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2009 Housing Lottery

Each returning student wishing to live on campus the following year must participate in the Whitworth Housing Lottery, which takes place each April. This process is designed to give priority to students who have a higher class standing (and therefore fewer opportunities left to live on campus). To ensure a more diverse community, spaces for incoming students are reserved following the same-room process.

Conditions for Participation

1. Each student must have a Dorm Damage Account balance of at least $50. If the amount is below $50, you will need to bring the balance up to at least $50 before you can participate. The Dorm Damage Account was created from the confirmation deposit paid before you arrived at Whitworth. The money is used to pay for damages both in your room and in the community areas of your hall. When you graduate (or leave Whitworth-provided housing), you may request to have your remaining balance refunded to you by completing a Student Credit Refund Request found in either the Whitworth Student Life Office or in Whitworth Student Accounting Services. If no request is made, your refund will be automatically given to you once you graduate from the university.
2. Each student must electronically sign a 2009-10 Housing Contract prior to 11 a.m., April 15, 2009. You will find the contract at www.whitworth.edu/housingcontract.
3. You may choose only one room during the housing lottery. If you sign up for more than one room, you and your roommates in all rooms will lose their room assignments.
4. You must have the same number of roommates as spaces available in a room in order to sign up for a room. The only exception to this is during the remaining-rooms process (see below for more information).
5. All roommates must live on the Whitworth's campus for the 2009 fall term.
6. The last day to cancel a room reservation is June 1. To cancel a room reservation, a student must contact the Whitworth Housing Office before 5 p.m. on June 1, 2009. To prevent intentional cancellations that help one person acquire a room over another person, any cancellation made before the deadline may result in all roommates losing their room assignment and being reassigned at the discretion of the housing office. A student who cancels a room reservations any time after the deadline will be charged $250, but his or her roommates will not lose their room assignment. This policy does not apply to incoming freshmen. Contact this housing office if you have any questions about this policy.
7. Students who will be gone during the fall semester only should contact the housing office to make arrangements for spring seymester.
8. Residents of Baldwin-Jenkins, Akili, and Tiki may not participate in the Same-Room process.

Housing Points

• One housing point is given for each academic level you have completed, as determined by the university registrar (e.g., freshman = 1 pt., sophomore = 2 pts., junior = 3 pts., senior = 4 pts.).
• Your housing points will be e-mailed to your Whitworth account approximately two weeks before the housing lottery.
• Your housing points can be combined with other students' housing points as long as you all sign up for the same room together (e.g. a group consisting of a freshman and a sophomore who are signing up for a double room has 3 housing points). Housing points can only be combined as long as all of the roommates stay in that group while signing up. Once a member of the group leaves, so do his or her housing point(s).
• Questions about your housing points should be directed to the Whitworth Housing Office before April 15.

Lottery Numbers

• A computer-generated random lottery number is used to determine who wins a tie in the event that two people or groups have the same number of total housing points.
• The lottery numbers range from 1 to 10,000, with 1 being "first in line" and 10,000 being "last in line."
• A group of students will use the lowest lottery number in the entire group when signing up for a room; however, should that group break into small groups, each newly formed group uses that particular group's lowest number (e.g., A 4-person group with the lottery numbers 1, 10, 100, and 1,000 would use 1 as their lowest lottery number while signing up. But if the group breaks into two groups--say 1 and 100 in one group and 10 and 1,000 in the second group--the first group has a lottery number of 1 and the second group has 10.)
• Your lottery number, along with your housing point(s), will be e-mailed to your Whitworth e-mail account approximately two weeks before the housing lottery,.
• Residents of Baldwin-Jenkins, Akili, Tiki, and student leaders do not receive any extra points.

Selecting a Room

Same Room
April 15, 11 a.m.-2 p.m.
HUB, Second Floor
This process is for people who wish to keep their current room for the next year. You must have the same number of roommates as there are spaces. A resident may sign up with a roommate currently living in another building, except in Boppell apartments, Duvall 6-person pods, and all Stewart "quads," where at least half of the current residents of the apartment/pod/quad must remain in the room to be eligible to sign up for their same room. All other triples and quads on campus must have at least two of the three current residents (for a triple room) or three of the four current residents (for a quad) staying to participate in same-room. Residents of Baldwin-Jenkins, Akili, and Tiki may not participate in the Same-Room process.

In-House
April 20 at 9:45 p.m.
HUB Dining Room
You and your roommates must all be living currently in the building you are signing up for. All room types are eligible for this process. Baldwin-Jenkins, Akili, and Tiki residents may not participate in the In-House process.

Quads, Triples, & Singles
April 20 at 10 p.m.
HUB Dining Room
You must have the same number of roommates as there are spaces in the room in order to take part in this process. All six-person, quad, triple or single rooms available throughout campus will be open at this time. If there are any Boppell 4-person apartments or Stewart quads remaining after this process, they will be assigned as double rooms during the double-room process (e.g., a leftover Duvall six-person room would be given away as three two-person rooms).

Double Room
April 22 at 9:45 p.m.
HUB Dining Room
You must have the same number of roommates as there are spaces in a room in order to take part in this process. At this point, any remaining Boppell 4-person apartments and Stewart quads will be assigned as if they were double rooms.

