Room Draw Information

FLOOR PLANS: Students can access floor plans via this link: http://www.colby.edu/floorplans

PURPOSE: The purpose of room draw is to provide the most equitable way to implement a room selection procedure for Colby students. Within the limitations of the quota, students will have an equal chance at drawing a favorable room. To ensure fairness in the process:

• Lottery numbers are non-transferable.
• Rooms, roommates, and potential room changes cannot be bartered in any way.
• Violations of the Room Draw Procedure may be referred to the Judicial Board.
• The following information is important to all students whether they wish to reside on campus, off-campus, study abroad or withdraw for the academic year 2008-2009.

SCHEDULE It is crucial that students are mindful of the various dates and deadlines related to Room Draw. Failure to observe these deadlines can result in loss of priority or cancellation of room. Click on this schedule for specific room draw dates.

ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS Eligibility is limited to those intending to enroll at Colby as full-time students for the fall semester 2009. Students intending to take a leave of absence will be contacted about their housing choices in either October or February, depending upon the intended date of return.

CLASS YEAR For purposes of lottery number assignment and for quotas, class years are grouped into one of the following three categories:

Please note that the Registrar determines class years.

*11J's
The College Affairs Committee has passed the following motion with the understanding that no one should have the chance to live in Alfond for more than two semesters.

11J's will be given senior status for the Alfond Apartments draw once. This means J's can choose to employ this option either for a full year (second semester junior year and first semester senior year) or for the second semester of senior year. If the student is successful the first time, then a second Alfond Room draw application is not possible. If the student is unsuccessful the first time, then he/she must enter regular draw with a lottery number at the junior status. Senior status for room draw would be granted for the final semester in regular draw. If the student does not opt to enter the Alfond lottery the first time, he/she can try for Alfond his/her final semester with senior standing for assignment of lottery number.

LOTTERY NUMBERS Every student will be assigned a computer-generated, random lottery number to be used in the process. While you may elect to participate in the Mary Low Co-Op, Quiet, Dialogue Housing, or Substance-Free draws,  your lottery number remains the same. In other words, how you choose to use the lottery number does not impact the number itself. This number is used to determine the order of selection of rooms. Senior SGA Representatives are invited to observe the lottery process.

LIVING WITH AN UPPERCLASSMAN. Underclassmen, planning to room with upperclassmen must select rooms at the appropriate upperclassman's room selection time period, rendering their own numbers useless. This policy holds even if the underclassman has a better number! One's class year determines which lottery number is used, as opposed to which is the better number.

WITHDRAWAL OF UPPERCLASS ROOMMATES If an upperclassman chooses a roommate from a class year below their own, or with a member of his/her own class with a poorer lottery number, and subsequently withdraws from school or decides to take a leave of absence, the Office of Campus Life reserves the right to move the remaining student(s) to a different room. If a student is unsure of whether they will be here for the fall semester, it is advised not to pick a room that may jeopardize his/her friends losing the room.

LOTTERY NUMBER SLIPS Each student will be asked to bring their lottery number notification sheet with them when selecting a room.  These slips will be provided at Room Draw.  We will use this slip to record your room selection and, if applicable, the name(s) of your roommate(s).

PROXY RULE Students on approved leave of absence will receive information from the Office of Campus Life concerning Room Draw, and should select a proxy. It is the obligation of the proxy and student requesting the proxy to notify the Office of Campus Life. 

THE QUOTA Once students have drawn for the Alfond Complex and the Special Interest draws, the number of students remaining will be proportionally divided by class year and gender into every remaining residence hall. Hall Staff and elected student leaders and their roommate(s) placed prior to room draw are counted in the quota.

THE HAROLD AND BIBBY ALFOND RESIDENCE COMPLEX In September, 1999, Colby opened its newest housing complex for 107 seniors. The Harold and Bibby Alfond Residence Complex includes 22 units each accommodating four, five, or six students, each having a kitchen, dining/living area, and at least one private bathroom.

OFF-CAMPUS LIVING Each year, provided on-campus housing is full, some students are given permission to live off-campus, with priority given to Seniors.  Since, generally, there are more applications than slots for off-campus living, the Office of Campus Life administers a lottery to determine which applicants will be given permission to move off-campus. The Office of Campus Life will maintain an off-campus waiting list should there be more applications for off-campus living than spots available.

SPECIAL INTEREST HOUSING The Special Interest Draw is designed to provide a greater choice in the traditional housing options. These choices are described below:
Quiet Halls:Quiet Hall living is an essential and important option for Colby students. The College continues its support for providing Quiet Halls, demand permitting, and for allowing students to indicate their interest for Quiet Hall living prior to the regular draws. Students living in this/these hall(s) agree to the philosophy of 21-hours of quiet per day, with expanded consideration hours on the weekends.  Consideration hours are defined as normal noise levels, provided that neighbors are not being disrupted.

