Demystifying and De-stressing the Housing Lottery

It’s an annual spring ritual fraught with emotion for many: selecting the next year’s lodging. Students often get far more stressed about this than their classes, according to SNC staff. Yet in the end, the vast majority of students are satisfied with where they land.

Before we give you tips on how to best support your student during this often emotional time, here’s a quick look at the college’s housing lottery. In general, priority in housing selection goes to those who are the farthest along in their SNC career.

Basic lottery process

• Students are assigned a classification as a second-, third- or fourth-year student. Classifications are calculated by the number of fall and spring semesters they’ve completed through Jan. 1, 2025, not by the number of credits they’ve earned.

• Each student within these three classifications is then assigned a random lottery number. Fourth-year numbers are higher than third-year numbers, which in turn are higher than second-year numbers.

• Once students have confirmed a housing group, the roommates’ numbers are averaged. This means a group with all fourth-year students will have a better lottery average than a fourth-/third-year group or a group of all third-year students.

• Fourth-year student groups select their housing first, followed by combined fourth-/third-year groups, then third-year groups, then third-/second-year groups and finally second-year groups.

• Students can’t swap days or times.

Lottery timeline
March 3: Housing applications available and housing classifications sent to all students
March 7: All new ADA requests due
March 14: Appeals for housing class standing due
March 20: All housing and commuter applications due
March 27: Students receive lottery day and time via email; golden tickets awarded (see sidebar)
April 3: Housing selection begins for fourth-year and fourth-/third-year groups
April 10: Housing selection begins for third-year and third-/second-year groups
April 16-17: Housing selection begins for all second-year groups, starting with service groups, followed by non-service groups as time allows each day

Certain student groups have a different housing process that’s already been completed. For example, those applying for a residential themed community or the global roommate program.

Tips for helping your student through the housing lottery

Encourage honest communication with their potential roommates
It’s not uncommon for a group of students planning to live together to change their minds about one member of the group. While unfortunate, it’s always best to be upfront with that person, as uncomfortable as that may be. Residential Education and Housing staff will help the fourth person find another option.

Remind them to start the process with several lodging choices
Gries Hall and the college’s 31 homes are the top picks for most students. But there are only so many houses for groups of four, for example, so they may need to select an apartment instead. Most students understand this, and can often figure out if they’ll get their first choice by sharing their numbers with their fellow students. But every year some students are surprised that they didn’t get the house they thought they’d get.

Encourage them not to listen to rumors
Every year there are early rumors that all of the houses have been taken when, in fact, they’re not. Each day of the selection process, the college sends out an update about which lodging is still available. This way, no one is left wondering.

Tell them not to panic if someone in their group leaves
Sometimes a student decides to leave at the end of the semester, becomes ill or joins another group. The group will keep its original assignment while the college works with them to find an appropriate replacement.

Advise them to join the waiting list if they’re not happy with the end result
If your student doesn’t snag their first or second choice, they can always ask to be placed on a waiting list for their preferred spot. SNC moves people around all the time for a variety of reasons, and typically about 75 percent of the students on the waiting list are moved to a more preferential spot.

Last updated February 2025