As you may be starting to think about your housing for fall 2013, the Office of Residential Life and Judicial Affairs would like to provide you information about the residency policy and the process for off-campus release. A copy of the policy is printed below. Ithaca College is a residential college and students are required to live on campus for their first 3 years. Our residency policy reads, “Students are required to live on campus for their freshman, sophomore and junior years, unless they apply for and receive off-campus approval from the Office of Residential Life.” You can read the entire policy at https://www.ithaca.edu/policies/vol7/volume_7-70501/
It is important for you to know that we anticipate releasing a limited number of students to live off-campus beginning fall 2013. This process will likely be competitive as we anticipate that interest may exceed the number of students we can approve. To give you an idea, last spring we had over 160 students on the off-campus waitlist who were never approved to move off-campus. Therefore in order to avoid having an off-campus lease and an on-campus housing obligation please avoid signing a lease until you have applied for and received approval to move off-campus.
In order to better time our off-campus approval process to match the timeframe when students want to sign off-campus leases, the Office of Residential Life will conduct the off-campus approval process this semester for students wanting to move off-campus beginning fall 2013. Specific information about the off-campus process and timeline will come out via e-mail and intercom next week.
I hope this information has helped clarify our policy and how it affects you. Please see our website for additional information if you have any further questions.
Sincerely,
Beth O’Neill
Office of Residential Life
Area Coordinator
7.5.1 Residence/Off-Campus Policy
Ithaca College is a residential college. The College recognizes the developmental value of a residentially based education and believes that residence hall living is a key component of a student's overall educational experience. For these reasons, provisions are made to house all students on campus throughout their undergraduate years. Students are required to live on campus for their freshman, sophomore and junior years, unless they apply for and receive off-campus approval from the Office of Residential Life. A student with senior year status is considered exempt from the residence policy. Under current housing processes a senior is a student who has lived on campus for five semesters by the fall housing selection process held during the spring semester, and six and seven semesters, respectively, during the fall and spring semesters of a current academic year. Any student with senior year status who wishes to reside on campus for the senior year must submit a senior intenti on form. Students with senior standing who do not submit a senior intention form to participate in room selection during the spring selection will be considered off-campus for the following semesters. Once a senior declares their intent to live on campus by submitting a Senior Intention form and secures on-campus housing for the following academic year, the student relinquishes their senior year exempt status. Seniors who have relinquished their senior year exempt status, who later wishes to live off-campus, will need to apply for and receive off-campus approval from the Office of Residential Life. Non-seniors and seniors who have relinquished their senior year status as above should not sign leases or make any other commitments for off-campus housing without written approval to move off campus from the Office of Residential Life. Any non-senior or a senior who has relinquished senior year exempt status who moves off campus without the written approval of the Office of Re sidential Life will be billed for room and board charges. The College remains committed to maintaining fully occupied residence halls. Recognizing that over-occupied residence halls can negatively affect the community if housing projections for an upcoming academic year indicate that the residence halls will be over-occupied, a limited off-campus application process may be conducted for non-seniors and for seniors who have relinquished their senior year exempt status. Students should not sign off-campus lease agreements in anticipation of being approved to live off-campus. The Office of Residential Life offers one off-campus process during February to grant off-campus approval for the following academic year. There are no provisions for exceptions to the off-campus policy. At any time, a student living off-campus may request to return to campus housing. These requests will be reviewed and approved on a space available basis.
Readmitted students and students returning from the London Center, other Ithaca College study-abroad programs, the Ithaca College communications program in Los Angeles, the Washington Semester Program and student teaching or internships etc., or from a leave of absence must resume their previous housing status (i.e. campus resident or off campus) upon return to campus, unless they have senior-year exempt status and have not relinquished that status as detailed above. Married students, students in domestic partnerships or civil unions, students who are 23 years of age or older, incoming transfer students who have previously been enrolled at a college for at least two years, students with dependents, and students who meet the criteria for being a commuter student as defined by the College's commuter policy (see section 7.5.1.1 below), are not required to live in College-provided housing. Students who meet the exempt criteria and opt to live on campus must remain on campus for t he entire academic year.
Incoming freshmen are guaranteed on-campus housing. Occasionally, the demand for housing by other incoming students (i.e., transfers or readmits) or returning students may exceed the capacity of our residence halls. In this event, incoming freshmen and transfers may be assigned to temporary accommodations. Other incoming students or students returning to housing may be notified that on-campus housing is not available for them.
If a student has documented special needs, the Office of Residential Life will make every effort to provide the most appropriate on-campus housing assignment, in consultation with health services, academic support services, counseling center or other appropriate college offices.
