to retain their Kendry apartment will be allowed to leave their belongings in the apartment over the summer at no charge. They may also choose to live there over the summer at a daily rate of approximately $37.18/day.

Please note: Students who retain their room on main campus will not be allowed to leave their belongings over the summer as main campus housing is often used for summer housing and other college purposes. As a reminder, all students must move out by Noon on Sunday, May 12, 2024.

CMC Apartments Selection

All seniors (FA24 and SP25 anticipated graduation dates) are eligible to live in the CMC Apartments. Once all seniors have selected, if there are any remaining apartments, they will be available for mixed class year groups.

There are approximately 30 quad apartments, which house 4 people in single bedrooms with two shared bathrooms, a shared kitchen, and a shared living room. Groups must be able to fill the apartment they select.

Room Draw

All students who were not approved to live off campus, or who did not choose a space during the Senior CMC Apartments Selection process, or who did not select during Sub-free Room Draw must participate in the main Room Draw process. Room Draw will take place online via the Residence software program.

Selection Times

All students will be given a random computer-generated selection time assigned within each class based on their anticipated graduation date (see below). At the assigned time, the student will be able to see all rooms that are available and will have 2 minutes to select a space.

Room availability is updated in real time. As students select spaces, rooms/apartments will be removed from the queue, including while you may be in the system making a selection. You are strongly encouraged to have a few options written down (or highlighted as favorites in the system), so that if you need to modify your group or housing choice, you can do so quickly.

Roommates/Groups

Those who choose to be roommates for the 2023-24 academic year must form a “group” via Residence. To form a group, enter into the Room Draw process in Residence and enter your roommates’ codes to send them an invitation to group with you. The system will automatically choose the earliest selection time from amongst the group members. You will only be able to form a group with those students whose applications have been submitted and approved. Groups cannot be formed in Residence until the processes open when you receive your selection time. Please remember that the group leader is not necessarily the person with the best time. You are encouraged to designate the leader of your group to be the person who will be available to select at your group time.

Room Draw without a Roommate

StarRez has the capability to suggest roommate matches based on your housing profile. We strongly encourage you to ustilize this feature ahead of Room Draw. An individual student will not be permitted to draw into a room with a capacity of two or more without a roommate. Any students who do not have roommates arranged will be able to select into a room on the last day of Room Draw, after all groups have selected.

Students on Leave

Students currently on leave from CMC may participate in Room Draw once they have been officially readmitted through the Office of the Registrar, paid the $500 tuition deposit, and completed the online housing application by April 5. If a student is readmitted after April 5, they will be housed on a space-available basis during the summer housing assignment process.

Room Draw Is a Privilege

Falsifying documents, harassing, threatening, or coercing another student into either leaving their chosen room or altering their room selection will result in disciplinary action, loss of right to a room, and/or loss of the privilege to participate in the Room Draw process. In such a case, if the student is still permitted to live on campus, the student's housing will be assigned by the Dean of Students Office.

Anticipated Graduation Date

Your anticipated graduation date is determined by the Registrar’s Office, taking into account credits completed and leaves.

Proxies

Since Room Draw will be hosted online via StarRez, a proxy is not needed. You can log in wherever you have a stable internet connection to complete the Room Draw selection process.

Room Selection Is Binding

During the room selection process, you will be choosing a room or a roommate(s) for the entire 2024-25 academic year. Requests to switch rooms or roommates after Room Draw will only be honored under extenuating circumstances. You are responsible for the room and roommate choices that you make during the Room Draw process.

Apartment Availability

Any apartment not selected by all-senior groups during Room Draw will be available to all students.  There is no guarantee that apartments will be available after the seniors select.

North Quad Half-Suites

In North Quad half-suites, groups of four students may draw into the traditional half-suites of either both north-facing rooms or both south-facing rooms. In the pod suites, students may draw into either both east-facing rooms or into both west-facing rooms. Half-suite student groups may not draw into one northern room and one southern room in the traditional suites or into one eastern room and one western room in the pod suites.

To exercise this housing option, the group leader for the group of four students will need to select the room at their designated time. If there are no half-suites available when your selection time comes, you will need to split up and follow the instructions for roommates (see above). This may include one of the pairs drawing at a later time based on their earliest assigned selection time. If any member of the four-person group withdraws from their selected room after Room Draw, the remaining roommates may be reassigned to a new location at the discretion of Residential Life staff. Alternatively, someone may be placed into the space during the summer assignment process. You may not save a space for someone expected to return at a later date.

Class Quotas

At least 25% of each residence hall is reserved for new students. New students are not permitted to live in the CMC Apartments or in the Kendry Apartments.

Gender Designations

Apartments

There are no predetermined gender designations for any of the apartments.

Residence Halls

Most CMC residence halls have single-gender rooms, but some buildings have mixed-gender floors:

  • The second floor of Stark Hall is mixed-gender with single-gender bathrooms. The third floor of Stark Hall is gender inclusive. Floors 4-7 in Stark are single-gender.
  • The second floor (female) and third floor (male) of Marks Hall are single-gender.
  • Crown Hall will have no predetermined gender designated floors, although each room will be a single gender.
    • Each floor will have both male- and female-designated bathrooms.
  • Appleby, Boswell, Green, and Wohlford Halls will have single-gender suites.
  • Phillips, Auen, and Fawcett Halls will have single-gender floors.

Gender-Inclusive Housing

Beckett, Berger, Claremont, and Benson Halls will be gender-inclusive residence halls for the 2024-25 academic year. The first floor of Marks Hall is also gender-inclusive. Students of any gender identity and gender expression may choose to live as roommates in the double or triple rooms. The bathrooms are all gender-inclusive and have floor-to-ceiling stall doors for the toilets and showers.

North Quad Pods

The gender designation for the pod suites in North Quad alternate each year. For the 2023-24 academic year:

  • Green and Wohlford pods will be male-designated.
  • Appleby and Boswell pods will be female-designated.

Resident Technology Assistants (RTAs)

RTAs are not provided a room in their assigned residence hall in advance. RTAs must proceed through Room Draw at their selection time. RTAs are guaranteed the last available bed space in a residence hall.

Meal Plans

Students living in the residence halls must select a meal plan at Room Draw. Students living in the CMC Apartments or Kendry Apartments are not required to have a meal plan, but may opt to do so. Meal plan options are: 16 meals per week ($200 board plus), 14 meals per week ($140 board plus), 12 meals per week ($120 board plus), or 8 meals per week ($80 board plus).

Off-Campus Living Option

To request permission to live off-campus, you must indicate it on your housing application and include the rationale for the request. It must be submitted by Friday, April 5 at 12 p.m. If you are currently living off-campus, you must request to do so again. It is not an automatic renewal. DO NOT sign a lease until you have been notified that you are approved to live off campus. If granted permission, you will not participate in Room Draw. There is a $100 campus use fee per semester for students living off campus. This fee will be applied to your student account.

Married students and students with dependent children are automatically granted off-campus status and do not need to participate in Room Draw. Students who are denied permission to live off-campus may be granted permission at a later date under the following conditions: 1) a student on the off-campus list wishes to move into the space to be vacated on campus, and/or 2) the move is approved by the Senior Assistant Dean of Students for Residential Life and Student Engagement. Students who move off campus without permission may be charged the full 2024-25 room rate and face disciplinary action.

Questions?

We cannot answer questions about the odds of obtaining a certain room/apartment because this is a process that involves human behavior and there are approximately 700 humans participating in Room Draw. Please email residentiallife@cmc.edu if you have any other questions.