Stanford student housing assignment applications for summer quarter and the 2022-23 academic year are now open and include a new self-selection model with expanded gender options, according to a Wednesday email from Residential & Dining Enterprises (R&DE).

Applications for the 2022-23 academic year for all students, regardless of pre-assignment status, are due by 11:59 p.m. on April 18. All summer housing applications are due on the same day at 5 p.m. Students in need of medical accommodations must submit a Housing Accommodation Request Form to the Office of Accessible Education (OAE) before April 11 via OAE Connect, according to the email. Requests submitted after the deadline will be considered on a rolling basis.

Under the new self-selected model, students have the opportunity to select their own building and room in a two-step process. 

The new model is meant to “increase transparency in the selection process and give students more agency,” wrote Assistant Director of Undergraduate Housing Assignments Jennifer Padilla-Wong, Director of R&DE Student Housing Assignments Justin Akers and Executive Director of R&DE Student Housing Operations Imogen Hinds.

Here’s an overview of how the process works.

First, students will be prompted to submit their fall quarter housing application in Axess by April 18, at which time they will sign the University’s residence agreement, designate their housing group if desired and indicate their gender. Students can make changes to their group after submitting the application until 8 a.m. on May 16.

Students can create housing groups of up to eight people, which can include a mix of students from different class-years who live in the same neighborhood, according to the email. All members of the housing group will be given the same gate time during which they can select their housing, and the gate time will be assigned to groups based on the class years of the group members. Rising seniors receive the best gate times, and groups will receive a gate time based on the lowest class year in their group, according to the email. Students will be emailed their gate time on May 19. 

House and room selection will occur between May 23 and 27 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily and will close at 5 p.m. on May 27. Incoming student staff will not be assigned a gate time nor will students who opt to live in their Greek residence, according to the email.

During their gate time, students can log into the housing system to see which rooms are available within their neighborhood and make their selection. They can change their choice up until the May 27 deadline. Students who choose to live in Mirrielees and EVGR-A can select to live anywhere in the building, according to the email, which is a change from the original neighborhood-designated apartment model, in which each neighborhood was designated a section of each building.

Students can enter the system before their gate time to see floor plans and what rooms are available, but they may not make their selection until their gate time. 

If students do not make a selection before the May 27 deadline, they will be randomly assigned to a building and room. If students cannot make their gate time, they may designate a proxy to select housing on their behalf, according to the email. R&DE representatives advised students to select their room during their gate time because “waiting will mean fewer options are available,” they wrote. 

Students with medical accommodations and those in their housing groups will not participate in the self-selection process, according to the email. Rather, students with accommodations will be prompted to rank all the housing options within their neighborhood and any theme options. They will be assigned to housing alongside their group ahead of the general assignment process “to ensure that the student with the medical need is placed in housing that meets their needs,” according to the email. 

R&DE will use the choices denoted by the student(s) with medical needs when determining housing placements for the group in which they are included. Students assigned through this process cannot reject their housing assignment nor can they participate in the self-select process. 

The University is also “introducing a more inclusive way of considering gender in undergraduate housing,” according to R&DE representatives. Students can select one of three gender options on their housing application and can change their identification on the application up until April 18. The three options are male, female and non-binary/fluid. Students can change their gender identification each year when applying for housing, according to the email.

Rooms will be labeled in four ways: male-only rooms, female-only rooms, non-binary/fluid-only rooms and gender inclusive rooms. When students enter the housing system, they will only see rooms that match their gender identification and the gender inclusive rooms. Gender inclusive rooms will be available in each house, but the houses with gender-inclusive bathrooms will be listed here. 

Housing application gender data will not be shared within any non-housing systems, according to the email. Anonymous and aggregated housing gender data may be shared with Stanford Institutional Research and Decision Support. 

Housing applications for winter and spring quarter of the 2022-23 academic year opened on Wednesday for students who will be abroad next year. The winter quarter application is due on Oct. 28, and the spring quarter application is due Feb. 10, 2023. These students will not participate in the self-selection process and will instead rank the choices within their neighborhood. 

Coterms who are seniors and beyond may apply for either undergraduate or graduate housing, but not both, according to the email. The Grad Housing Lottery deadline is May 5.