You can contract to live on campus anytime! We’d recommend as soon as you accept your offer of admission. The earlier you contract, the more likely you are to get your preferences.
You can learn how we make assignments here.
June (a year in advance): We start accepting new student contracts in June the year before you plan to attend. For example, we started accepting fall 2023 contracts in June of 2022. When you decide on Iowa State, you can submit a housing contract!
April – Late May: The April/May before the fall you plan to arrive is when we begin making assignments. We don’t like to kick people out of their Cyclone Home. The students that are living on campus the fall before you arrive have until March 1 to decide if they want to stay in their room or move to a different area. Once they’ve settled, we start making assignments based on your contract date.
Late May – Mid July: The May-July before the fall you plan to arrive is when you’ll know your assignment. We release the bulk of assignments in late May and continue to make assignments throughout June and July. If you don’t get one of your top preferences or want to switch rooms, it’s easy! Visit our Assignment Changes page to learn more.
Deadline: There is no deadline to submit your housing contract. The date you submit simply determines the priority in how we assign you and how likely you are to get your preferences. But, we’ll always have a place for you! Roommate groups should be formed by mid-April for fall entry (if you aren’t able to do that, you can use our room-change process and work to pair up that way).
Early/Late Contracts: We get asked a lot “Is my contract late?” Nope! To help give you context, about half of new students for fall submit their housing contract between June and February with the other half being after February.
Assignment Updates – Fall 2024 Entry
Throughout the summer, we’ll update the information below to show you the contract dates we’ve reached. We plan on releasing assignments starting May 29, 2024.
Spring 2025 Entry
Students moving to campus for the spring 2025 semester will be notified of their assignment in mid-December.
You can move in beginning Thursday Jan. 16, 2025. Details can be found here. Classes begin on Tuesday, Jan. 21.
