Housing Accommodations

Examples of disability-related housing accommodations for students include:

• Single occupancy room
• Wheelchair-accessible unit
• Housing on ground level
• Flashing / visual emergency alarm in room
• Emotional support animal in on-campus housing
• Meal plan and/or food service modifications
• Exemption to the Reed Residency Requirement (for 1st and 2nd year students)

This list is not comprehensive. If you would like to request one of these or other accommodations, please see below for information on how to request housing accommodations.

Students can begin the process by submitting a Housing Accommodation Request Form, along with medical and/or mental health documentation of their disability, by the dates listed below.

From there, DAR staff and students engage in an interactive and individualized process to determine appropriate accommodations for each student. In some cases, we may request additional information or documentation, or an appointment may be needed so we can discuss a student's needs further and review available options. We will contact students via their Reed email if an appointment or additional information is needed.

When a student is approved for housing accommodations, DAR will send a notification email to both the student and to Residence Life. Please note that all students seeking on-campus housing must still register for housing through Residence Life, including students with approved disability accommodations.

DAR works alongside Residence Life in accordance with their room registration timelines. To ensure that Residence Life receives adequate notice of any accommodations that have been approved by DAR, it is important that students submit their accommodation requests (and supporting documentation) to DAR by the following priority deadlines.

• Returning students requesting accommodations for the 2026-2027 academic year should submit their housing accommodation requests to DAR between February 9 - March 16, 2026.
• Incoming students (new to Reed) should submit their housing acccommodation requests between May 1 - June 1, 2026. 
• Students seeking housing for the spring 2027 semester only should submit their housing accommodation requests to DAR by December 1, 2026.

Post-deadline accommodation requests

At times, new or changing circumstances may create the need for students to seek housing accommodations outside of the timelines listed above. Requests for accommodation can be made at any time. However, requests that are received after the priority deadlines listed above, if approved, may not be able to be implemented until the following term of residency. Requests made during a term of residency, if approved, may not be able to be implemented until the following term of residency.

Yes. Housing accommodations are typically approved for a single academic year. Students must submit a new housing accommodation request for the following academic year.

At Reed, all first-year students and sophomores are guaranteed to receive on-campus housing.

Juniors and seniors are allotted campus housing through a lottery system. Receiving approval for a disability housing accommodation does not guarantee that a student will receive on-campus housing. Rather, it ensures that, if a student is offered on-campus housing, the space offered will meet their access needs.

Students who require on-campus housing due to disability access needs may follow our standard accommodation process to request guaranteed on-campus housing as a disability accommodation.

If you are a current Reed student seeking on-campus housing during the summer break, you will need to apply to the Summer Housing Program through Residence Life.

If you are accepted to the Summer Housing Program, DAR will work with you and with Residence Life to determine reasonable and appropriate accommodations for Summer Housing.

Please note that the residential facilities used for Summer Housing vary from year to year. The housing and accommodation arrangements available during the summer may differ from those available during the academic school year.

Emotional support animals

Students must be approved for an accommodation through DAR before bringing an emotional support animal (ESA) into campus housing. ESA requests are due by the same priority deadline as all other housing accommodation requests (see above). ESAs are not permitted in campus housing unless and until formal approval has been granted by DAR.

As part of the review process, students are required to submit an ESA Disability Documentation Form as well as an ESA Contract before a determination can be made.

Service animals

Students with service animals that are trained to perform specific tasks for a disability do not need to seek accommodation/approval from DAR to have their animal in campus housing. However, to ensure the safety of other residents and Reed staff, we ask students to notify us of presence of their service animal in campus housing by completing an Animal Registration Form.