Housing Information and Selection Process

Four Year Housing Requirement

Westminster College is a residential college, which means that students are required to live on campus all four years and room assignments are made with the understanding that they will be occupied for the entire academic year. All full-time undergraduate students are required to live in a College residence hall unless at least one of the following criteria is met:

Resides in the permanent home of a parent or legal guardian that is located within 30 driving miles of the College. Student Affairs will contact the parent/guardian to verify that a student qualifies to be a commuter. Students may only commute from the home of a parent or legal guardian.
Has resided in a residence hall for at least four years.
Has reached the age of 23 prior to the semester for which the request is made.
Qualifies to live at his fraternity house. To be eligible, a fraternity member must have at least junior standing (generally 62 credit hours), have at least a 2.0 GPA, and must demonstrate responsible behavior as a member of the Westminster College community. The College's policy with regard to allowing sophomores to live at houses is limited to those elected to the positions of President, Vice President, House Manager, Treasurer and Risk Manager. If these positions within the Fraternity Chapter do not exist, a written request for exception must be turned into the Assistant Dean of Student Affairs before the Fraternity housing deadline. Officer exception requests must be limited to one person per non-existent position. Fraternity members are not permitted to move from a fraternity house to an off-campus setting.
Is granted a medical or financial exemption by the Office of Student Affairs. Such exemptions require documentation and completion of an application prior to the start of the semester to be considered. Either process can be initiated by contacting a residence life staff person in Student Affairs. A request for a medical exemption can also be initiated by contacting the Disability Resources Office. For more information, see Housing Accommodations for Students with Disabilities and Housing Accommodations for Students with Exceptional Financial Need.

The College reserves the right to take disciplinary action against students who violate the Housing Requirements policy. Violations include, but are not limited to, residing in off-campus housing without the expressed written permission of the College. Sanctions include, but are not limited to, restitution for room and board.

Housing Costs

Room prices are set by the Westminster College Board of Trustees, and are available on the Cost of Attendance page and in the Undergraduate Catalog. Questions about billing policies and refunds should be directed to the Business Office at businessoff@westminster.edu or (724) 946-7140.

Housing Accommodations for Students with Disabilities

Westminster College holds the value of a residential experience as vital to students’ success. As such, every attempt will be made to accommodate students within on-campus housing and off-campus accommodations will only be explored when all other options have been exhausted. Students whose medical conditions may require special consideration by the College, should consult the Residence Life Housing Accommodation pages and the Disability Resources Office pages.

Housing Accommodations for Students with Exceptional Financial Need

Students seeking housing accommodations due to exceptional financial need should contact Student Affairs at studentaff@westminster.edu or (724) 946-7110. The College may be able to offer assistance for students through financial aid, emergency funds, or through an off- campus exemption. Financial exemption to the housing requirement requires a review of the student’s FAFSA information.

Additional Housing Policies

Additional policies related to residential living are listed in the Student Handbook.

Overview of Housing Selection Process

There is NO housing deposit required to participate in the housing selection process. Each spring semester, each student participates in the housing selection process in some way or another. An example schedule of our Housing Selection Process is as follows:

January
- Berlin Village Townhouse Application
- ADA Housing Accommodation Priority Application
- New Incoming Students begin Housing Process
  - Fill out New Student Checklist
February
- Fraternity and Sorority Housing
- Same Room Reservation Applications
Late March
- Room Selection In-Person Process
June
- New Incoming Student Housing Assignments Assigned

Please note this is subject to change year to year.

If you need to cancel your housing assignment or change your residency status the priority deadline is June 1. After this date, applications and cancellations are subject to a $125 administrative fee.

Overview of Housing Selection Process for Returning Students

Housing Selection Overview for Returning Students

Each spring returning students are assigned a lottery number based on class status as defined by the Registrar’s Office. Students who are currently seniors (class status 4) will have the lowest lottery numbers and those who are first year students (class status 1) will have the highest lottery numbers. Only one roommate can draw for a room, meaning the roommate with the lowest lottery number will select the room for both students.

The lottery number pertains to when it is a students’ turn to be eligible to select their on-campus housing assignment for the next academic year. Students will have the opportunity to select from any of the open on-campus spaces and room types provided (typically the rooms available at this time are design singles, double rooms, and triple rooms), know that rooms are picked in order of lottery number and some options may not be available. Residence Life staff will be present during the selection process to help answer questions and finalize room selections.

