Housing for Next Year – Already

Dear Parents,

This is a good time to begin thinking about student housing options for next year, believe it or not. Following is some background to get you started.

For Parents of Current First-Year, On-Campus Students
As you may be aware, the online housing agreement your student electronically signed for this year covers their first and second years at Xavier.  This reflects the University’s requirement that all first- and second-year students must live on campus if their permanent residence is greater than 35 miles from Xavier.

With the construction of a new residential complex, we anticipate having plenty of housing for all students in these two classes.  Thus, all students will be held to their contract – unlike the past few years when we have had a shortage of housing and allowed a limited number of students to move off campus for their sophomore year.  

If your student indicates that he or she wants to move off campus and is getting ready to sign a lease, please advise him or her to not do so. The contract the student signed for University housing is legally binding. The University can and will continue to charge for room and board, even if the student chooses to live off campus. This would be an expensive lesson to learn when a binding contract/lease already is in place. Students who leave the university or move home within the 35-mile radius, will not be held to this requirement.

For Parents of Current Sophomores and Juniors
Juniors and seniors are not guaranteed on-campus housing, as you know, but we’re anticipating almost double the number of spaces available than were offered last year to upper-class students. In addition, the Commons will be returned to all junior and senior housing, as will all of the four-bedroom apartments in the Village. We also are working to identify a number of other spaces where juniors and seniors will be able to live on campus.  Details will be forthcoming as options are finalized.

General Information for All Parents
All on-campus housing for next year will be determined by a housing lottery in the spring semester. Students will be asked to sign up online for housing by a certain deadline and will be assigned a randomly generated lottery number.  The lowest number of the group will be used to determine the order in which students select their living accommodations for the following year.  Many more details will be provided to students after January as the housing selection process details are finalized.

I’m sharing this information with you now to prevent students from signing an off-campus lease based the previous on-campus housing limitations. The new residence hall is going to create an additional 525 beds next year. I feel confident that Xavier will be able to accommodate all first-year and sophomore students in regular occupancy rooms. Students who desire expanded occupancy spaces for a cost reduction will continue to have that option.  

We also will be able to accommodate many more upper-class students on campus than we were last year. For upper-class students who really want to live on campus, I recommend they to wait until second semester and go through the housing selection process.  If they are unable to secure on-campus housing, there will still be plenty of time to find an off-campus house or apartment.  The Office of Commuter Services has been very helpful in assisting students with searches for off-campus housing in the past and will continue to serve as a resource to students.

If you have questions or need assistance, please feel free to contact me directly at 513-745-3203.

Regards,

Lori Lambert
Director of Residence Life