RSP FAQs: 2024-2025 Academic Year

Room Selection Process, or “RSP” is the Spring semester process to request and receive housing assignments for the following academic year. All students returning to enrollment will engage RSP, even if exempt from the housing requirement.

RSP has changed in several ways for the 2024-2025 academic year process: 1. Forms and processes are all located in eRezLife, 2. A new roommate profile and roommate search function is available to students, and 3. Selection order will be assigned according to individual lottery numbers instead of group average, though selection will still be on behalf of the roommate group.

Haven’t heard about eRezLife? Learn more here.

Reading campus publications, emails, and our website is incredibly helpful and will set you up for success. Our new RSP Guidebook will provide step-by-step instructions related to process steps, but until Step 1: the Housing Form is available on March 11, we recommend taking time to reflect on what makes you successful in your environment, your social sphere, and your finances.

Community Living staff (Area Coordinators, Community Assistants, and central staff in 124 Ferguson Building) are helpful contacts for process concerns, but we recommend that you have open conversations with your friends and family, potential roommates, Financial Aid, program advisors (if applicable to thematic housing), and others.

The first “official” step for RSP should be completed by all students. The Returning Student Housing Form opens in eRezLife on Monday, March 11, the first day of classes after Spring Break. The form closes March 25.

Students that have completed their Returning Student Housing Form will receive a selection time slot during the week of April 1 – 5 based on their lottery number. Students that have not completed the form do not receive a timeslot and will be assigned by Community Living.

Lottery numbers are not randomly assigned. They are unique to each student and are designated from 11 – 1200(ish) and are based on completed academic units. The student with the most completed units will receive the lowest lottery number. The lower the number, the higher the selection priority.

Lottery numbers were generated from Registrar Office reports on February 14 and distributed to eRezLife student profiles on February 16.

You won’t be the only one! Students have virtual and in-person opportunities to meet others, and the new eRezLife Roommate Profile function will help you filter and find others in the system who might match your preferences and interests. This is a great place to start. We also recommend asking others in your hall, classes, or teams and groups as you have shared experiences.

Once you’ve completed your Returning Student Housing Form, you are able to toggle on your profile, provide a profile picture, screen name, elevator pitch, and select which preference information you’d like to share in the roommate search function. The more students with their profile toggled on, the more searchable/possible roommates you might connect with.

Some of our housing options are gender inclusive: Mitchell Towers, Whitehouse Hall, and Mae Apartments. These spaces require roommate groups of 4 persons (Mae also has two 6-person apartments).

Roommate Groups are created when more than one person links together. Housing at Albion College is available to roommate groups of 2, 4, 6, or 8 persons. Additional eligibility criteria applies to some spaces, but group size is the initial criteria. Group size will need to match the number of students for the selected space. For example: groups must include 4 students to select a suite at Mitchell Towers.

Roommate profiles can be searched in eRezLife to add to groups, whether to add as the second person, or the sixth person in a group. If you know the other person’s email address, you can invite them that way as well. All students must accept the group invitation to be included in the group assignment process.

Yes, students can later decline an invitation and join a different roommate group. In some cases, a roommate group may be a larger size – spaces that match that size may no longer be available and the group needs to split into two or three groups. This will all be done in eRezLife.

RSP does not provide an avenue to select a room without a roommate, except for a very limited number of apartment layouts that include single-occupancy rooms. Roommates are part of the experience at Albion College and assignment processes match this expectation.

If you would like to submit a request for a single-occupancy room due to extenuating circumstances, you may do so through the Housing Accommodations process. The Housing Petitions Committee reviews and assigns available single-occupancy rooms to students with documented disabilities. As space permits, additional single room requests may be approved.

Any person in your roommate group may select a housing assignment on the group’s behalf at their scheduled selection time slot the week of April 1 – 5. Selection must be made by 11:59 p.m. April 5.

Visit our 2024-2025 Academic Year Housing Options page to review spaces available for selection, an overview of selection eligibility criteria, and layout/group size requirements.

All financial aid questions should be directed to the Financial Aid office – financialaid@albion.edu.

Student Accounting has provided the costs related to residency in each building/occupancy style on their Tuition and Fees page.

Mobility and other accessibility concerns – discuss with Accessibility Services and Community Living to understand best options for your group

Thematic community preferences – review the Themed Housing Options page to review options

Your friends and personal connections – it can be fun to live near your friends’ rooms or apartments, discuss their plans with them directly as you will not see this information in eRezLife

Building amenities and proximity to other campus buildings – a full description of building amenities is available on the Building Information webpage

Emotional Support Animals (ESAs) – we recommend students with ESAs consider their care routine and the best location(s) for residency (for example, students with dogs might best be located near entryways and on lower floors of residence hall)

Indicate interest in your housing form – with significant interest we will designate an area of one of our residence halls accordingly.

The Women’s Only community has already been designated at Ingham Hall.

There can be many reasons the space you’d like to select isn’t available for your group. Possibly the space has already been selected by another group. Or, your group doesn’t meet one of the criteria coded into the selection system. If you believe your group does meet the criteria for selection, please contact living@albion.edu.

Please review various pathways below:

• Fraternity membership – complete Step 1: Returning Student Housing Form and discuss preferences within your chapter. Assignments will be completed by Community Living after consulting your chapter president. Fraternity members are required to live in the chapter house. Non-members should contact the IFC Advisor if interested in living in a fraternity chapter house.
• I-Space (MLAC LLC) application – complete Step 1: Returning Student Housing Form and the I-Space application form (also in eRezLife) by March 18th. MLAC Faculty review and assign student applicants to I-Space according to language house preferences and major/minor language requirements. Read more about I-Space here.
• Community Assistant – complete Step 1: Returning Student Housing Form. Assignments will be completed by Community Living staff.
• BAF Cluster Housing Mentor – complete Step 1: Returning Student Housing Form. Assignments will be completed by Community Living staff
• Contact Living@albion.edu with other questions about specific programs, employment, or student status

No. You can not request a random roommate during RSP.

If you have not formed a roommate group of 2, 4, 6, or 8, you will not be able to select from any housing options in College housing and will instead be assigned a roommate and room by Community Living after RSP has concluded.

Students that have not completed the Returning Student Housing Form by March 25 will also not be able to choose their roommate or select assignments from available housing options.

Please review the Exemptions and Accommodations page for information on requesting exemption from the residency requirement. You may indicate your desire to request exemption on the Step 1: Returning Student Housing Form, but also complete the exemptions request process.

Students approved for housing exemption are responsible for determining  their housing in non-College housing, and will receive an $810/semester non-College residency fee administered by Student Accounting.

Students participating in off-campus programs of study (domestic or international study-abroad programs/Philadelphia Center, etc.) should complete the Step 1: Returning Student Housing Form, but may not join roommate groups or select a housing assignment. We do not hold spaces for Spring semester return from off-campus programs and students that decide to pursue or accept program enrollment after RSP should expect to have their on-campus housing space assigned to another student. Our recommendation is that students speak with their friends to determine if anybody might be graduating in December or planning to study off campus in Spring semester, where they could plan to “swap out” the space.

For more information – be sure to attend the OCP Orientation on March 20, scheduled by the Center for International Education (CIE).

Possibly, but unlikely. Most student housing is closed or used by Camps and Conferences during summer sessions.

Contact living@albion.edu for support or log-in to eRezLife and complete the change before 11:59 p.m. April 5

Please review the Exemptions and Accommodations webpage for more information, contact Accessibility Services to register for accommodations, and discuss specific needs with Community Living if emergent or unsure how to proceed.