Office for Residential Life and Housing Services PO Box 270468 020 Gates – SBA Hall Rochester, New York 14627-468 FAX # 585-276-1886 2014-2015 ROOM SELECTION INFORMATION FOR STUDY ABROAD, ART NY, AND WASHINGTON SEMESTER STUDENTS Dear Study Abroad, Art NY, and Washington Semester Students; Email has proven to be a very effective means to communicate with students who are studying abroad, participating in Art NY and Washington semester. Please remind other students who are in your location to view their UR student email account to receive this information – we always have a number of students who don’t check email for weeks at a time and miss deadlines. All our information is available to you at: http://www.rochester.edu/reslife/upperclass/abroad.html The entire housing application, housing selection and meal plan selection is on-line. Students who are not in Rochester will be able to participate as if they were here on campus. Most of you have experienced the room draw process several times before. The process this year is entirely new – you should forget everything that you ever knew about room draws! Here are five documents that will help you to understand the process and get you started: • • • • • Getting Started 2014-2015 Room Selection Information 2014-2015 Residential Life/Dining Services Contract Language booklet Meal Plans and Dining Plan Pricing (see Commuter Dining Contract as needed) 2014-15 Housing Selection Newspaper IMPORTANT: In order to login from outside the University, University IT has indicated that you will need to set up a VPN. This can be done at http://rochester.edu/its/vpn/ Follow the instructions provided on the site. The first step: Submitting a housing application. If you are planning to live on-campus next year (2014-2105 academic year), you will need to carefully read all the information about this new process and how to designate roommates. Remember to secure a VPN prior to trying to submit an application from abroad. For information about remote access to UR’s VPN, go to: http://rochester.edu/its/vpn/ Once you had made that secure access, proceed as directed to the log-in page https://odyssey.reslife.rochester.edu/webpatron to submit the online application. Application dates: March 21 – April 9 (ends at 5pm, EDT) The second step: Selecting a room/suite/apartment You will be notified of your selection day and time on the webpage where you submitted your application and via an email. There are not separate drawings – it is one unified drawing. Each student receives a day and time to login and select housing. In the case of groups, the student with the best day and time will select the housing and pull all the designated group members into the housing selected. It is very, very important that you communicate with students you hope to live with – you will be each other’s double checks: did you submit your housing contract? Did you indicate that you want to live with me (and any others in a suite/apartment)? Who got the best selection date/time? Did you select for us? Selection dates: April 14 - 18 – dates and times as assigned by lottery, 9am-5pm daily EDT. Remember: all Selection times are EASTERN DAYLIGHT TIME – you’ll need to account for this if you are selecting the room. The third step: Selecting a Dining Plan Your choices are tied to the building in which you select a room. Review the Meal Plans and Pricing – there have been some changes made for plans for 2014-15. Living with a Special Interest Housing Group, Academic Living Center or Greek Group: if you are planning to live with a special interest housing group (Greek, non-Greek, Academic Living Center) – you DO need to submit a housing application. Read the information about which application option to select. Your group/house manager will designate a housing assignment for you; you are exempt from the second step of this process and do not need to pick a room, Residential Life will assign you based on the information your group/house manager provided. You will receive a confirmation informing you of your assignment. You will then need to submit a meal plan. If you are planning to live off-campus, you do not need to submit a housing contract. You do need to choose a dining plan. Click the Commuter Dining pdf. You will have to print the form, complete it, and send the meal plan selection portion via fax or email to Dining Services: Fax to: 585.276.0143 Email to: ckilts@services.rochester.edu Calendar of Important Dates March 21 On-line contract submission begins March 26 RA, CA, D’Lion and Freshmen Fellow applications due – complete at Residential Life Office April 4 SIH, Academic Living Center & Greek member lists due to Reslife April 9 Contract deadline—on-line submission process closes 5 pm April 11 Selection dates and times distributed to students – found on RL and Housing Services Students homepage April 14-18 On-line Room Selection (8am—6pm daily) April 21 First Day to submit Room Change requests FINANCIAL HOLDS: Students who have an outstanding balance on their term bill will not be allowed to submit an application – you will get a message about the financial hold. You must be clear by April 10 to submit and application. It is critically important that you review all the materials to understand the process. Please let me know if you have questions or email us at housinglottery@reslife.rochester.edu Sincerely, Karen E. Ely, Ed.D. Director of Housing Operations Study Abroad Letter 1415 – students.doc