Housing Renewal

The Office of Residential Life and Housing would like to thank all students who expressed an interest in campus housing and participated in the renewal lotteries. This web site is designed to assist students through the housing renewal/room selection and wait list process for next year.  

Placement for current Somers Hall Residents and Apartment Residents took place on Feb. 18th and 20th. Currently, there is a wait list for on campus apartments for next fall. However, the Office of Residential is committed to assisting all students through the wait list process and plan to work as efficiently as possible to communicate openings as they occur. Students on the wait list should check their CSS email often throughout the semester for updates. If you have questions, please refer to the Wait List FAQ document or contact The Office of Residential Life and Housing at 218 723-6391 or email reslife@css.edu.

Understanding the Lotteries

There will be three lotteries for placement:  

1.  Somers to Apartment Lottery
2.  Apartment to Apartment Lottery, and
3.  Single Room Lottery.

On February 12, lottery ticket holders will receive an email notification informing them of their lottery results and assigned placement time. There must be at least one person from each ticket present at their designated placement time in order to select a new room assignment.  If none of the ticket holders/roommates are present at their designated time, the lottery ticket will be put at the bottom of the list.  Students can submit their lottery ticket and contracts at the times and dates outlined on the previous page of this packet.

Somers to Apartment Lottery
The Somers to Apartment Lottery is for students who graduated from high school in 2012. This lottery will include at least Birch, Willow, Maple, Pine, Cedar and Grove apartments.  Scanlon/Kerst Apartments may be used under special circumstances and as they are needed.  Preference for apartments will be given to Somers residents who have gone without an alcohol or drug incident on campus. To enter this lottery, one lottery ticket must be submitted that includes the names of all roommates along with renewal contracts for each student on the ticket.  Please review the Step-by-Step or the FAQs document if you have any questions.

Somers Hall Single Room Lottery
Students interested in a single room option in Somers should contact the Office of Residential Life and Housing before the Single Room Lottery.

Apartment to Apartment Lottery
This lottery is for students who are currently living in the apartments.  To enter the lottery, your lottery ticket must include the names of all roommates accompanied with renewal contracts.   The number of terms you live on campus is provided on your lottery label.  Students who chose to enter the lottery together will need to combine their total number of terms lived on campus.  This total will be used to indicate priority placement in the lottery.  Please review the Step-by-Step or the FAQs document if you have any questions. 

If you have an off-campus student who you would like to include on your lottery ticket, please have them fill out a new housing contract (online) via the Residential Life Web site: css.edu/reslife (click on Forms and Costs) and submit a $150 deposit before noon on February 1.

Averaging Terms for Off-Campus Students: 
Averaging:  Averaging is done when one of the residents is moving on campus for the first time or when there is a vacancy on the ticket.  The number of terms assigned to the new resident will be an average of the other three resident's total number of terms for the ticket.  This number will then be added to the total number of terms.  You may also leave a vacancy on your ticket; however, Residential Life reserves the right to choose how the vacancy will be filled once the lottery is completed.

Lease Agreement:
When signing the Housing Contract you are entering into a lease agreement.  This agreement states that the leaseholder, while maintaining current student status, will be held responsible for a room assignment for the entire academic year excluding summer term. The lease is in effect when the College is in academic session; this does not include winter/spring break.

CSS leaseholders will be allowed to honor their housing contract by subletting their room assignment to someone with a new, self-obtained, housing contract.  Information on subletting may be obtained through the Office of Residential Life and Housing.  Students who withdraw from the institution for reasons other than transferring must follow the official withdrawal process, which is outlined in the Student Handbook.

Cancellation of Contract: 
Housing contracts submitted to the Office of Residential Life and Housing and placed during the Housing Renewal Process are legally binding for the entire academic year.  If you choose to cancel your contract and continue as a student at CSS, you will lose your housing deposit and be charged for the entire lease period.  Cancellation forms are available in the Office of Residential Life and Housing.