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University Housing Policies
I. Residency Requirement
II. Guarantee of Space
III. Housing Assignments
A. New Student Room Assignments
B. Upperclassmen Room Assignments
C. Off-Campus Exemptions
IV. Consolidation Authority
V. Room Changes
University Housing Policies
I. Residency Requirement
Because studies have shown that students who live in university housing are more likely to become involved in campus activities and graduate in four years, Furman requires that all students live in university housing, except those approved by the Director of University Housing (The Helmsman, p. 31).
II. Guarantee of Space
Since all students are required to live on campus, they are guaranteed housing. However, the university still considers the right to live in university housing a privilege. Therefore, the Director of University Housing reserves the right to deny space in university housing to any student even though approved for admission or continuing to be enrolled at the university (The Helmsman, p. 31).
III. Housing Assignments
A. New Student Room Assignments. All housing assignments are made by the Assistant Director of Housing. Before an assignment can be made for new students, a $400 enrollment deposit must be submitted to the Financial Services office. All incoming students must submit an on-line roommate placement form prior to June 1. University Housing will provide incoming students with these instructions after their enrollment deposit is paid (The Helmsman, p. 31).
B. Upperclassman Room Assignments. Upperclassman room assignments are made in the spring through an on-line room assignment process. The ?housing lottery? is designed to assign students in a fair manner based on the choices they provide. However, students are NOT guaranteed these choices. In addition, third-year and fourth-year students are not guaranteed North Village. An estimated 10% of third-year students will NOT be able to live in North Village. University Housing will notify students a term in advance whether they will have the option to pay to reserve their space while studying abroad the next term (The Helmsman, p. 31).
C. Off-Campus Exemptions. Each spring term, students will be given the opportunity to apply to live off-campus for the following year based on one of the following criteria: living at home with a parent/guardian; living in a fraternity house; married; fifth-year student; medical exemption; financial exemption; or graduate student. Also, a designated number of fourth-year students will be allowed to live off campus and will be determined using a lottery process. All off-campus exemptions MUST be approved by the Director of University Housing (The Helmsman, p. 31).
IV. Consolidation Authority
The university reserves the right to require single occupants of double or triple rooms to change rooms so that the housing needs of others can be better met (The Helmsman, p. 30).
V. Room Changes
All room changes must be approved by the Assistant Director of University Housing. If a student changes rooms prior to such approval, a $75 fine will be assessed. Keys to previously occupied housing assignment must be returned by the date indicated on the room change authorization form (The Helmsman, p. 32).
University Housing Procedures
VI. Enrollment Deposit
To reserve a place in the university, all new students who plan to enroll at Furman must make a non-refundable enrollment deposit of $400. This payment is not covered by scholarship or financial aid. It will be held until the student graduates or leaves at the end of an academic year.
Entering freshmen must submit the deposit by January 15 if they are in the Early Decision Program or by May 1 if they are in the Regular Decision program. Transfer students must submit the deposit by May 1 or by the deadline in their acceptance letter, whichever is later. The enrollment deposit establishes eligibility for new students to receive registration materials.
The enrollment deposit is not refundable to students who decide not to enroll or who withdraw for any reason, except graduation, during the academic school year. The deposit will be refunded, less any fees owed the university, if the student has completed the academic year or has completed graduation requirements during the academic year.
This policy applies to new students who enter the university for the 2005-2006 academic year or later. Students who entered prior to this date will have their current deposit held for their entire academic career at Furman. Their deposit will be refunded, less any fees owed the university, when the student graduates or leaves the university at the end of the academic year.
VII. New Student Assignments
University Housing gives considerable time and thought to matching roommates. All new resident students are given the opportunity to complete the online roommate placement form during the spring months. Accepted students will receive the link to this online form via a letter from the University Housing office in May once the student has been accepted and paid their enrollment deposit.
The information provided can be useful beyond the student's first term at Furman. Therefore, even if the student is requesting a particular person as a roommate, the student should still complete the form and submit it to the University Housing office. All mutual roommate requests that are received by the deadlines are honored. Final decisions on other roommate matching are made by University Housing. The deadline for returning the form is June 1. Any Regular Decision applicant who receives their letter from Admissions after the June 1 deadline should complete and submit the online form immediately. Priority is given to residence hall requests in the order that these forms are received, so new students should not delay in submitting the roommate placement form.
