Room Changes (and Room Buyouts)

November 24 - Room Change Request & Room Buyout forms available online (see above).
December 4, 12noon - Room Change forms due to the Residential Life & Housing (RL&H) Office, 110 Sulzberger.
December 4, 12noon - Priority deadline for Room Buyout Forms
December 11, 5pm - Room Change results emailed and/or posted outside the RL&H Office.
December 17 - If a room change is granted, you may begin moving to into your new rooms in cooperation with the person vacating the room (if applicable) and the person replacing you in your old room (if applicable). Keys will be available to pick up between 9am-5pm at the RL&H Office.
December 19, 8pm - If a room change is granted, you must have completed your move and submitted a checkout envelope at your old Front Desk and turned in their old room keys.

This process is for Barnard Sophomore, Junior, and Senior students only (First-Year students are not eligible).

Columbia University students living in Barnard residence halls are not eligible to participate in this process (please consult CU Housing for information about room changes for CU students) and there is no switching permitted between BC-designated and CU-designated spaces.

Once submitted, Request forms cannot be altered unless they are withdrawn (in writing) and/or then resubmitted as a new application. Request forms may not be withdrawn after the due date (Thursday, December 4, 12noon).

The RL&H professional staff will review all completed applications. Decisions made by this group are final. There is no guarantee that all applicants will receive a room change as a result of submitting a Request form.

You must complete the room change if granted, as other room changes will be dependent on your vacancy.

You may request to make a 1-for-1 swap with another student OR you may specify a set of criteria for which types of rooms or locations they would be willing to move to.

If you wish to move into a specific vacant space, you may specify that on your Request form. The roommate(s)/suitemate(s) of that vacancy must also submit a Roommate/Suitemate Request Form requesting you. This can improve your changes of receiving the room change but does not guarantee it.

If granted a room change, you will be responsible for coordinating your move (if applicable) with both the person moving out of the space you are moving into and the person moving into the space you vacate. Email addresses will be provided.

Your new room keys will be available to pick up on Wednesday, December 17, between 9am - 5pm from the Residential Life & Housing office (110 Sulzberger). You must complete your move and turn in your old room key by completing a check-out envelope at your building's Front Desk by 8pm on Friday, December 19. Please note that participation in the Spring Room Change process may require you to stay on campus until Saturday, December 20 to finalize moving all of your belongings.

WHAT CAN I DO TO IMPROVE MY CHANCES OF GETTING A ROOM CHANGE?
The more flexible the criteria you specify on your Room Change Request form (indicating what types/locations of rooms you’d be willing to switch to), the more likely a room change may be possible. However, students should only specify room types & residence halls they would be willing to live in because all granted room changes must be completed.

WHAT IF THERE IS A VACANCY IN MY ROOM OR MY ROOMMATE GETS A ROOM CHANGE?
If you have a vacancy in your room or your roommate is applying for a Room Change, you may fill out and submit the Room Buyout Request form (see below), to request that no new roommate be assigned to your room. If you do not submit a Room Buyout Request form, you may receive a roommate through the Room Change process or through Spring assignments to new transfer students, readmitted students, commuters, or students returning from Study Abroad.

WHAT IF THERE IS A VACANCY IN MY SUITE OR MY SUITEMATE GETS A ROOM CHANGE?
You will more than likely be assigned a suitemate. If you know someone specific who is interested in moving into that vacant space and submits a Room Change Request form requesting so, you should submit a Roommate/Suitemate Request form to the RL&H Office by 12noon on Thursday, December 4. The names and signatures of all suitemates must be on the form. No late forms will be accepted. Also, please note that the granting of a room change is not guaranteed, so your suitemate may not receive a room change.

This process is for Barnard Sophomore, Junior, and Senior students in the spring semester only (First-Year students, Columbia students living in Barnard residence halls, and Barnard students living in Columbia residence halls are not eligible).

A student granted a buyout will not be assigned a roommate for the remainder of the Spring semester.

Room Buyouts will be granted only if there are enough vacant spaces elsewhere on campus to assign students for the Spring (new transfer students, readmitted students, commuters, students returning from Study Abroad).

The priority deadline for Room Buyout Request forms is 12noon on Thursday, December 4. Forms may be submitted after this date, but Buyouts will not be granted if a student has already been assigned to the vacant space in your multiple room.

The cost for buying out a multiple room as a single for the Spring semester is $530 (the difference in price between a single and multiple room). The cost will be added to the student's Bursar account over Winter Break.

The cost for two students to buy out the third space in a triple room is $265 each. Both students must sign and submit the Room Buyout Request form.

A student who is the sole occupant of a triple room may not request to buy out the remaining two spaces. She is encouraged to recruit 1-2 new roommates through the Room Change Request process or will be assigned new roommates.

The request for a Room Buyout may not be cancelled once the request form has been submitted. The buyout charge is nonrefundable.

The extra set of furniture in a bought-out room will not and may not be removed from the room.

If you have any questions, please contact Matt Kingston, Associate Director for Housing Operations, at mkingston@barnard.edu.