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Residential Life & Housing > Housing Options

Off-Campus Housing

Barnard students are not required to live in campus housing (with the exception of visitors from Spelman and students in the VISP program). Students may choose to commute from home or find an apartment off-campus.

Students considering moving off-campus should check out the information below for how it could impact their financial aid and/or guarantee of campus housing for the future.

Note: Housing options like The Bayit and International House are not considered part of campus housing nor part of the Barnard/Columbia Housing Exchange. Student who live in these locations are considered to be living off-campus.

The NYPD has noted a recent increase in fraud reports for rental listing scams. For more information, check out the links below:
-- https://streeteasy.com/blog/nyc-rental-scams
-- https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0079-rental-listing-scams 

Columbia's Off-Campus Housing Assistance (OCHA) office provides resources to aid Barnard & Columbia students in their search for rental housing in the metropolitan area. OCHA manages a database known as the Housing Registry which includes available rooms and apartments in non-Columbia-owned buildings and sublets of units in Columbia-managed housing. Prospective roommates can also post and search profiles on this site. In addition, OCHA offers housing search counseling and is supported in these efforts by their cooperative relationships with two New York City real estate/relocation agencies. OCHA is located at 401 West 119th Street (between Amsterdam Avenue and Morningside Drive) and can be called at 212-854-2773. More info is available at https://residential.columbia.edu/ocha.

Note: Barnard students are not able to apply for Columbia campus housing through Columbia Undergraduate Housing Services.

Other options for off-campus housing may include:*

* Barnard College assumes no responsibility or liability in connection with any rental agreement or services provided by the listed resources. The listing of any resource does not constitute an endorsement of the service or guarantee of availability.

For information about the Commuter Lounge, renting a locker in Barnard Hall, etc. please visit https://barnard.edu/studentlife/commuterresources.

Commuter students for 2020-2021 will not be required to enroll in a meal plan. For more information about available meal plans and prices, please visit the Bursar's website.  

For 2020-2021, as a one-time exception, students who are not invited to live on campus for a particular semester and are financial aid recipients can apply to take their financial aid off campus for the Fall and Spring semesters if they plan to rent an apartment. More information will be made available soon on how to apply to use financial aid for off-campus housing.

For the summer semester, students who are financial aid recipients may be able to receive financial assistance for summer housing. 

Continuing students who were eligible for the 2020 Room Selection process but will be enrolled and 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.

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 is always hopeful to provide housing to as many applicants as possible, housing cannot be guaranteed for students not eligible for the Room Selection process.