Co-Operative Living: The first floor of Mary Low is designated for co-operative living.  Students living on this floor agree to purchase food and to prepare meals independent from the traditional dining hall meal plan. Please note that the co-op will be substance-free if Mary Low is designated substance-free for 2009-2010.

Co-Educational Living: Students of the opposite gender may live within the same living area if there are separate, lockable, sleeping areas for each of the students.  Rooms in which coed living is NOT permitted include, but is not limited to, one-room doubles and one-room triples.  Rooms in which co-ed living is permitted includes singles within suites, Alfond apartments, and 2-room doubles in Heights in which there is a separate entrance for each part of the room and a locking door between the two sections.  2-room doubles without two separate entrances are not eligible for co-educational living.

Substance-Free Halls: The Substance-Free Halls are intended to provide an environment free from alcohol, tobacco, and other substances. Selection for these halls will be based on demand. Residents will sign an agreement prior to room selection agreeing to adhere to this philosophy, or risk being asked to move from the building.

STUDENTS WITHOUT ROOMMATES WHO ARE UNABLE TO PROCURE A SINGLE If a student has no roommate when his/her number is called, he/she has the following choices on room selection night:

• Take five minutes to find a roommate without losing his/her turn.
• Leave the selection site to find a roommate and make a choice upon returning. In the meantime, the process will continue.
  
• Select a double room with the understanding that the next person to select without a roommate, or an incoming transfer, will be assigned to that space. If there are not enough transfer students available to fill the vacancies reserved for them, the Office of Campus Life will consolidate upperclassmen to make room for the sophomore pairs who end up on the waiting list. The space will NOT be assigned to a first-year student entering in the fall of 2010.

Please note that before room selection nights, students without roommates may register in the Office of Campus Life for a self-service listing of those in need of a roommate.

SOPHOMORES AND THE WAITING LIST Because of allowances for summer attrition, rooms in the residence halls will be exhausted before all sophomores are placed. Sophomores on the waiting list will be advised of their options regarding summer placement. The Sophomore Waiting List will begin with those students who were unable to draw rooms because no more rooms were available. Next on the waiting list will be sophomores who were "no shows" or failed to pick rooms when their names were called, assuming rooms were still available.

NO SHOWS If, on room selection day, a student is not present when his/her number/name is called, he/she will have ten minutes to show up and claim a room. During the ten-minute period, the selection process will continue and the late-comer may draw when he/she arrives. When ten minutes have passed, the student who failed to show up for room selection night will be placed at the bottom of the waiting list for summer placement below the sophomores who were closed out of rooms, REGARDLESS of the no-show's class year.

ROOM CHANGES Once a student has chosen his/her room assignment for 2010-2011, and leaves the selection site, he/she may not request a room change until October 1, 20010.  Students, and their roommates, involved in unauthorized room changes will be fined $200 each and asked to move back to their original room.  Any student interested in a room change should make an appointment with a member of the Office of Campus Life.  Placement on the wait list for room changes will be taken on a case by case basis with care given to each student's individual situation. While there are no guarantees that vacancies will exist, spaces may open up over the course of the year.

Please note that single rooms are reserved for upperclassmen only; incoming first-years are not eligible to place their names on the waiting list for singles.

STUDENTS ON LEAVE FOR FIRST SEMESTER BUT RETURNING FOR SECOND SEMESTER If interested in a single, please send an email to Campus Life at campus.life@colby.edu request to be placed on the waiting list for single rooms.

For doubles, triples, and larger rooms: If you have a friend who will need to replace a roommate(s) who will be here in the fall term but not for the spring, please have that person contact the Office of Campus Life and confirm their invitation to have you move in upon your return.

Rooms that become completely vacant for the spring term can only be reassigned by the Office of Campus Life (i.e. it is not possible to inherit a room/empty single from someone planning to be away in the spring).

WITHDRAWALS Students who withdraw from the College after participating in the room selection process will have their rooms reassigned by the Office of Campus Life. While the Office of Campus Life works with the remaining roommate(s) to find a replacement, it is always assumed that a replacement will be named. If an appropriate incoming roommate cannot be found, the College reserves the right to consolidate students in order to create an empty room. This policy holds for students who will lose roommates for the spring term, as well.

BOARD PLAN Except for those living in the Mary Low Co-op. (who have no meal plan), Off Campus (who have the 100 meal per semester program), or in the Harold and Bibby Alfond Residence Complex (who have the 100 meal per semester program), all students living on campus are required to subscribe to the full meal plan.

Any further questions about room draw may be directed to the Office of Campus Life.