Most residence hall rooms are designed for two students. Occasionally, when student requests for housing exceed available space, double rooms originally designed as triple rooms will be used to meet the need by assigning three students per room. The last students to submit their roommate placement forms will be the students assigned to these triple rooms. A limited number of single rooms are available for new students. Students who require special housing accomodations due to a diagnosed disability must follow the proper procedures outlined by Disability Services.
Each spring term, all students living in campus housing the following fall term (except new students) are expected to participate in an online room selection process (a.k.a. Housing Lottery). This complex process is designed to offer students a range of housing options while maintaining the integrity of the process through fair and consistent implementation. The Housing Lottery is a student-approved process that gives priority for selecting room assignments based on a student's start year in college. For example, a group consisting of four students who entered college in the fall of 2002 would have the most priority for North Village. A group consisting of a mixture of those who entered in the fall of 2002 and the fall of 2003 would be next on the priority list. To further determine a group's priority, a random number is computer generated when the group submits their request online. A student's official classification through the Academic Records office and the number of academic hours a student has earned has no bearing on a student's housing assignment. A student's eligibility or priority is determined by their start-year in college. The start-year for a transfer student is based on when the student started college, not when the student enrolled at Furman. Details regarding the Housing Lottery are made available to students and parents during the winter term.
A. North Village Squatter
Students living in North Village are given the opportunity to retain their current apartment for the upcoming year if the following conditions are met prior to the Housing Lottery:
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Names of four eligible students are submitted on the request form by the designated deadline.
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At least two residents currently live in the apartment for winter and spring terms.
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All four residents must be rising third- or fourth-year students.
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All four residents must participate in the Student Intentions process by March 15.
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No student listed on the request is studying abroad fall term unless he/she agrees to pay the full term's rate for the reserved space.
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The apartment being requested is NOT the Resident Assistant's apartment.
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None of the students on the request are currently second-year students participating in the Language House program.
IX. Living Off-Campus
Although Furman University has a four-year residency requirement, a number of students are allowed to live off-campus. These students must apply to live off-campus during a designated period of time based on one of the following criteria:
- Student will be living with parent(s)/guardian(s) and commuting to campus.
- Student will be a rising fourth-year student and will be living in a fraternity house. Each fraternity is allowed to choose a predetermined number of rising fourth-year students to live in their house.
- Student is married or will be married during the upcoming academic year.
- Student is a rising fifth-year student. Rising fifth-year students must apply to live off-campus unless they can 1) commit to living on-campus for all three terms, or 2) fill-in for a student who is on foreign study or a leave of absence for the fall term only.
- Student has a medical situation that requires off-campus accommodations.
- Student has a financial situation that requires off-campus accommodations.
- Student is a graduate student.
* If approved, students must reapply for this exemption to live off-campus again the following year. Students who want to apply to live off-campus after the designated period of time must appeal in writing to the Director of University Housing, Dr. Boyd Yarbrough. Please note that only extreme circumstances will even be considered. * Any student with a scholarship that covers their room cost is not eligible to live off campus.
Furman University also allows a predetermined number of rising fourth-year students to live off-campus each year. This number is determined using the following formula:
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Projected enrollment for Fall Term |
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Total # of beds available on campus |
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# of exemptions |
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# of rising fourth-year students permitted to live off-campus |
Rising fourth-year students have the opportunity to participate in the senior off-campus lottery during spring term (this includes rising fourth-year students going on fall term study abroad who want to live off-campus when they return). These students may enter the lottery as an individual, a pair, a group of three, or a group of four. Students may also enter in various gender pairings. No preference is given to the size of the group or to gender. Each group will receive a random computer-generated lottery number. The computer will order the groupings by lottery number. Rising fourth-year students selected to live off-campus will be notified and cannot participate in the room selection process to live on-campus. If students decide to live on-campus after being selected to live off-campus, they will be added to the waiting list and assigned during the summer. Students not selected to live off-campus must then participate in the Housing Lottery to get on-campus housing.
A. Post-Lottery. In support of the University's budgetary goals, University Housing must make every effort to see that campus housing is filled to capacity throughout the year. This goal cannot be achieved if everyone is assigned housing during the regular assignment process spring term. Otherwise, those who decide (between May and September) to withdraw from the university will leave empty spaces. It is estimated that between 20 and 30 men and 20 and 30 women will be placed on a waiting list and assigned campus housing once attrition and the consolidation of those left without roommates has occurred. In most cases, University Housing will make waiting list assignments in late August or early September. By waiting until most activity has occurred, Housing can try to keep waiting list students in roommate pairs and assign them in preferred areas.