Remaining Rooms
April 28, 3-5 p.m.
Housing Office
If you do not sign up for a room during the earlier lottery processes, come to the housing office on the second floor of the HUB to pick from the remaining available rooms. There are no "minimum restrictions" for this option; a single person can choose a double room by himself or herself. However, it is almost certain that the housing office will place a roommate in that available space sometime during the summer. Room availability will be severely limited by this point in the lottery.

Frequently Asked Questions

What's the deal with the housing contract? Do I have to sign one?

All students who want to live on campus next year must electronically sign a 2009-10 housing contract on or before 11 a.m., Wednesday, April 15, 2009. If a student does not sign the housing contract by this time, s/he may not be allowed to participate in the housing lottery. Signing the contract may be done at www.whitworth.edu/housingcontract.

What's a Dorm Damage Account, and do I owe money?

The Whitworth Housing Office sets aside $100 of the confirmation fee that you paid when you confirmed in an account that pays for damages in your hall. Most people have account balances above $50, but some people have balances that have fallen below that amount because of room damages they have had to pay over the years. If your balance is below $50, you must bring your account balance up to at least $50 before you are allowed to participate in the housing lottery. Please come to the HUB Conference Rooms on Wednesday, April 15, between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. to bring your account up to at least $50. Cash and checks must be made out to "Whitworth University" only, please.

What do I do if I can't find a roommate?

If you're having trouble finding a roommate, ask your RA or RD if s/he's heard of other students in the same position. Often, residence halls post signs in their entrances that help people find roommates.

The Whitworth Housing Office keeps an informal listing, "I need a roommate" at the front desk of the Student Life office. If you're looking for a roommate, this is a good place to start.

What if I'm moving off campus?

All students are required to live on campus for the first two years after high school graduation. Students who graduated from high school more than two years ago are not required to turn in a waiver.

All students not meeting this requirement but wishing to live off campus must have an approved waiver before April 15 if they plan to live off campus next year. Waivers submitted after April 15 will not be considered until after May 2. Submitting a waiver is not the same as having an approved waiver.

The Residency Requirement Waiver Request form is available at www.whitworth.edu/housingrequirement.

Students who turn in their waiver after April 15 (or those who have not yet had their waivers processed) should still go through the housing lottery, knowing that if the waiver is granted, the roommates of the student requesting the waiver may lose their housing assignment and be reassigned at the discretion of the housing office.

Can I sign up for a room with an incoming student?

Yes, you can sign up for a room with a incoming Whitworth student who hasn't yet started at Whitworth only if s/he has confirmed with Whitworth before April 15. If s/he hasn't confirmed by April 15, you can not use him or her to fill a room. Note: the incoming student will not be issued any housing points or a lottery number. No exceptions are made to this rule.

What if I want to live with an incoming international student?

If you would like to room with an incoming international student next year, you must first take the following steps:

1. Set up a brief meeting with Lulu Gonzalez, Whitworth International Student Affairs Office, (ext. 4509, lgonzalez@whitworth.edu) to discuss your desire to live with an international student. This meeting must take place before April 15, 2008.
2. Ask Ms. Gonzalez to e-mail ajacob@whitworth.edu noting the results of your meeting.
3. You may then participate in all of the above processes as if you had a current student as your roommate, assuming you meet all of the requirements for that process. An incoming international student receives one housing point but does not receive a lottery number.

What exactly is meant by "You can participate in only one process"?

If you do not receive a room in the first process you go through, you may participate in another following process; however, once you receive a room, you are not allowed to participate in any of the remaining processes. Attempting to sign up for more than one room will result in the loss of room assignments for both you and your next-year's roommates. Bad idea.

How do I sign up for a room when I'm in another country? Or, What's a proxy?

Some students are unable to be at the housing lottery (e.g., they're out of the country on a study-abroad program, their job requires them to work the night of the lottery, etc.). These students should contact a trusted friend who will act as proxy. Once the friend has agreed to act as proxy, both the unavailable student and the proxy need to e-mail housing@whitworth.edu from their Whitworth e-mail accounts stating the nature of the agreement.

The student acting as proxy then assumes all decision-making responsibilities during the housing lottery (e.g., which roommates to sign up with, which room to live in, etc.) for the person who can't make it to the housing lottery. The proxy must come to the housing lottery and participate in it as if he or she really were the absent friend. That's why we recommend that a proxy be a trusted friend.

Does any of this mumbo-jumbo apply to me since I'm graduating?

No, none of this matters to you just as long as you graduate! The housing points and lottery numbers are always given to seniors knowing that some will undoubtedly return to campus next year as fifth-year seniors or want to request on-campus housing as graduate students.

Still have questions?

The housing lottery is a bit confusing, but all in all, it's a lot of fun. If you have additional questions about the housing lottery, please contact your RA, your RD, or me, Alan Jacob.

Enjoy the pursuit of the perfect room!

Alan B. Jacob
Associate Director of Housing
ajacob@whitworth.edu
ext. 3250
Office of Residence Life and Housing
Whitworth University