The Suite Life on Campus: Housing Selection for 2025-2026

The housing selection process for the 2025-2026 academic year is set to begin in April for all students. Incoming freshmen and rising sophomores will be required to live in on-campus housing, while rising juniors and seniors have the option to live off-campus.

Incoming freshmen will have the opportunity to live in one of seven dorms, including the new Catherine of Siena Hall and Michael McGivney Hall, which opened for the fall 2024 semester. Rising sophomores will have nine housing options, including upper quad dorms such as Elie Wiesel Hall and Pier Giorgio Frassati Hall.

“Next semester, I want to live in one of the upper quad dorms, but I know those will be the hardest to get,” said freshman Benjamin Bajzath. “Hopefully I get a good lottery number.”

Rising juniors and seniors who opt for Sacred Heart housing can live at the Ridge, Oakwood Gardens, or Pioneer Gardens, while others may opt to rent a house off campus.

“The housing options for the 2025-2026 academic year are the same as this current academic year,” said Emily Grobmyer, Associate Director of Residential Life. “Pioneer Gardens will be a small change in occupancy for next year – the three-bedroom apartments will be three single bedrooms.”

Pioneer Gardens previously provided two single bedrooms along with a double bedroom.

There will be mandatory information sessions for students planning to live in SHU housing, hosted on multiple days between Monday, Feb. 2 and Thursday, Feb. 27, that will last approximately one hour, according to an email sent out by Residential Life on Jan. 24.

The information sessions will provide “an overview of the housing selection process, review the residence halls for each class year and talk about some tips and tricks on how to be successful in the housing selection process,” said Grobmyer.

The selection process will be conducted using a lottery process that all students in SHU housing will be entered into, where each is assigned a random lottery number. The lower the number received, the earlier the housing selection. Groups will be represented by the student who has the lowest lottery number.

It is required that students looking to request roommates have the same number of people in their group that the specific dorm provides. If they aren’t able to do so, they will meet with Grobmyer for final selection to assign the appropriate housing. Those not going in with a group can use the housing portal to match with potential roommates.

Students must all pay a $500 housing deposit by the March 7 deadline to take part in this process.

“I think the biggest thing is to be flexible and to be prepared,” said Grobmyer. “This means talking in advance with your roommate group about your different options and how you will adjust as residence halls become unavailable during the selection process.”

Students seeking accommodations should contact the Office of Student Accessibility, where they can go through the Disability Housing Accommodations process. The student’s request will be reviewed, but accommodations are not guaranteed. The deadline to apply for accommodations is Feb. 21.

Information regarding how to complete housing registration along with roommate matching will be sent out in mid-March, given that the housing deposit was paid on time. Sophomore housing selection will take place in early April over the span of a week, while juniors and seniors will have their housing selection in mid-April over the course of a day.

“While I know students have preferred residence halls, ultimately, it’s about who you live with, not where you live,” said Grobmyer.

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