Pre-Lottery Housing Accommodations

Eligibility

In order to apply for and receive a Pre-Lottery placement, students must be eligible to register for the Room Selection process.

Students who are not eligible for the Room Selection process are welcome to submit a housing application to be on the non-Guaranteed Wait List. Housing accommodation requests would be considered over the summer.

Request a Pre-Lottery Placement

CARDS Housing Accommodation Request Form -- please make sure that you submit the form marked as the "Pre-Lottery" request.

The priority deadline to submit the request and supporting medical documentation is:

• Friday, January 27, 2025

Types of accommodations may include accessible spaces for mobility needs, rooms with a strobe fire alarm, assignment to a building with air-conditioning, assignment to a single room, service or support animals, etc.

Note: Air conditioning is available in Sulz Tower, Elliott, Plimpton, CG, 600, 616, and 121st Street. AC is primarily a summer housing feature and is usually turned off in mid-September (in order for the buildings to provide heat for the winter) and resumes in mid-to-late May.

Students who may have received accommodations in the past must re-apply each year to be considered. Previous accommodations are not automatically extended without submitting an updated request for the upcoming academic year.

Students are asked to be provide at least 5 ranked residence hall preferences on the Accommodation Request form. Please note that Point Values (class year standing) are taken into consideration when making assignments.

Request to have a friend live with you ("CARDS Pull-In")

Students who apply for accommodations may request one (1) fellow student as a "CARDS Pull-In" to be assigned to live with or near them. Pull-Ins must be eligible for the Room Selection process.

Pull-Ins must be requested via the CARDS Accommodation Request Form before the priority deadline. Pull-ins cannot be requested or changed after the deadline.

Please note the Pull-In's Point Value (class standing) is taken into consideration when making assignments.

NOTE: Female CC/SEAS students who are eligible for the Columbia Room Selection process may be requested as a Pull-In, but can only be assigned as a pull-in to suite-style housing (i.e. not Elliott, Hewitt, or Sulz Tower).

Request to be placed with other students who have accommodations ("CARDS Group")

Students who apply for accommodations may request to be placed as a group with other students who are also requesting accommodations (including their pull-ins). Note: requests must be mutual, i.e. on each student's Accommodation Request form, in order to be considered and are not guaranteed.

For example, 3 students applying for accommodations (who are each requesting a pull-in) may mutually list each other to ask to be placed as a 6-person group. However, if the students have different needs or request different buildings, they may not be placed together.

Groups must be requested via the CARDS Accommodation Request form before the priority deadline. Groups cannot be requested or changed after the deadline. The individual Point Values (class year standing) of all of the students in the group (including pull-ins) will be taken into consideration when making pre-Lottery placements.

What if I missed the request deadline?

Eligible students who missed the deadline to request a pre-Lottery housing accommodation should take part in the Housing Lottery.

Students who are not able to pick a room in the Lottery that meets their needs should sign up for the Guaranteed List to be assigned to a room over the summer (instead of picking a room that does not meet their needs). They should then submit a Housing Accommodation Request to CARDS as soon as possible (by no later than June 1).

Approved CARDS housing accommodations will be taken into account when assignment students on the Guaranteed List. Accommodations are dependent upon availability and we cannot guarantee assignment in advance to specific buildings or room types will become available over the summer due to cancellations from other students.

How are Pre-Lottery Placements made?

The Disability Housing Committee (made up of representatives from CARDS, Primary Care Health Services, Furman Counseling, and Residential Life & Housing) will meet to review the requests for housing accommodations.

Students with an approved accommodation will be provided a specific building & room assignment. Students who requested a Pull-In will also be provided a room assignment for that student. Please note that CARDS staff will only communicate with the student applying for a housing accommodation and will not be able to provide information to any Pull-Ins regarding room assignments (because staff cannot discuss a student's accommodations with others).

When making placements for students with approved accommodations, the College will ensure that a student's disability and/or medical needs are met; however, preferences for specific residence halls/etc. cannot be guaranteed. Students are encouraged to review the information about each residence hall when submitting their requests.

Please note that Point Value (class year) is taken into consideration when making assignments for housing accommodations. To see where students with various Point Values were able to pick in the Lottery in previous years, please check out the Google Sheets link at barnard.edu/reslife/room-selection/available.

For example, a rising-Sophomore who requests a single room or a building that is typically filled with rising-Seniors through the Lottery may not be offered an assignment that matches their ranked building if the preference is not supported by their medical documentation (ex. a rising-Sophomore who requests to be in a Sulz Tower single). This is why it is important for students to provide ranked preferences for at least 5 or more residence halls on their request form.

If a student request a Pull-in and receives an approved accommodation for a Single room, the Pull-In may be offered space in a double (because the accommodation is for the student submitting the request, not their Pull-In). This is especially the case for students who request CARDS groups and/or Pull-Ins with smaller Point Values.

Accepting a Pre-Lottery Placement

The Res Life office will email Pre-Lottery room assignments to students in late February. Approved students must submit the Placement Form (provided via email along with the room assignment) to accept or decline the room assignment before the deadline below:

• 1pm ET Thursday, Feburary 27, 2026

If a student requested a Pull-In, the Pull-In must additionally sign the form as well (to accept or decline).

Declining a Pre-Lottery Placement

Students who wish to decline their provided housing assignment (in order to take part in the Lottery or live off-campus) will forfeit their accommodation placement. The offered room assignment will be released into the pool of available rooms for the Lottery and that room may not be available to select in the Lottery if they're not able to pick a different room matching their approved accommodations.

Students who take part in the Lottery but are not able to pick a room that meets their needs should sign up for the Guaranteed List. Non-rising-Seniors who pick a space during the Lottery will not be able to apply for room changes over the summer, except in cases for a newly diagnosed disability or medical condition.

The College will do its best to accommodate a student's disability or medical needs after the Lottery if new needs arise or if they are on the Guaranteed List. However, if a student declines a Pre-Lottery assignment, the College cannot guarantee that a comparable space will open up over the summer or during the academic year that matches their approved accommodation.