B. Undesirable Assignment. University Housing also recognizes that students will not always get the assignment they desire and/or request during the assignment process. Therefore, students may contact the Assistant Director of University Housing and request to be placed on the waiting list for a specific type of housing (i.e. single residence hall room or North Village bedroom). Priority is given based on the lottery number for students who participated in the Housing Lottery and then in the order that a student's name is added to the waiting list. When a space becomes available, the next student on the list will be offered the assignment. If the student declines, then the next student on the list will be offered the assignment and so on. This waiting list process only applies during the summer for fall term assignments.
1. Triple Rooms. Occasionally, when student requests for housing exceed available space, double rooms originally designed as triple rooms will be used to meet the need by assigning three students per room. The last students to submit their roommate placement forms will be the students assigned to these triple rooms.
Over the summer, if a student withdraws from Furman we will untriple a room. That room will be selected based on the roommate information so that the roommate pairings in the vacated room will still match as closely as possible. The student in the triple room who will be reassigned will be based on the roommate placement form submission order.
During the course of the year, especially the transition from one term to the next, students in triple rooms will be offered the opportunity to untriple their room as vacancies occur in other rooms. Students may decline that offer if all three roommates agree to stay together.
2. North Village. Due to the difference between class enrollment size and the breakdown in housing capacity, not all third-year students and fourth-year students are able to live in North Village. The students who do not obtain an assignment in North Village during the Housing Lottery MUST proceed through the remainder of the Housing Lottery to get an assignment in Bell Tower Housing or the residence halls. These students will also be placed on the North Village waiting list as stipulated in Section X.B.
A. Fall Term. Students participating in fall study abroad programs and living on campus winter term are given the opportunity to participate in the Housing Lottery and guarantee a specific space for winter term. However, these students are required to pay 100% of the housing cost for the fall term assignment. Students who plan to pay to reserve their fall term assignment MUST inform University Housing of their intentions by completing the Reserve Fall Space Form by the deadline prior to the Housing Lottery. Students will not be able to pursue this option after this deadline. After the form is submitted, to guarantee the specific space for winter and spring terms the student should participate in the Housing Lottery for fall term assignments. Students are guaranteed a specific space upon receiving an assignment for fall term from the Housing Lottery.
Another possible way to guarantee a space for winter and spring terms is for the student to find another student who will be enrolled in class fall term willing to live in and pay for the space for fall term only (If the space is at North Village, the student must be a rising third-year or fourth-year student). That student would move into another space on campus beginning winter term or may be participating in a winter study abroad program.
If neither of the above is possible, students can be assured that University Housing will do everything possible to assign them to a desirable space upon their return according to Section XIII.A. Students returning from study abroad or a leave of absence are NOT guaranteed a space in North Village.
B. Winter Term. Students participating in winter study abroad programs will ideally have three options regarding their assignment. University Housing's goal is to allow as many students as possible to reserve their space while providing housing to students returning from fall term study abroad programs. If more students want to reserve their space than can be allowed based on the winter term need, there will be a lottery to determine who can reserve their space. Therefore, it is possible that not all students who want to pay the full housing cost to reserve their winter term space will be permitted to do so. Students will be notified about this option in October.
Another possible way to reserve an assignment for winter term is for the student to find another student who will be enrolled in class winter term willing to live in and pay for the space for winter term only (If the space is at North Village, the student must be a third-year or fourth-year student). That student would move into another space on campus beginning spring term or may be participating in a spring study abroad program.
If neither of the above is possible, students can be assured that University Housing will do everything possible to assign them to a desirable space upon their return according to Section XIII.A. Students returning from study abroad or a leave of absence are NOT guaranteed a space in North Village.
C. Filling-In. A student may decide to fill-in for another student during fall or winter terms while that student is studying abroad or taking a leave of absence. This is NOT the same as subletting in an off-campus apartment. Students may not sublet their space. The two students making this arrangement MUST notify University Housing. The student who will not be living on campus for a term will actually have their assignment cancelled and must completely check out. The student filling-in will be properly assigned to the space for that same term. Once the agreement has been made and the assignments are official, changes can only be made if both parties are in agreement. The only exception to this is if the student originally assigned to the space is no longer studying abroad or taking a leave of absence. In this exception scenario, University Housing will work with the student who was filling-in to obtain another assignment according to Section XIII.A.
XII. Roommate Conflicts
Although strategic efforts are made during the pairing process, University Housing acknowledges that not all roommate pairings will be successful. The vast majority of the time, a lack of communication is at the route of the problem in a roommate conflict. We encourage our students to be assertive and communicate with their roommate when an issue or conflict arises.
