How We Make Assignments
We have an on-campus community of over 8,000 students – and many of them are sophomores and above! After they make their selections, we work to assign new students.
Our team works to accommodate your preferences but we can’t guarantee a specific room or building. Submitting your contract as soon as you accept your offer of admission from Iowa State increases your chances of getting an assignment in your preferences.
Assignments are made based on the date you submit your housing contract. From there, we assign you based on the following considerations:
FIRST: Accommodation Requests are assigned first and it’s the first thing we look at when we make your assignment.
SECOND: Learning Community preferences are considered second. For example, if you preferenced a learning community and Martin Hall – but your learning community isn’t in Martin, we’ll assign you to the learning community location. If you preference a learning community and a roommate, your roommate request will be considered only if your roommate has chosen the same learning community.
THIRD: Roommate Requests are considered third
- The earliest contract date determines priority for the pair/group.
- Roommates must be eligible for the same type of housing
- Your room preferences will be considered but your assignment might be anywhere we have room to place you and your roommate.
FOURTH: Room Preferences are considered fourth.
- List all 12 preferences! Listing too few means we will make our best guess if we run out of space in your preferred areas.
- Popular locations like Eaton, Martin, Friley and Maple fill with returning students and also fill with very early contract dates. Preference at least one option that’s not in those halls.
- Single rooms are very limited and not everyone who requests one will get one. If you ask for a single room and a roommate, your single room request will only be considered if we can’t accommodate your roommate request.
- Requesting only air-conditioned buildings doesn’t guarantee you’ll get an assignment with air-conditioning.
If you didn’t get the place you wanted, visit our Assignment Changes page to learn how you can switch your assignment.