Residence Life
Housing Lottery How-To Guide 2012-2013
The housing lottery is for returning students. If you are a first-year student, please visit our first-year students housing webpage.
The deadline to register for the Lottery is March 28
Register Through IRIS Starting March 1! |
Below you will find the 2012-2013 Housing Lottery Guide online. Download a PDF of the 2011-2012 Housing Lottery Guide here.
How are rooms on campus assigned? (for returning students)
The lotteries - detailed description
Cohort numbers How do I become eligible for the lottery? How does the lottery work for seniors? What happens at the lottery? If I am not on campus for the lottery, can I still get a room? How does the lottery work if I want to have a roommate? What can I do ahead of time to make my selection easier? What if I don't get a room on campus? How do I increase my chances of getting a room on campus?
Application-only Housing - Language Houses & Theme Communities
Reed College Apartment Housing
Year-Round Housing Summer housing
The Lottery System (in a snapshot)!
The Housing Lottery is the exact same process as last year, which allows you to participating in the lottery anywhere with an Internet connection. This means you may partake in the lottery by logging into IRIS from home, the library, off-campus, and abroad - almost anywhere!
Each student will be given a cohort assignment. There will be 3 cohorts per day: 9 AM, 12 PM, and 3 PM. If you do not participate in the lottery during your allotted span of time, you will continue to be able to log into IRIS and participate in the lottery for the remainder of the process.
The lottery will be stretched over 12 days. This will allow time for students to attend classes and participate in the lottery. We wouldn’t want you skipping class, now would we! Thus, we created windows of time long enough to allow students to login to IRIS before or after a class to participate in the lottery. Students will be placed in cohorts of 20 - 25 people (depending on how many students participate in the lottery). Those who participate in the senior, theme, and language house lotteries will have smaller, separate cohorts.
Proxies
The proxy process will continue to work in the same way as it did last year. Here is a basic outline:
1. Student enters the lottery application through IRIS
2. Student enters their proxy's Reed email address
3. Proxy receives a "proxy invitation" email with two links: accept proxy job or reject it
4. Proxy clicks "accept" link, which takes him or her to IRIS to log in and a verification screen saying “Thanks!”
Students will be able to manage their proxy assignments through the lottery application on IRIS, (a proxy can be canceled and a proxy can decline to serve). In either case, the other party receives an email verifying the action. Please refer to the Residence Life 2011-2012 Housing Lottery Guide to learn more about proxies.
When are the lotteries?
Theme and Language House Lotteries: April 2 & 3
The Theme and and Language House Lotteries are for the students who applied to live in either a theme community or a language house and were accepted to the respective theme or house.
Senior Lottery: April 2 & 3
The senior lottery is for those juniors who will be seniors the following year or seniors who will be returning and graduating in December.
General Lottery: April 4 - April 13
The General Lottery is for all students who did not participate in the theme, language house, or senior lotteries.
Summer Lottery: April 14
The Summer Lottery is for all students who want housing for the summer ONLY.
Understanding Reed Housing
How are rooms on campus assigned?
Room placements for continuing students are determined with a lottery system and by application for rooms in theme communities and language houses. While we cannot guarantee on-campus housing for all continuing students, we attempt to meet requests fairly.
Housing contracts
To live in Reed-sponsored housing, you must sign a contract for the upcoming academic year. It is important that you read and understand this legal, binding document.
You will sign the contract electronically when you select a room in the lottery, but we recommend that you review the contract and the Reed College Rights and Responsibilities Guide before the lottery. Contracts and the Guide will be available by mid-March, from the residence life office and online.
Once I sign the contract, can I break it?
Yes. If you inform us in writing by Tuesday, May 24, you will be free from any contractual obligation and will be refunded your full housing deposit. If you have not cancelled by May 24, you will be obligated to fulfill your contract and live on campus for the following full academic year. More information is available in the Reed College Residential Rights and Responsibilities Guide (RCRRRG). If you wish to break your housing contract after Tuesday, May 24, you must file a petition that is subject to approval. More information about petitioning to terminate a room and/or board contract may be found on this residence life webpage.
Cohort numbers
Cohort numbers are generated with the previous year's history in mind. If you were
among the last 25 percent of students to choose housing, you will not
be in the last 25 percent this year. Cohort numbers can not be traded
between students.
