The Office of Residential Life yesterday released randomly-generated housing priority members and information about the new room assignment procedures to freshmen, sophomores and juniors.
The new housing assignment process, which goes into effect for Fall-term housing, gives each student one random priority number. Seniors receive highest priority, followed by juniors and then sophomores.
For the past two years students received two numbers -- one completely-random cluster priority number, and one room priority number that was random by class year.
This year, members of Class of 1996 received number 1 to 1,100, members of the Class of 1997 were assigned numbers 1,101 to 2,220 and freshmen got numbers 2,201 to 3,300.
About 3,900 students were on campus last fall. There are about 2,800 beds in residence halls and affinity house -- about 1,000 of which are reserved for members of the entering freshman class -- and about 450 beds in Greek organizations.
The new room assignment process is now a one-step process -- where a students room-type choice is the first thing ORL considers when assigning housing.
"The overall objective of the housing assignment process is to place applicants in their room type preference first, where possible," an ORL mailing said. "Though location will be considered when making the actual room assignment, it will not override the room-type preference."
Also, students can only list roommates on their housing applications. Under the current system, students could pull people into their cluster.
All students who apply for on-campus housing will have to pay a non-refundable $100 housing deposit. The deposit will be credited against the applicant's room-rent charge once the housing assignment is accepted.
Anyone who cancels his or her room assignment will forfeit the housing deposit.
Students can still apply for housing in their social organization and on-campus housing without penalty.
Director of Housing Services Lynn Rosenblum said under the old system, it was possible for unlucky students to be wait-listed three years in a row. The new system makes it likely that a student could only be wait-listed during sophomore year, if at all, she said.
Rosenblum said the new system makes it more likely that a student will only be wait-listed once in his or her Dartmouth career, since priority increases as students get older.
But in a letter mailed to the students, Associate Dean of Residential Life Bud Beatty wrote that because of the anticipated high demand for housing this fall, ORL cannot guarantee that every applicant will receive on-campus housing, and there will probably be a wait-list for housing.
Beatty led a group of students and administrators who came up with the new housing plan.
He wrote that the major goals of the new plan were to design a less complex housing assignment process and to place a greater emphasis on preferred-room type and roommate choice.
