Room Draw

All first-year students are required to live on-campus. Students can request to live off-campus in subsequent years, but approval is not guaranteed. Students with extenuating circumstances, are encouraged to contact Residential Life.

Fall 2024 housing applications for new students are due Sunday, June 11th by 11:59 p.m. PDT. Students who do not complete the housing application are not guaranteed housing. 

Students can indicate their preferred quads on their housing application. The College tries to place students in their first or second choice of quad, based on availability and prioritizing roommate matching. For example, if a student is an excellent match with someone who listed a different quad as a first preference, but both have the same second preference, they will likely be placed in the second.

At least 20% of each residence hall is reserved for new students. New students are not permitted to live in the CMC Apartments or in the Kendry Apartments.

Students can choose where they live after their first year.

Incoming students should anticipate living in a double or triple occupancy room with roommate(s). The housing application asks questions about students’ housing preferences and lifestyle. Efforts are made to match each student with roommate(s) who have similar lifestyle choices. Students are matched using as many like-answers as possible. Roommate requests are not permitted for incoming students.

At the beginning of the semester, students and their roommate(s) complete a roommate agreement to establish reasonable guidelines for living in their shared space. This generally helps to avoid issues, but should conflicts arise, Resident Assistants will facilitate a roommate mediation to arrive at shared understanding. In exceptional circumstances, and depending on space availability, a roommate change or housing relocation can be authorized by Residential Life. No room changes are permitted in the first six weeks of the semester.

All returning students must complete a housing application online via the StarRez portal. Students will indicate if they are participating in a Global Education program, requesting to live off-campus in non-CMC affiliated housing, or participating in any part of the Room Draw process. Housing application deadlines are communicated to students via email and on the StarRez portal.

Depending on class year and where they are currently living (detailed below), some students will be eligible to retain their current room for the following academic year. To do so, all roommates in the room must complete the Housing Application, select the room retention option, and meet with the Assistant Director for Residential Life for final approval.

• Singles: Single rooms cannot be retained.
• Doubles: Current first year students living in doubles can retain their room with their current roommate for the next academic year. North Quad pods cannot be retained.
• Triples: Any students living in a triple, regardless of class year, may retain their triple for the following academic year. The room must be filled to capacity. For example, if there are two people currently residing in a triple room, they may retain only if they pull in a willing third person.
• Kendry: Kendry rooms cannot be retained.

All students who were not approved to live off-campus or who did not select during Sub-free Room Draw must participate in the main Room Draw process. Room Draw takes place online via the StarRez housing portal. Falsifying documents, harassing, threatening, or coercing another student into either leaving their chosen room or altering their room selection will result in disciplinary action, loss of right to a room, and/or loss of the privilege to participate in the Room Draw process. In such a case, if the student is still permitted to live on campus, the student's housing will be assigned by the Dean of Students Office.

Student cohorts are grouped together based on anticipated graduation date, which is determined by the Registrar’s Office. Each student within a cohort will be given a random, computer-generated selection time. At their assigned time, the student will be able to see all rooms that are available and will have two minutes to select a space.

Room availability is updated in real time. As students select spaces, rooms/apartments will be removed from the queue. Students are encouraged to have a few options written down (or highlighted as favorites in the system), so if they need to modify their group or housing choice based on availability, they can do so quickly.

Students who choose to be roommates must form a 2, 3, or 4-person “group” via the StarRez housing portal. To form a group, once room draw selection times are assigned, students should click on the Room Draw process link in the portal and enter their roommate(s)’ StarRez codes to send them an invitation to group together. The system will automatically assign the group the earliest selection time from amongst their group members. Students should designate the person with the best time to be the group “leader” to select the group’s room, half-suite, or apartment at their assigned time.

StarRez can suggest roommate matches based on students’ housing profiles. Students are encouraged to utilize this feature ahead of Room Draw to identify a roommate. An individual student will not be permitted to draw into a room with a capacity of two or more without a roommate. If a single occupancy room is not available at their room draw selection time, then any students who do not have an arranged roommate will be able to select into a room on the last day of Room Draw, after all groups have selected.

Seniors (those with FA25 and SP26 graduation dates) are given priority to live in the CMC Apartments in AY25-26. Once all seniors have selected, if there are any remaining apartments, they will be available for mixed class year groups.

There are approximately 30 quad apartments, which house four people in single bedrooms with two shared bathrooms, a shared kitchen, and a shared living room. Groups must be able to fill the apartment they select.

In North Quad, groups of four students may draw into half-suites of either both north-facing rooms or both south-facing rooms. In the pod suites, students may draw into either both east-facing rooms or into both west-facing rooms.

To exercise this housing option, the leader for the group of four students (generally the person with the best draw time) will need to select the half-suite at their designated time. If there are no half-suites available when their selection time comes, the group will need to split up and follow the instructions for roommates (see above). This may mean of the pairs drawing at a later time based on the two people’s earliest assigned selection time. If any member of the four-person group withdraws from their selected room after Room Draw, the remaining roommates may be reassigned to a new location at the discretion of Residential Life staff. Alternatively, someone may be placed into the space during the summer assignment process. Students may not save a space for someone expected to return at a later date.

Students currently on leave from CMC may participate in Room Draw if they have been officially readmitted through the Office of the Registrar, paid the $500 tuition deposit, and completed the online housing application by the published deadline. If a student is readmitted after the deadline, they will be housed on a space-available basis during the summer housing assignment process.

Since Room Draw is be hosted online via StarRez, a proxy is rarely needed; however, in extenuating circumstances, students may request that the Residential Life staff act as a proxy during their room draw selection time.

Students choose a room or a roommate(s) for the entire academic year. Requests to switch rooms or roommates after Room Draw will only be honored under extenuating circumstances.