Spring 2021 Housing FAQs

Students must complete the Spring Housing application by the November 5 deadline

Yes! Students will not be considered for Spring 2021 campus housing unless they submit a new Spring housing application.

As noted in Dean Grinage's 10/27 email to the community, the rate for Spring housing has been reduced to reflect that students will start move in during the second week of the semester.

The rate for Spring Housing is $5052.

Yes. Residents will automatically be enrolled in the Standard Meal Plan, but may switch to the Platinum or Flex 75 Meal Plan (or choose a Kosher plan) when the Meal Plan Change Form opens on November 13.

The Bursar office will email students more information about meal plans when the Spring tuition bills are sent.

Meals provided to students in quarantine and/or isolation would be deducted from students’ meal plan balances (or charged to a student's account if they do not have any remaining meal swipes).

Currently enrolled Juniors & Seniors who were eligible for the 2020 Room Selection process will be prioritized for Spring housing if they submit the Spring Housing application by the November 5 deadline.

• After assigning eligible juniors and seniors, the College would then assign First Year students using a randomized selection (if there is more demand than available beds). 
• After assigning First Year students, the College would then assign eligible-Sophomores (who were eligible for 2020 Room Selection) using a randomized selection (if there is more demand than available beds). 
• The College would then assign the remaining applicants (transfer students, students returning from a leave of absence, students who lived off-campus last year, etc.) using a randomized selection (if there is more demand than available beds). 

The College will also hold additional beds for assignment based on individual circumstances for students who do not initially receive housing based on class year or random selection. Information about that request process will be shared at a later date with students not initially selected for Spring housing.

Yes. At the end of the Spring Housing application, students may join a Mate Request Group to request to be in the same suite or on the same floor as other student(s). Each student must individually complete an application and join the Mate Request Group by the November 5 application deadline.

The College will try to place together students who request so if possible; however, assignment together as a group is dependent upon available space and cannot be guaranteed in advance. 

Because the number & size of Groups that students may form cannot be known in advance, the College cannot predict which size groups would be more likely to be placed together and/or where they would be placed. Larger groups may be broken up into 2 or more suites, or smaller groups may be placed into larger suites with other students (based on available space).

Students can get a general sense of the suite layouts by looking at the floorplans on the webpages for 110th Street, 121st Street, 600, 616, 620, Elliott, Plimpton, and Sulz Tower. Note: all rooms will be assigned as singles (i.e. only 1 student in a double or triple).

Columbia students are not eligible to apply for Spring 2021 campus housing at Barnard.

The BC/CU Housing Exchange is cancelled for the 2020-21 academic year.

Columbia students should check out Columbia Housing for more information about housing options available to them.

If you previously requested and were approved for a housing accommodation by CARDS for the 2020-21 academic year, that request will carry through for the Spring semester and does not need to be resubmitted. Please make sure that you indicate on the Spring Housing Application that you already requested an accommodation.

If you have not previously requested an accommodation for this academic year, you will need to request a CARDS housing accommodation and provide medical documentation by no later than November 10.

Some Juniors & Seniors may be eligible to take their financial aid for room & board off campus if they plan to rent or sublet an apartment locally to campus.

For more information and the request link, please visit https://alert.barnard.edu/return-campus-spring-2021.

If you applied and/or were assigned to Spring housing and now wish to cancel, you will need to follow the steps below.

• Log into the Housing Portal
• Click SPRING HOUSING FORM
• Click the CANCELLATION FORM link
• Provide the reason you are cancelling and click the CONFIRM CANCELLATION button.

Students who cancel their application (or room assignment) by December 1 will not be charged.

Starting December 2, students would be charged a cancellation fee as outlined at http://barnard.edu/reslife/cancellations.

Continuing students who were eligible for the 2020 Room Selection process but will be enrolled & living at home or off-campus for the entire 2020-2021 academic year will be eligible to participate in the Room Selection process for 2021-2022. New 2020 First Year students will also be eligible.

Note: cancelling Spring 2021 housing will not result in an eligible student receiving a lower Lottery number for the Housing Lottery (Lottery Numbers are generated randomly by class year).

