Spring housing placements delayed until late December
HRS received ‘high volume’ of spring housing applications
Undergraduate housing placements for the spring have been delayed until the “end of December,” Director of House Operations Rich Hilton wrote in an email to students Nov. 23. The placements were originally scheduled to be released Nov. 20 and were initially delayed to Nov. 24 before being further delayed to December.
Hilton wrote that because positive COVID-19 cases are rising throughout the U.S., MIT “must approach building placements and residential density extremely carefully” to “prevent the number of residents placed in each house from posing an increased risk of spreading the virus.”
Furthermore, Housing and Residential Services (HRS) received a “high volume” of spring housing applications and expects that “students’ housing plans may change during the course of the coming weeks.” Students may cancel their on-campus housing through a form in MyHousing portal without penalty until Jan. 1.
Hilton wrote that students who no longer require spring on-campus housing should complete the cancellation form “as soon as possible” to provide HRS “a more accurate understanding” of housing needs and to “better accommodate” students “who have committed to on-campus housing.”
“By waiting a few more weeks to have a more complete handle on the true demand for MIT Housing, it’s our hope that we can make placements in mid-December and avoid reshuffling residents’ assignments in January to help balance the distribution of residents across the houses,” Hilton wrote.
Hilton wrote that it “has become clear” that MIT needs “more time to take [student] preferences into account and to get a better sense of demand for campus housing” before determining building placements. He added that housing assignments should “prioritize” student “health and safety” while also “setting students up to have as positive a residential experience as possible during this unprecedented time.”
The previous timeline for Spring housing included a building switch lottery period where students could request a different housing assignment. Hilton did not indicate whether this lottery would be offered in the delayed timeline.
Students can visit the HRS Spring 2021 Housing Dashboard for updates or email questions to ughousingspring2021@mit.edu.