To assign graduate students to campus residences, Housing Assignments employs a process that includes:

• Computer-based Lottery assignments
• Waiting list assignments
• Walk-in assignments for single students
• Continuous assignments for couples and students with children

During the Lottery, the computer-based assignment program will try to place you into the first residence choice you’ve listed on your housing application. If your first choice of housing isn’t available, the assignment program will try to place you in your second residence choice, and so on.

Shortly before classes begin, and after you receive and accept your general residence assignment, a staff member at the Housing Front Desk serving your building will assign you to your specific room or apartment and, if you are a single student, your roommate/s.

If you are a first-year or transfer student, Stanford University guarantees you an on-campus housing assignment for your first academic year if you:

1. Apply by the application deadline and
2. Indicate on your application that you are willing to live in any residence for which you are eligible.

If you are a continuing graduate student living in a Stanford residence that is open all year, you may be able to renew your housing contract automatically if you remain over the summer in continuous occupancy and have one or more years of assignment priority. See Renewing your housing contract.

If you are a continuing graduate student planning to enter the Lottery, your chance of assignment depends on:

1. The number of years you have already lived on campus
2. The number of years (i.e., two, three, or six) that your degree program qualifies you for an assignment priority
3. Your randomly-assigned application number
4. The number of vacancies that are available in the housing category for which you qualify

Before each quarter, Housing Assignments holds a Lottery. The May Lottery determines the initial housing assignments for Autumn Quarter.

Assignments are made in “rounds”, beginning with an exemption round for students with special housing needs due to a documented medical condition and for students whose spouse, domestic partner, or child is disabled. See students with Special needs.

When you apply for housing, you are considered for a specific assignment round (e.g., the Autumn Quarter Lottery or the Waiting List round for Winter Quarter).

1. You missed the housing application deadline.
2. You weren’t offered an assignment in the Lottery and want to try again.
3. You were assigned in the May Lottery but not to one of the residences you wanted, and you want to be reassigned on the autumn Waiting List.
4. You were assigned in the Lottery but need to apply for a different category of housing because of a change in your marital or family status.

Very few continuing students are assigned during the autumn Waiting List round because of the priority given to new students and their demand for housing.

Note: If you don’t need University housing until Winter Quarter, or Spring Quarter, you still should apply for a spot on a Waiting List by the Autumn Quarter application deadline to receive a first-round number. The higher your position is on the list, the better your chance of being assigned to a University residence.

Walk-in Assignments
Single students who aren’t assigned in the Waiting List assignment round, or who haven’t yet applied for housing, may attend walk-in meetings. At these meetings, remaining vacancies are offered for assignment to students according to their positions on the Waiting List.

If you can’t attend a walk-in meeting, you can submit a proxy form designating another person or Housing Assignments to act on your behalf. Caution: On the proxy form, be very clear about your residence preferences; you are contractually responsible for any assignment a proxy takes on your behalf.

Continuous Assignments
After each Waiting List assignment round, remaining vacancies are offered on a continuous basis to the next eligible couple without children or student with children. Continuous assignments are made until the next Waiting List application deadline.

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For every year that you submit a housing application, Housing Assignments calculates your assignment priority level, which is based on:

1. Your student status. Priority is given in this order:

1. New students
2. Continuing students with remaining priority years
3. Continuing students without remaining priority years

2. The number of years you have lived in graduate housing.
Students who have not yet lived in University housing have a higher priority over students who already have lived on campus.

3. Your degree program.
Master degree candidates qualify for two years of assignment priority; engineer's degree candidates, three years; and doctoral candidates, six years.

• Doctoral degree students in their second year have the same housing assignment priority as doctoral students in their third, fourth, fifth, and sixth years.
• Engineer's degree students in their second year have the same housing assignment priority as engineering students in their third year.
• Students whose studies extend beyond allocated priority years are still eligible for housing, and should apply. These students are offered housing after all students with assignment priority; however, they are not assured assignment.
• If you are beginning a new graduate degree program after receiving a Stanford graduate degree, you are considered a continuing graduate student.
• If you are enrolled in a joint master/doctoral program, you are considered a doctoral candidate

• Housing years are based on the academic calendar (autumn through the following summer).
• Your housing years include those spent as a single graduate student, couple, and/or student with children.
• Housing years include those lived in on-campus housing, University-assigned off-campus housing, and Housing Stipend Awards.
• Only housing contracts kept during Autumn and Winter Quarters are counted toward the total number of years in housing. Cancelled assignments and occupancy beginning in spring or summer don’t count.
• Students are eligible for as many assignment priority years as their current degree level allows.
• The number of assignment priority years does not automatically increase cumulatively per degree. If you are beginning a new degree and no longer have housing priority years, you may petition to receive additional years up to a total of six years. It is your responsibility to verify that your priority level is correct on your application and to contact Housing Assignments before the Lottery if there is a problem. For example, if you are beginning a doctoral program following two years as a master’s degree student, you qualify for a total of six assignment priority years—two from your master’s program, four from your doctoral program. If you are beginning a new master’s degree program—and already have had two years of assignment priority as a master’s student—you would need to petition each year to receive two additional years of assignment priority.

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The Lottery randomly assigns application numbers to students who enter the Lottery for Autumn Quarter, or who join the waiting list for winter or spring term by the application deadline in May.