If this communication between roommates does not solve the problem, the student(s) need to notify their Resident Assistant (RA). RAs are trained to help mediate conflicts between roommates. If the RA is unable to assist the student(s), the RA and/or student(s) needs to contact the Area Coordinator for their respective living area. Area Coordinators are professional Housing staff members with special expertise in mediating roommate conflicts. University Housing will not move a student to another room unless this is the only reasonable outcome as determined by an Area Coordinator. At a minimum, roommates are expected to communicate their concerns in a controlled, mediated environment facilitated by the Area Coordinator.
XIII. Requesting a Room Change, New Assignment or Canceling Housing Students are given the opportunity to request room changes at periodic intervals throughout the academic year - three weeks after fall term begins, in November for winter term, in February for spring term. Fall term assignments are made for returning students during April/May (see Section VIII) and for new students in July (see Section VII). Recognizing that not all roommate pairings are successful, University Housing provides a five-day window of time three weeks into the fall term for students to change rooms. A student who wants to change rooms must find another student willing to switch rooms and all roommates involved must be in agreement. These students must come to University Housing during that five-day window of time and sign a form together to get approval for the room change.
Students studying abroad, on a leave of absence, filling-in for another student, or wanting a different type of housing (i.e. moving out of a triple room) will be given the opportunity to submit an on-line request in November for winter term and in February for spring term. University Housing's goal is to accommodate as many of these requests as possible in a fair and consistent manner according to the priority process below.
A. Priority Process:
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The first step involves the Assistant Director of University Housing assigning students who have made their own arrangements with the agreement of all involved and the approval of University Housing. For instance, a student is transferring from Furman after fall term and is currently living in North Village. If there is a third-year student in the residence halls who the remaining three residents would like to live with them for winter and spring terms, the three NV residents and the third-year student in the residence hall each need to e-mail the Assistant Director to make that request. The assignment change will be made automatically pending all students involved confirm the request and the student transferring confirms their departure from Furman.
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The next step is to allow residents with a vacant space in their room/ apartment to choose a student they know from a list of students who still need an assignment. If all students involved confirm, then the assignment will be made.
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The third step involves the Assistant Director accommodating requests based on a students' start year in college (i.e. a fourth-year student has priority over a third-year student and so on). These requests will be further prioritized based on the best roommate match as determined by University Housing.
B. Cancel Housing.
- Transfer or Withdrawal - Once a student has decided to transfer or withdraw from Furman, the student must notify University Housing so their assignment can be cancelled. The student must also contact Dr. Owen McFadden at (864) 294-2102 to make the appropriate arrangements for withdrawing from Furman. See Section VI regarding a refund of the enrollment deposit.
- Graduating, Studying Abroad, or Taking a Leave - Once a student has decided to study abroad (and not pay to reserve their space), take a leave of absence (and not pay to reserve their space) or has been informed that they are graduating from Furman, the student must notify University Housing so their assignment can be cancelled. See Section VI regarding a refund of the enrollment deposit.
Students who have a vacant space(s) in their room or apartment may be assigned a roommate(s) at any time if University Housing deems it necessary. University Housing will strive to make these assignments as described in Section XIII. Under certain circumstances, students may be required to move into another room so that the needs of students desiring to live together may be accommodated (see Section IV).
Students with vacant spaces in their room or apartment may request a specific roommate during designated periods throughout the year to prevent having to change rooms or being assigned a roommate they do not know.
University Housing will make every effort to notify students in advance if any changes will be taking place concerning their rooming situation. Please be aware, however, that sometimes it will be necessary for University Housing to make last-minute changes that may not allow much advance notice.
Three buildings in North Village are set aside for summer housing for any student desiring to live on-campus during the summer months. Students do not have to be enrolled in summer classes to live on-campus. Many students work in Greenville, do research for a professor, or assist with summer camps. Non-Furman students can even apply to live in campus housing. Although University Housing anticipates being able to accommodate all students who request summer housing, Housing reserves the right (based on space limitations) to deny summer housing to students who are not officially involved in some way with the University.
University Housing must assign students to both private bedroom apartments and shared bedroom apartments. Therefore, priority will be given to student requests based on their start-year in college. For example, a third-year student will be given priority over a second-year student. Applications will be made available online in May. All summer residents must pay a $100 damage deposit to Student Business Center before an assignment is made. (reviewed 10/07) |