Suggestions and Tips for Housing Selection:

Priority is given to students who have roommates identified. Students without roommates will participate in a housing selection process after Room Selection. Partially filled rooms will not be permitted at room drawing.
If students are interested in housing accommodations, please ensure you review our housing accommodations page as applications are due for primary review towards the end of January in the Spring Semester. This is to ensure we can accommodate these students prior to Housing Selection. Any applications submitted after our priority review will not be reviewed until June.
As you go through the housing selection process, it is important to keep your housing preference in mind. The room selection process involves over 1,000 students, and your first choice of housing may go quickly. Please have other housing options in mind as you make your room selection.
You can find floor plans of the Residence Halls here, as we approach Housing Selection, students will have the ability to look at which rooms are available and are updated in live-time.

Interested in a Single?

We do have a limited amount of design singles that we give out during the Housing Selection Process. A design single is a room that has a maximum occupancy of one person and is often smaller than our double rooms. Historically we have only been able to provide 25-35 design singles across campus.
Additionally, sometimes Westminster College is able to provide students with a Super Single based on our available occupancy. A super single is a double occupancy room where only one student is in the space and buys out the entirety of the room, both sets of furniture must stay in the room.
- Students wishing to have a Super Single, will still need to pick an assignment during Housing Selection and will need to request to be put on a Super Single Waitlist - this only happens at Housing Selection.
- Super Singles are not guaranteed and students are chosen in order of their lottery number if they are available. Historically we have only been able to provide 10-20 super singles across campus.

Please reach out to your Resident Assistant or Residence Life if you need help or have questions. It is each student's responsibility to understand the housing selection process.

Same Room Reservation

Current students may have the opportunity to stay in the same room/residence hall and must fill out an application to do so. In order to be eligible to reserve your current room you must meet the following criteria:

The room you are seeking to fill is a double or triple and is not designated for first year students or theme housing (see designated areas below).
- Design singles and super singles are NOT permitted in the Same Room Reservation Process
One person must currently live in the room requested for next year.
ALL prospective roommates have to currently live in the same residence hall requested for next year.
Eichenauer Hall is reserved by double rooms, not as suites/quads. Therefore, students looking to reserve their current room in Eichenauer Hall must meet the above criteria for one specific room and cannot reserve an entire suite unless one student in each room of the suite stays and the other two students joining the suite are currently living in Eichenauer Hall.

In order to complete the process all prospective roommates must sign the application. Partially filled rooms (e.g., you have only two people for a triple) will not be allowed. Student Affairs will decide who will remain in a room if all current roommates want to live there, but not together. That decision will be based upon the following criteria:

Seniority by class level if both students have a prospective roommate selected.
The first resident to find a prospective roommate.
A random selection done by the College.

The areas not eligible for Same Room Reservation for the 2024-2025 academic year are below:

FIRST-YEAR STUDENT HOUSING

Russell Hall (entire hall)

Shaw Hall (entire hall)

THEME HOUSING

Ferguson Hall

Galbreath Hall (1^st and 2^nd floors)

Browne Hall (1^st and 2^nd floors)

Berlin Village Townhouses

Click Same Room Reservation Form to download the application for this year's process.

Residency in Fraternity Houses

To be eligible, a fraternity member must have at least junior standing (generally 62 credit hours), have at least a 2.0 GPA, and must demonstrate responsible behavior as a member of the Westminster College community. The College's policy with regard to allowing sophomores to live at houses is limited to those elected to the positions of President, Vice President, House Manager, Treasurer and Risk Manager. If these positions within the Fraternity Chapter do not exist, a written request for exception must be turned into the Director of Student Life before the Fraternity housing deadline. Officer exception requests must be limited to one person per non-existent position. Fraternity members are not permitted to move from a fraternity house to an off-campus setting.

Documents

There are no Handouts for this set.

Housing Selection Information

Housing Selection 24-25

The following are the dates for selecting housing for the next academic year (2024-2025).

February 5, 2024 - Same Room Reservations available on my.Westminster
March 1, 2024 at 4:30 p.m. - Fraternity & Sorority Rosters + Same Room Reservations Due
March 19, 2024 from 7-9 p.m. - Current Senior & Junior Housing Selection in Witherspoon Rooms
March 20, 2024 from 7-9 p.m. - Current Sophomore Housing Selection in Witherspoon Rooms
March 21, 2024 from 7-9 p.m. - Current First Year Housing Selection in Witherspoon Rooms

Students will select their housing based on a lottery number that is randomly assigned by class level. Class level is determined by the Registrar's Office and not by academic years on campus. Lower numbers will draw first - students can expect their lottery numbers to be sent to their Westminster email on March 11, 2024.

If students have additional questions, we ask them to please check the documents that are on this page or reach out to a Resident Assistant or a Residence Life staff member.