Priority deadline for requests: Monday, January 26, 2026
Pre-Lottery assignments: will be emailed to students in late February
Deadline for Pre-Lottery Assignment Acceptance Form: 1pm Thursday, February 26, 2026
Students who may need housing accommodations may submit a request for a "Pre-Lottery placement" (i.e. a room assignment without needing to pick in the Housing Lottery).
In order to apply for and receive a Pre-Lottery placement, students must be eligible to participate in the Room Selection process.
Students who are not eligible for the Room Selection process are welcome to submit a housing application to be on the non-Guaranteed Wait List. Housing accommodation requests would be considered over the summer.
CARDS Housing Accommodation Request Form -- please make sure that you submit the form marked as the "Pre-Lottery" request.
The priority deadline to submit the request and supporting medical documentation is:
Friday, January 26, 2026
Types of accommodations may include accessible spaces for mobility needs, rooms with a strobe fire alarm, assignment to a building with air-conditioning, assignment to a single room, service or support animals, etc.
Note: Air conditioning is available in Sulz Tower, Elliott, Plimpton, CG, 600, 616, and 121st Street. AC is primarily a summer housing feature and is usually turned off in mid-September (in order for the buildings to provide heat for the winter) and resumes in mid-to-late May.
Students who may have received accommodations in the past must re-apply each year to be considered. Previous accommodations are not automatically extended without submitting an updated request for the upcoming academic year.
Students will provide at least 5 ranked residence hall preferences on the Accommodation Request form. Point Values (class year standing) are taken into consideration when making assignments.
Students who apply for accommodations may request one (1) fellow student as a "CARDS Pull-In" to be assigned to live with or near them. Pull-Ins must be eligible for the Room Selection process.
Pull-Ins must be requested via the CARDS Accommodation Request Form before the priority deadline. Pull-ins cannot be requested or changed after the deadline.
The Pull-In's Point Value (class standing) is taken into consideration when making assignments.
NOTE: Female CC/SEAS students who are eligible for the Columbia Room Selection process may be requested as a Pull-In, but can only be assigned as a Pull-In to suite-style housing (i.e. not Elliott, Hewitt, or Sulz Tower).
Students who apply for accommodations may request to be placed as a group with other students who are also requesting accommodations (including their pull-ins). Note: requests must be mutual, i.e. on each student's Accommodation Request form, in order to be considered and are not guaranteed.
For example, 3 students applying for accommodations (who are each requesting a pull-in) may mutually list each other to ask to be placed as a 6-person group. However, if the students have different needs or request different buildings, they may not be placed together.
Groups must be requested via the CARDS Accommodation Request form before the priority deadline. Groups cannot be requested or changed after the deadline. The individual Point Values (class year standing) of all of the students in the group (including pull-ins) will be considered when making pre-Lottery placements.
Eligible students who missed the deadline to request a pre-Lottery housing accommodation should take part in the Housing Lottery.
Students who are not able to pick a room in the Lottery that meets their needs should sign up for the Guaranteed List to be assigned to a room over the summer (instead of picking a room that does not meet their needs). They should then submit a Housing Accommodation Request to CARDS as soon as possible (by no later than June 1).
Approved CARDS housing accommodations will be taken into account when assigning students on the Guaranteed List. Accommodations are dependent upon availability (i.e. which spaces other students cancel from over the summer) and assignment to specific buildings or room types cannot be guaranteed in advance.
The Disability Housing Committee (made up of representatives from CARDS, Primary Care Health Services, Furman Counseling, and Residential Life & Housing) will meet to review the requests for housing accommodations.
Students with an approved accommodation will be provided a specific building & room assignment. Students who requested a Pull-In will also be provided a room assignment for that student. Please note that CARDS staff will only communicate with the student applying for a housing accommodation and will not be able to provide information to any Pull-Ins regarding room assignments (because staff cannot discuss a student's accommodations with others).
When making placements for students with approved accommodations, the College will ensure that a student's disability and/or medical needs are met; however, preferences for specific residence halls/etc. cannot be guaranteed. Students are encouraged to review the information about each residence hall when submitting their requests.
Point Values (class year) are considered when assigning rooms for housing accommodations.
For example, a rising-Sophomore who requests a single room or a building that is typically filled with rising-Seniors through the Lottery may not be offered an assignment that matches their ranked buildings if the preference is not supported by their medical documentation (ex. a rising-Sophomore who requests to be in a Sulz Tower single). This is why it is important for students to provide ranked preferences for 5 or more residence halls on their request form.
If a student requests a Pull-in and receives an approved accommodation for a Single room, the Pull-In may be offered space in a double (because the accommodation is for the student submitting the request, not their Pull-In). This is especially the case for students who request CARDS groups and/or Pull-Ins with smaller Point Values.
The Res Life office will email Pre-Lottery room assignments to students in late February. Approved students will need to submit the Placement Form (provided via email along with the room assignment) to accept or decline the room assignment before the deadline below:
1pm ET Thursday, February 26, 2026
If a student requested a Pull-In, the Pull-In must also sign the form (to accept or decline).
Students who wish to decline their provided housing assignment (in order to take part in the Lottery or live off-campus) will forfeit their accommodation placement. The offered room assignment will be released into the pool of available rooms for the Lottery and that room may not be available to select in the Lottery if they're not able to pick a different room matching their approved accommodations.
Students who take part in the Lottery but are not able to pick a room that meets their needs should sign up for the Guaranteed List. Students with 200 or 300 points who pick a space during the Lottery will not be able to apply for room changes over the summer, except in cases where students are approved for additional accommodations that were not part of their pre-Lottery approval.
The College will do its best to accommodate a student's disability or medical needs after the Lottery if new needs arise or if they are on the Guaranteed List. However, we cannot guarantee that a comparable space will open up over the summer and/or during the academic year for students who declined pre-Lottery room placements.
All students who wish to live in campus housing next year must submit the Room Selection Intent Form before the deadline. This includes students who...
Are accepting a Pre-Lottery Placement, or
Are declining a Pre-Lottery Placement to take part in the Housing Lottery instead, or
Will not be returning to campus housing for the Fall (and will provide the reason)