Other students (including Transfers, commuters, and students who take a leave of absence) may apply for 2021-2022 campus housing, but will not be eligible for the Room Selection process. Please note that while the College always hopes to provide housing to as many applicants as possible, housing cannot be guaranteed for students not eligible for the Room Selection process.

The College anticipates emailing room assignments to students in mid-December, after the College finalizes plans for the Spring semester.

The College will try to place together students who request so if possible; however, assignment together as a group is dependent upon available space and cannot be guaranteed in advance. Reminder: Mate Request Groups must be finalized on the Spring Housing Application before the November 5 application deadline.

Because the number & size of Groups that students may form cannot be known in advance, the College cannot predict which size groups would be more likely to be placed together and/or where they would be placed. Larger groups may be broken up into 2 or more suites, or smaller groups may be placed into larger suites with other students (based on available space).

Students can get a general sense of the suite layouts by looking at the floorplans on the webpages for 110th Street, 121st Street, 600, 616, 620, Elliott, Plimpton, and Sulz Tower. Note: all rooms will be assigned as singles (i.e. only 1 student in a double or triple).

Due to the need to assign all rooms as singles, it is unfortunately not possible to keep the assignments from last year’s 2020 Room Selection process. And because the students who apply for Spring 2021 housing (and are prioritized for assignment) will be different from the Fall, the assignments originally made for Fall 2020 will need to be remade.

Students will be able to provide ranked preferences for the residence halls on the Spring Housing Application.

Students will be able to select a Move-In Date & Time Slot on the Housing Portal when room assignments are emailed to students in mid-December. 

Available Move-In Time Slots will start on Saturday, January 16.  Due to the need for students to complete an entry COVID-19 test before moving into their room, students will only be able to move into campus housing during the available Move-In Time Slots.

The number of time slots available per day and per building will be limited (in order to facilitate social distancing), so students should not make travel arrangements until after they have selected their Move-In Time Slot.

To minimize potential exposure, guests will not be allowed to enter the residence halls.

This includes when students are moving into the residence halls. Friends and family can help you unload your belongings and/or bring them to the entrance to the building, but no one other than assigned residents will be permitted to enter the building.

Students who may need a disability accommodation as part of the move-in process should contact CARDS@barnard.edu to submit a request.

All students in residence (regardless of class year) will be required to move out of the residence halls within 24 hours of their last scheduled final exam and by no later than 10am on Saturday, April 24, 2021. 

A potential later check-out deadline for graduating seniors may be decided at a later date taking into consideration the finalized plans for this year’s Commencement.

No. Residents may not sign-in or host guests, including Barnard students living in other residence halls, Barnard students living off-campus, family members, and/or significant others.

Students are encouraged to socialize outdoors while practicing physical distancing or by using technological tools.

As stated above in the visitor question, students may not sign-in or host guests. In addition, students are encouraged to limit social gatherings in their room, and are expected to comply with College and public health guidance when gathering. This includes maintaining 6 feet of physical distance, and wearing a face covering.

Students are encouraged to socialize outdoors while practicing physical distancing or by using technological tools.

All residence hall lounges, music practice rooms, and computer labs will be closed. Access to shared spaces, including bathrooms, laundry facilities, elevators, hallways, and stairwells will be subject to maximum capacity guidelines, physical distancing requirements and any other restrictions that the College may impose or that may be required by local, state, or federal authorities.

Information will be shared with students when available after the start of the Spring semester.

The timeline for the 2021-2020 Room Selection process will be shared with students in February 2020. Registration will take place in early-to-mid March.

The following groups of students will be eligible to take part in the 2021 Room Selection process, as long as they remain enrolled full-time for the 2020-21 academic year (i.e. do not take a leave of absence):

• Continuing students who were eligible for the 2020 Room Selection process
• 2020 First Year students

Note: cancelling Spring 2021 housing will not result in an eligible student receiving a lower Lottery number for the Housing Lottery (Lottery Numbers are generated randomly by class year).

Other students (including transfers, commuters, and students who take or return from a leave of absence) may apply for 2021-2022 campus housing but will not be eligible for the 2021 Room Selection process (even if they lived in campus housing for Fall 2020 or Spring 2021 as an approved exception).

While the College always hopes to provide housing to as many applicants as possible, housing cannot be guaranteed for students who are not eligible for or do not take part in the Room Selection process.