Upperclassmen housing selection for the 2026-2027 academic year drew disappointment from some rising juniors and seniors who participated in the newly implemented room selection system.
This year, Housing and Residential Life unveiled changes in the housing selection process, which took place for rising juniors and seniors from Oct. 2 to Oct. 8. The new policies introduce changes to the roommate blocking system, lease cancellation policy and area selection processes.
The roommate blocking system was modified for the 2026-2027 academic year to ensure each block fills an entire suite by giving leaders the ability to assign rooms.
Rising juniors and seniors were able to form blocks of up to five roommates, like the blocking system for the 2025-2026 academic year. The new blocking system, however, gave blocks with five roommates a timeslot on the first day, Oct. 2. Beginning on Oct. 3, students were able to freely select any bed in the same area they’re currently living in, regardless of their block.
The new cancellation policy encourages a more flexible housing selection process to accommodate the number of students wishing to remain in on-campus housing.
The new policy allowed rising juniors and seniors to cancel their housing leases prior to check-in and move in. This is a change from the policy for the 2025-2026 academic year, where students were unable to cancel their housing leases, with the exception of a leave of absence, medical withdrawal or leave, academic internship, study in absentia or University-approved “adequate other grounds for cancellation.”
“On-campus housing is not guaranteed beyond the first two years, and Housing must balance upper-level interest with the obligation to house incoming first year students, transfers, and rising sophomores,” HRL wrote in an email to The Sun. “Housing has instituted a more flexible cancellation policy, allowing students to cancel their housing license and enabling movement from the waitlist for other students.”
The Same Area Selection process also changed for the 2026-2027 academic year policy. Unlike the 2025-2026 academic year, rising juniors and seniors are now unable to stay in the same room for the next year, but were still able to participate in the Same Area Selection during their assigned time slot from Oct. 2 to Oct. 6.
Those applying to live in a different area from their 2025-2026 academic year housing can choose from all housing areas from Oct. 6 to Oct. 8 during the Open Room Selection timeframe. Any rising juniors and seniors who did not choose a room during this time were given the option to join a waitlist for room availability.
Student Experiences
For students like Annira Benitez ’27, who has lived on campus since her freshman year, this year’s housing selection felt much more challenging and competitive than past years, leaving her to choose between staying on North during the same area selection or risk being left with no options during open room selection.
“I really wanted to take advantage of my senior year to explore a new building or area before graduating for a change of environment,” Benitez said. “I ended up staying in the same building I’ve been in, which wasn’t my original plan, and I was a little disappointed because I had hoped for something different. But I also recognize how fortunate I am to have housing secured at all, especially when spots go so fast.”
Benitez’s disappointment in the new housing selection process was shared by Ryan Lee ’28, a sophomore transfer student. Lee felt that the housing selection process was “a stressful and kind of chaotic experience,” especially as someone who had a 7:30 p.m. time slot “on the very last day.” By the time Lee’s time slot arrived, the only options left were triples in Clara Dickson Hall and doubles in Sheldon Court.
“Originally, I really wanted to live off campus and I even looked into it, but it just didn’t make sense for me this year,” Lee said. “As a transfer, I wanted to be closer to campus life, meet new people and not have to stress about setting up a lease.”
For students who were unable to choose on-campus housing and are now looking for off-campus housing, HRL wrote that they will be providing a variety of tools and guidance for the off-campus housing search through their website and multiple Housing Fairs, held in-person and virtually.
Ashley Lee is a member of the Class of 2028 in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations. She is a senior writer for the News department and can be reached at alee@cornellsun.com.
