Room Selection Policies & Forms
Housing Contract Cancellation Policy & Fees
Housing contracts are for the entire academic year, and cannot be cancelled unless the student is leaving the university due to a leave of absence or withdrawal, academic suspension, or will be participating in an approved study abroad or co-op experience.
Cancellations that are granted for one of the approved reasons listed above are subject to a cancellation fee of $400 for those residents cancelling for the full academic year, or $200 for those residents cancelling only for the spring semester. For any cancellations approved and processed between March and July 2025, this fee will be billed to the July student account.
There is no "open cancellation period" and students who are thinking about living off-campus should not participate in Room Selection or select a room in campus housing. Once signed, housing contracts are only cancelled for those reasons listed above, and will not be cancelled for students who wish to move off-campus, who experience changes in their financial situation, or due to roommate conflicts.
Students who need to cancel their Housing Contract due to leave of absence, withdrawal, study abroad, academic suspension, or any other approved reason, should know the following information:
- Students are responsible for notifying Housing Services of their change in status and need to cancel their Housing Contract; failure to notify Housing Services will result in pro-rated nightly charges, regardless of whether or not the resident occupied the room.
- Housing cancellations are final — applicants whose situation changes can re-apply for housing through the Housing Waitlist application, to be assigned a new/different space in campus housing.
- Your space will be filled randomly with a new resident assigned by Housing Services. (Roommate requests and pull-ins are not permitted once Room Selection ends.)
For Room Selection applicants who do not end up selecting a room.
Applicants who have not selected or were not assigned (by a roommate group member) to a room for the 25/26 Academic Year as of 9 a.m. on Monday, March 3, 2025, will have their application automatically canceled by Housing staff and will not be bound to the Housing Contract. As a reminder, all applicants have already signed their housing contract in order to receive a Room Selection timeslot. Your Housing Contract goes into effect at the moment that you are assigned to a room - whether via self-selection or by being assigned by a confirmed roommate group member. Individuals who are part of a roommate group who no longer wish to be assigned to a room by their group must manually "remove" themselves from the roommate group prior to the start of Room Selection timeslots on Monday, February 24.
The Housing Contract is legally binding and cancellations will only be permitted for limited, approved reasons such as withdrawing from the university or taking a leave of absence.
How to Cancel Your Housing Agreement
Housing cancellations are granted to students who are leaving the university or will not be enrolled as a student, such as withdrawing from the university, taking a leave of absence, studying abroad, etc. Those who need to cancel their housing should follow the instructions below:
- Send an email to rmassign@andrew.cmu.edu
- Include a subject line of "Housing Cancellation"
- In your email, include your name, Andrew ID, housing assignment, and reason for needing to cancel (please note that only approved reasons such as withdrawal from the university, leave of absence, study abroad, etc. will be considered)
- Housing Services will verify your reason with the appropriate university office (Registrar's office, academic advisor, Office of International Education, etc.)
- Housing Services will respond to your request with a confirmation (or denial, depending on the reason) of your cancellation, and will provide additional details about refunds, key returns (if applicable), etc.
Additional Room Selection Policies
Consolidation Policy
In order to efficiently utilize available room spaces, Housing Services actively consolidates residents throughout the Room Selection process. Residents who select by themselves and do not completely fill a room or unit with roommates will either be consolidated with other residents in similar half-filled rooms or have a new roommate assigned to them by Housing Services. In some cases, residents with roommates in suites or multi-room apartments may be consolidated to similar units when there is an imbalance of vacancies for residents of a particular gender, compared to the gender of residents still left to select a space.
Residents who are consolidated will either be reassigned to a new room (of a similar room type, if available, but not guaranteed) or will be assigned a roommate who also did not select with roommates. You will be notified via email of your new assignment if/when you are consolidated. Cancellation requests due to mandated consolidations are not considered.
Selecting a double or triple room by yourself does not mean you will get that room to yourself. You WILL either be consolidated or assigned a new roommate (decided by Housing Services.)
Though class standing, room type, and other preferences will be strongly considered, consolidations will be made at the discretion of Housing Services.
Selecting Policy: Selecting with a Roommate
Residents should plan to select their housing with a roommate (or roommate group) whenever possible. Students can confirm roommates through the Room Selection application using the Roommate Groups options. Residents participating in General Room Selection with roommates can be assigned at the best timeslot out of the roommates in the roommate group. (The individual with the earliest timeslot will need to log in at their time and assign the group.)
Groups of friends who choose to live together generally have a more positive living experience and fewer roommate conflicts than roommates who are randomly assigned to live together. For this reason, we strongly encourage residents to talk to their friends and select spaces together as roommates.
Keep in mind that by joining a Roommate Group, you are authorizing any member of that group to assign you to a room at the best timeslot amongst the group. Roommate Group should make sure that all members of the group are on the same page about where the group will be selecting and assigning it's group members. Once rooms are selected, assignments cannot be undone and there is no opportunity to cancel unless the student is leave the university. (However, there is an assignment change waitlist that all applicants who have already selected can add their name to.)
Selecting Policy: Selecting as an Individual
In order to maximize the number of empty apartments for residents selecting with roommates, residents who are selecting as individuals will have the option to select from a more limited list of housing buildings, where rooms/suites/apartments are generally 2 or 3 residents at most. Residents interested in one of the buildings or room types designated for larger roommate groups can wait until the Extended Selection phase of online Room Selection, at which point there are no longer any restrictions on needing to fill a room with roommates. However, you will lose your timeslot priority since any resident with a timeslot who hasn't already selected a room is eligible to select during Extended Selection, which takes place after all regular timeslots. Students wanting a multi-bedroom apartment will have the most luck if selecting with a roommate or multiple roommates, in order to keep the widest range of options available to them.
During or at the close of Room Selection, residents who are in rooms by themselves may/will be consolidated to other half-filled rooms of a similar room type. Please see the Consolidation Policy above.
Room Selection 2025 Forms
2025-2026 Housing Contract (pdf) - coming soon! (for reference only - Contract is signed electronically via the Housing Portal)
2025-2026 Academic Year Staff Housing Rates (pdf) - (for Resident Assistant and Community Assistant staff only)
Assignment Change Wait List
Residents who are interested in obtaining a space other than the one they selected during Room Selection may submit their name to the Room Selection Assignment Change Wait List after Room Selection ends, for spaces that might become available over the course of the summer due to approved cancellations.
Only residents who have already selected a housing assignment for the 2025–2026 academic year are eligible to submit a Room Selection assignment change form. Assignment change forms will be available online around March 14, 2025, and are accepted through mid-summer.
Assignment change offers are based a variety of factors, including when the request form was received, building and room type preferences, and whether or not there is a requested roommate, and are made through the summer months as spaces become available.
Students will be contacted when an assignment change offer is available; if you don't hear from us, it means that there is not an assignment change offer for us to give to you. Submitting a change request form does not guarantee an assignment change.