Housing Accommodations

The Center for Accessibility Resources & Disability Services works closely with Residential Life & Housing to respond to the individual needs of Barnard students with disabilities.

Housing options for Barnard students include rooms in traditional corridor-style and apartment suite-style residence halls in the neighborhood surrounding campus. All residential Barnard students are expected to follow College policies as well as College housing policies and procedures developed by Residential Life & Housing.

• All incoming first year students who wish to live on campus (including those with diagnosed disabilities) live in the First Year Focus area (consisting of mostly multiple occupancy rooms in traditional corridor-style residence halls with a mandatory meal plan in mostly non-air conditioned buildings).
• Transfer and visiting students are housed based on availability, and are generally placed in multiple occupancy rooms.
• Roommate assignments are based on matching questions on the housing application and specific roommates may be requested.
• Continuing students may include housing preferences as part of their disability housing accommodation request; however, many factors including requested accommodations and class year are taken into consideration when reviewing those requests. Sophomores generally live in multiple occupancy rooms.

CARDS accepts housing accommodation requests on a rolling basis throughout the academic year. However, there are a few priority deadlines at critical points in the academic year. The process also will look different depending on the timing of the request during the calendar year. The below information is intended to clarify these different processes:

Process 1:  Pre-Lottery Process (January-March)

This is the earliest priority process, as students have not yet gone through housing selection for the next academic year. Pre-Lottery Housing Accommodation Applications are due January 31 and require an annual request along with updated annual documentation. We encourage all returning students to participate in this process as we are best able to accommodate specific needs through this process (as all students have not yet been assigned housing for the upcoming year). CARDS will review all housing accommodation applications with the Housing Accommodation Committee and relay all approved accommodations to Residence Life. Pre-Lottery placement offers are made on or before March 1 as the Housing Lottery will take place in April.

Process 2:  Guaranteed List Process (March-August)

Students who have a guarantee of housing from the College but who either did not participate in the Pre-Lottery Accommodation process or who did not select a room in the Housing Lottery are invited to submit a housing accommodation request through the guaranteed list process. The priority deadline for this process is June 1. CARDS will review all housing accommodation applications with the Housing Accommodation Committee and relay all approved accommodations to Residence Life. Please note that housing accommodations, although they may be approved by CARDS based upon supporting documentation, are only provided based upon available space in on campus housing. There is a separate application available below for this process. Placement offers will typically be sent by Res Life in August.

Process 3:  First-Year Process (May-August)

First-Year students who are incoming for the Fall term have a separate application, which is typically first available in May. First-Year students will also be required to submit a housing accommodation application and supporting documentation. The priority deadline for this process is June 3. CARDS will review all housing accommodation applications with the Housing Accommodation Committee and relay all approved accommodations to Residence Life. Residence Life will take approved accommodations into account when making first-year housing placements within first-year focus housing. Room assignments are typically sent by Res Life in August.

Process 4:  Non-Guaranteed List Process (May-August)

Students who do not have a guarantee of housing from the College (transfer & visiting students, commuter students, students returning from leave) are invited to submit a housing accommodation request through the non-guaranteed list process. The priority deadline for this process is June 1. CARDS will review all housing accommodation applications with the Housing Accommodation Committee and relay all approved accommodations to Residence Life. Please note that housing accommodations, although they may be approved by CARDS based upon supporting documentation, are only provided based upon available space in on campus housing. An approved accommodation is not a guarantee of housing, although in some circumstances we may prioritize students with approved accommodations within the non-guaranteed waitlist. There is a separate application available below for this process. Any placement offers will typically be sent by Res Life in August.

Process 5:  Room Change Request Process (August-May)

Once all rooms have been assigned for the academic year, students are invited to submit a housing accommodation request via the form provided below. CARDS will review all housing accommodation applications with the Housing Accommodation Committee and relay all approved accommodations to Residence Life. Please note that despite an accommodation being approved by CARDS, new room assignments can only be provided based upon space opening up in on campus housing (which may happen throughout the year as students decide to take a leave of absence, study abroad, etc.). Should a space open up at any point that could meet a specific accommodation need, CARDS and Res Life will be in touch with the student. 

All students applying for disability housing accommodations must register with the Center for Accessibility Resources & Disability Services by having an intake meeting and supplying CARDS with supporting documentation of their need for a housing accommodation from a current doctor or treatment provider prior to their respective deadline. 

Students must submit disability documentation that follows the CARDS Disability Documentation Guidelines (DDG) requirements. Please remember that documentation must meet the guidelines to be accepted.

• Documentation must be recent within the past 4 months for housing applications
• Updated and/or additional documentation may be required on a case by case basis
• It is important that the documentation establish a direct connection between the disability and the requested housing accommodation(s).
• Students with Service Animals or requesting permission to have a Support Animal within their designated housing assignment should refer to Service Animal Policy or Support Animal Policy. 