Instead of going to a centralized location, you can
participate in the lottery from satellite locations. This means you may partake in the
lottery by logging into IRIS from home, the library, off-campus, and
abroad —almost anywhere!
Each student will be given a cohort assignment. You will no longer receive an individual lottery number. There will be three cohorts per day: 9 AM, 12 PM, and 3 PM. If a student does not participate in the lottery during the allotted span of time, he/she will continue to be able to log into IRIS and participate in the lottery for the remainder of the process.
How do I become eligible for the lottery?
- Pay a $100 housing deposit to the business office by noon on Wednesday, March 28. You need to have your Reed College ID to pay your housing deposit. In person, you may pay with cash or check. Online, you may use MasterCard or American Express.
- Register for the housing lottery through IRIS by Wednesday, March 28. If you are interested ONLY in summer housing, please make sure to select that option when registering. If you plan to live on campus during the academic year and would like summer housing you do not need to select the summer housing only option.
- Look for your cohort number in IRIS on Friday, March 30.
- Log into http://housing-lottery.reed.edu to participate in the lottery at your assigned cohort time.You will also be able to link to this address through IRIS.
All continuing students, seniors and non-seniors, register through this application. If you are applying to the theme communities or language houses, you need to register as well.
If you pay the deposit after the due date you will receive a cohort number, BUT it will not be randomly assigned. You will be automatically placed in a separate and final cohort for your designated lottery.
How does the lottery work for seniors?
Rooms are set aside for seniors expecting to graduate December 2011 or May 2012. The senior lottery is only for those rooms. Check the housing floor plans online in mid-March.
Seniors are automatically entered into both lotteries. They can select a room in the senior lottery or enter the general lottery, if they feel they have a better chance of getting the room they want at that time. For example, you might have number 5 cohort in the senior single lottery and number 1 cohort in the general lottery, and you want to live in Anna Mann. When you look at the floor plans online for Anna Mann, you count eight senior singles and nine general lottery singles. Since you have a low general lottery number, it would be to your advantage to participate in the general lottery. After the senior lottery, all remaining senior-designated rooms and apartments will be made available in the general lottery. After you select a room in the senior lottery, you will receive a prompt that will allow you to select a room for summer housing if you are interested in living in the apartments for summer 2011.
What happens during the lottery?
Log into IRIS during your designated cohort time span and pick a room! You will also select a board plan and sign your housing contract at this time. If you missed your designated cohort time, you will still be able to sign into IRIS and participate in the lottery after that time. If you are participating in a lottery to live on campus during the academic year (theme/language, senior/general), you will receive a prompt that will allow you to select a room for summer housing if you are interested.
If you are participating in the summer housing only lottery, you will only have the option to select a room in the apartments for summer 2012 when you log into IRIS during your designated cohort time span.
If I am not on campus for the lottery, can I still get a room?
Since the lottery system is online, you should be able to participate anywhere you are, as long as you have an internet connection. If you will not be able to access the internet during the time frame of the lottery, you may use a proxy. Here is the process to set up a proxy.- Student enters the lottery application through IRIS;
- Student enters a proxy’s Reed email address;
- Proxy receives a “proxy invitation” email with two links: accept proxy job or reject it; and
- Proxy clicks “accept” link, which takes her or him to IRIS to log in, and a verification with “thanks!”
How does the lottery work if I want to have a roommate?
If you are interested in having a roommate, you will need to pair up before the lottery. You can do this starting on Monday, March 1, when housing lottery registration opens. To form a roommate pair, access the lottery application through IRIS, and enter your desired roommate’s Reed email address. Your potential roommate receives a “roommate invitation” with two links: to accept the roommate pairing or reject it. The roommate clicks “accept” link, which takes the student to IRIS where he or she will log in, at which point the student will see a verification with “thanks!”
If you are part of a roommate pair during the lottery, you should use the best (lowest) cohort number to select a room. Once one of you selects a room, no one else except your designated roommate can take the other spot in the room. For example: Bob and Chris have signed up to be roommates. Bob has a cohort number 2 and Chris has a cohort number 5. Bob should log into the lottery during the designated time for the cohort number 2, to select a double room. The other spot in the room will be "saved" for Chris so no one else can select it. Chris should log in during his cohort time and select his reserved space. If he misses his cohort time, the space will be saved until he logs in. Students will be able to manage the roommate assignment through the lottery application on IRIS. At any point during the lottery process either person may decide not to be a roommate and to participate in the lottery as an individual.
