First-year students to begin second-year room selection process

Spring semester marks a period of looking ahead for Ohio University students as they begin to make plans for their second year of residing in their home away from home on the Athens Campus.

Believing that an enriching residential experience helps students in both their personal and academic development, Ohio University requires all first- and second-year students to reside in University-sanctioned housing. It is during the first-year students’ spring semester that they select housing for their second year at OHIO.

OHIO’s Department of Housing and Residence Life made its online 2018-19 Housing Contract available to all students beginning Jan. 5. That contract is available through the Housing Self-Service link on the Department of Housing and Residence Life’s website. 

According to Johnna Matulja, associate director for marketing and business operations at Housing and Residence Life, any current student who would like to live on campus next year must complete the online housing contract by 4 p.m. on Friday, March 2, in order to be a part of the room selection process for the next academic year. When completing the contract, students will be asked to provide a cell phone number where they can be contacted, agree to the terms and conditions, select a meal plan for next year, and pay a $200 housing deposit.

Current students won’t begin selecting rooms for next year until March, and Housing and Residence Life has several events planned to help those students prepare. Those events include:

Information Sessions

Information sessions are scheduled for 5 and 6 p.m. on Feb. 15 and 21 in Jefferson Hall 160 and on Feb. 20 in the Living Learning Center. These sessions, while not mandatory, are designed to help students better understand the room selection process and the different configurations of residence halls available on the Athens Campus. They are also opportunities for students to ask questions and to seek help if they’re having difficulties with their housing contract.

Meet Your Match 

Scheduled for 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 27, in Jefferson Hall 160, this event is tailored to first-year students who don’t have a roommate lined up for next academic year and provides an opportunity for those students to interact with one another in hopes of matching potential roommates.

Second-Year Hall Open House 

Scheduled for 7 to 9 p.m. Sunday, March 4, this is considered the largest pre-room selection event offered to students and provides them an opportunity to visit all of the styles of residence halls available to upperclassmen on the Athens Campus. Current students will be able to visit the following second-year residence halls:

• East Green – Tiffin or Bryan Hall and Shively or Biddle Hall and 4 University Terrace
• South Green – Pickering Hall, Adams or Sowle Hall, and Hoover House
• West Green – Bromley Hall, James, Wilson or Boyd Halls, and the Convocation Center

The open house includes a passport program. Students who visit six out of the eight styles of second-year residence halls and receive stamps on the passports that Housing will be providing will be entered into a drawing for one of five Priority Room Selection spots that will allow them to select their room early. In fact, first-year students who attend any of the events associated with next year’s room selection process will have an opportunity to win a handful of spots for Priority Room Selection.

Room Selection

Students will be notified via email before 7 p.m. on Sunday, March 4, the date and time when they will be able to select their room for next academic year.

According to Matulja, a random, computer-generated system determines each student’s date and time for room selection.

“Based on student feedback and years of refinement, we’ve designed a system that is as fair and equitable as possible for all students across board,” she explained. “We do not base room selection numbers on GPA, conduct, or the completion date of your housing contract like we do when you first enroll in Ohio University. As first-year students complete their online housing contract, we load them into the system and a completely random number is provided. That number determines that student’s date and time for room selection.”

Students will know before the March 4 Second-Year Hall Open House what date and time they can select their residence hall and room online, and Housing staff will be stationed on the first floor of the Living Learning Center from 7 to 9 p.m. March 4 to answer students’ questions. 

The actual room selection process kicks of March 22-23 for first-year students interested in returning to the same specialized living experience they were in this year. During that two-day period, first-year students currently residing in halls designated as specific living experiences or residential learning communities will have the option to remain in those halls or in similarly designated second-year halls. OHIO’s specialized living experiences/communities for current students include:

• Boyd Hall – Global Living Experience
• Bryan Hall – Quiet Study Living Experience
• James Hall – Sports and Recreation Living Experience
• Read Hall – Scholars Community Living Experience
• Shively Hall – Substance-Free Living Experience
• Smith House – GNH Community and the LGBT Living Experience
• Carr Hall – Sustainability Living Experience
• Voigt Hall – Women’s Leadership Living Experience
• Wilson Hall – Social Justice Living Experience

The general room selection process for all other students will be held March 26-30. The Department of Housing and Residence Life office, located in the Living Learning Center, will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. those days to provide assistance to students. 

“The staff in Housing and Residence Life is here and is committed to helping students the best we can to find the space where they believe they will be the most successful,” Matulja said, noting that students will be emailed several tutorials to help guide them through the process. 

Matulja added that students who are not happy with the outcome of the room selection process can explore options for changing their rooms when the room change process kicks off on April 16. That online process continues through Aug. 1, and Matulja noted that rooms generally become available in May when Greek housing exemption requests are granted.

For more information about the room selection process, click here.