All students seeking disability housing accommodations for their room assignment for the 2019-2020 school year must also annually fill out the disability housing request form, supply supporting documentation from their doctor or treating clinician to cards@barnard.edu or via fax at 212-280-8768, and follow all requirements as outlined on our website by the posted deadlines.

The Disability Housing Committee evaluates housing applications and the necessity of the requested accommodations(s). The Committee includes staff from the Center for Accessibility Resources & Disability Services, Counseling Services, Residential Life & Housing and Primary Care Health Services.

Request Forms & Priority Deadlines:

Requests for accommodations should be submitted in addition to (not in place of) Housing Applications and/or Res Life requests for room changes.

2019-2020 Disability Housing Accommodation Request Form

• Guaranteed List -- June 1, 2019 (students who took part in Room Selection and either weren't able to pick a room or need a change of room assignment for disability-related reasons)
• New First Year Students-- June 3, 2019
• New Enrolling Transfer & Visiting Students
  • Fall 2019 -- June 7, 2019
  • VISP for Spring 2020 -- December 1, 2019
  • Spring 2020 -- December 18, 2019
• Students returning from Fall Study Abroad -- November 1, 2019
• Students returning from a Leave of Absence
  • Fall 2019 -- June 1, 2019
  • Spring 2020 -- November 1, 2019
• Non-Guaranteed Wait List (ex. commuters asking to move on campus)
  • Fall 2019 -- June 1, 2019
  • Spring 2020 -- November 1, 2019
• Room Change Requests
  • Senior Summer Room Change Requests -- tba
  • Fall Room Change Requests -- tba
  • Mid-Year Room Change Requests -- tba
  • Spring Room Change Requests -- tba

1. CARDS staff to review the request and schedule Disability Housing Accommodation Committee Meetings (2 weeks).

2. Disability Housing Accommodation Committee Meetings (2-3 weeks to review all requests).

3. CARDS staff/Res Life staff meet to finalize placements (1-2 weeks).

4. Placement decisions to be sent to students by Friday, 3/1/19.

5. Students who are granted a Pre-Lottery assignment will have until Wednesday, March 3, 2019 to submit a form to accept or decline the placement (in order to participate in the Housing Lottery instead).

6. Room Selection Registration takes place (1pm Wed, 3/6/19 through 1pm Wed, 3/13/19). ALL STUDENT SEEKING CAMPUS HOUSING FOR ACADEMIC YEAR 2019-2020 MUST REGISTER FOR ROOM SELECTION, including students participating in the Housing Lottery and students who accepted an CARDS Pre-Lottery assignment or are planning on applying at a later date for a Disability Housing Accommodation through CARDS.

7. Housing Lottery for students who did not accept an CARDS placement or who did not apply for an accommodation prior to the Pre-Lottery deadline (specific dates pending -usually follows spring break).

Please note that we will review your building preferences when determining placement upon eligibility for housing accommodations, however, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to place you in your preferred building as placements are determined based on a variety of factors including types of requested accommodations, which may not be available in all buildings.

Forms submitted without proper documentation will not be eligible for housing accommodations.

When submitting Pre-Lottery Accommodation Requests, students who are Room-Selection eligible may request 1 pull-in (either roommate or suitemate). Students requesting accommodation may also mutually request to be grouped together for their assignment. This means that if you are going through CARDS housing and want to have a non-CARDS student as your pull-in you may also request to live in the same group as a CARDS student who is going through CARDS housing as well. You may not select more than 1 pull-in unless you are forming a group with another CARDS student going through CARDS housing.

Students who are opting to group themselves should discuss building preferences and their accommodation needs ahead of time as we will review any buildings selected by either CARDS student going through CARDS housing as applicable for the group. We may not be able to accommodate both CARDS students' needs within the same building and in that case we would not be able to group you together. CARDS students who are not eligible for housing accommodations may not be selected as a suitemate unless that student is the only pull-in.

The selected pull-in or CARDS grouping request must be requested when submitting the form; permission for a specific roommate or suitemate cannot be provided after accommodations have been granted and/or room assignments made.

All students are expected to evacuate immediately upon the sounding of the building fire alarm. Students with disabilities who need assistance evacuating from their residence hall are asked to self-identify to CARDS by filling out our Disability Evacuation Assistance Registration Form.

If you do not have a physical, visual, or hearing disability, but also still have a need for assistance in an emergency situation (i.e. unable to hear fire alarm as a heavy sleeper), please contact CARDS to discuss. Students with temporary disabilities are also strongly encouraged to fill out the Disability Evacuation Assistance Registration Form if there is any anticipation of difficulty with exiting the residence hall in the event of an emergency.

All students unable to self-evacuate will be required to meet with Barnard Public Safety for an individual training and drill. In an emergency situation, students unable to evacuate must call Barnard Public Safety at (212) 854-3362 at the sounding of a fire alarm and provide their name and location. In the event of an actual life-safety emergency which necessitates total evacuation, trained New York City Fire Department (NYFD) personnel will be dispatched and take responsibility.