What can I do ahead of time to make my selection easier?
You will find the process easier if you study the floor plans before you come to the lottery. The plans will be available online by mid-March.
You might seriously think about applying for the theme communities or the language houses. If you apply for these spaces, you are making a committment to live there, if accepted. If you choose not to apply to a theme community or language house, make sure you enter the lottery, pay your deposit and participate in the lottery room selection. If you miss one of these steps, you will end up at the end of the lottery cohorts.
Application-Only Housing
Language Houses
Students interested in Chinese, Russian, French, German, or Spanish can apply to live in these unique houses. Language house students are required to make a commitment to participate in the activities of the house and speak the language of the house. Applications and more information are available here. Applications to live in language houses are due, Friday, March 4. Students accepted to a language house are not eligible for the general housing lottery. After students are accepted to a house they will participate in the language house lottery. After you select a room in the language house lottery, you will receive a prompt that will allow you to select a room for summer housing if you are interested in living in the apartments for summer 2012.
Theme Communities
Theme communities are typically a floor or area within a residence hall occupied by a group of students with a common social or academic interest such as Japanese, dance, or classics. The residence life committee selects theme communities that are proposed by individuals or groups of students. After the theme community proposals are chosen, applications for each theme community become available to all continuing students. The organizer of the community, along with a representative from the residence life committee, select the students to be invited to live in each of the theme communities.
Applications to live in a theme community are due Friday, March 2. Students accepted to a theme community are not eligible for the general housing lottery, but will participate in the theme community lottery. After you select a room in the theme community lottery, you will receive a prompt that will allow you to select a room for summer housing if you are interested in living in the apartments for summer 2012.
For more information about theme communities, please visit the Reed Theme Communities page.
Reed College Apartment Housing
Year-Round Residents (squatting your current apartment)
The Reed College Apartments and the Birchwoods feature one- and two-bedroom apartments. Students who live in an apartment may stay in their current apartment for the following academic year if they agree to sign a summer housing contract. Students now living in the apartments have until noon on Monday, March 26, to reserve their current apartment. More information regarding year-round housing has been sent via email to students currently residing in the apartments. Contact residence life if you are currently living in an apartment and have not received information about this year’s process. Summer rent prices are set by the college in mid-March.
All apartments that are not used for year-round residents are available in the lottery process.
Year-Round Apartment Residents (squatting summer 2012)
We are in the process of planning future renovations to the Birchwood Apartments. At this time, we do not know which apartments (RCAs and/or Birchwoods) will be available for summer 2012. Please keep this in mind when selecting an apartment in the lottery.
Summer 2012 housing
We cannot guarantee that we will have availability for everyone who wishes to live in an apartment this summer. Please take this into consideration with your summer plans. Summer housing allows students to have a place to live all summer without having to worry about storing their belongings and not having a place to live. The apartments are fully furnished and have full kitchens and internet access. We do not provide houseware items.
If you are participating in the lottery to live on campus during the academic year (theme/language, senior/general), you will receive a prompt (after you select a room during your specifi c lottery) that will allow you to select a room for summer housing if you are interested and if there are still spaces available. Anyone who has registered for the summer-only housing lottery will log in during the designated cohort time for an opportunity to select a room for summer 2012. The apartments are popular for the summer and usually fill up during the summer-only lottery period.
Birchwood apartments that are not reserved for year-round residents are available to Reed students for the summer. The apartments are rented for a period that starts when the residence halls close in the spring and ends a few weeks before the residence halls reopen. Students who have a housing contract for the 2012-12 academic year are able to move from their summer apartments directly to their residence hall room. If you are moving into a different apartment for the academic year, this option may not be available to you.
Important dates to remember
| Feb 20 - March 2 |
Theme community and language house applications available |
| March 1 |
Lottery registration opens/housing deposit; squatting process begins |
| March 26 | Deadline to reserve squatted apartments |
| March 28 |
Deadline for housing deposit & registering for the lottery; deadline to sign up for a proxy |
| March 30 |
Lottery cohort numbers available in IRIS |
| LOTTERIES | April 2 & 3: theme and language April 2 & 3: senior April 4-13: general April 14: summer |
| May 24 | LAST DAY TO CANCEL YOUR SUMMER OR ACADEMIC YEAR HOUSING CONTRACT |