Choosing your room and roommate for the 2006-2007 school year will occur in April 2006. This is the best opportunity for all eligible returning residents to change buildings, including moves to openings in suites and apartments. Please note the March 31, 2006 deadline to turn in next year’s Residence Halls/Dining Services Agreement. Agreement forms and instructions will be mailed prior to Spring Break.

Summer “Pull-Ins”
This is your opportunity to name a “pull-in” for Fall if you think there’s a chance your roommate chosen for Fall might not come back to the residence halls. Reassignment Request for Fall forms need to be filled out by July 1; visit www.resnet.umd.edu. These “pull-ins” are honored from July 1 to early August.

Eligibility for The Courtyards at University of Maryland and South Campus Commons Apartments

Resident Life, in cooperation with the Courtyards at Maryland and South Campus Commons apartment communities, will announce general eligibility criteria for on-campus students who wish to move to those communities for the following year. These criteria will be published in materials which will describe the Room Selection/Agreement Renewal process.

On-campus residents who have received any of the administrative/disciplinary sanctions listed below as a result of a judicial board hearing or an administrative conference will not be eligible for leases at The Courtyards at University of Maryland or South Campus Commons:

• Administrative Housing Termination
• Denial of On-Campus Housing for the Following Academic Year
• Disciplinary Probation
• Disciplinary Housing Termination
• Suspension, Suspension Withheld, or Expulsion from the University

Any lease for space in The Courtyards at University of Maryland or South Campus Commons that has been signed by a student during the annual Room Selection process for the following year can be voided if that student receives any of the above sanctions. Please consult the Rights and Responsibilities section for more information on these sanctions and the adjudication process.

Reassignment Requests

Complete a reassignment request to be moved to a different room/building for Fall if you couldn’t choose the room you wanted at Room Selection and selected another room.

A Reassignment Request form needs to be filled out by July 1. These moves will be accommodated in Priority Number order and on a space-available basis from July 1 to early August.

What is Meant by the Term “Unit?”

Our definition of “unit” is important to understand when you talk about reassignment requests, singles reassignments, Room Selection and Unit Agreements.

“ Unit” has four meanings:

• Individual floor in a North Campus high-rise hall (e.g., LaPlata 3, Denton 7)
• Entire building in a South Campus traditional hall (e.g., all of Worcester, all of Cecil)
• College Park Scholars programs (e.g., Life Sciences) are considered a “unit”
• Individual suite or apartment (e.g., Howard 1101, Leonardtown 243-06)

“What’s a Priority Number?”

Priority Numbers are used to decide who gets first choice of room changes when there are vacancies in single rooms, suites, apartments, and other popular locations in the residence halls. Residents with the lower numbers get first choice of rooms, residents with the higher numbers choose last.

Priority Numbers are assigned once a year — in April — and are used throughout the following school year. New-to-housing students who move into residence halls during the Fall or Spring semesters don’t have Priority Numbers until they’re assigned in April and don’t use them until Room Selection time later that month. Resident Life uses “date contract received” if no Priority Number is yet established.

Your Priority Number is what determines your ranking for:

• single room reassignments within your unit
• moves to open/vacant rooms within your unit
• mid-year room and building changes
• attendance at “open shopping” meetings during Room Selection in April and May
• reassignment requests

“How is my Priority Number Created?”

Priority Numbers are based on a seniority system — the closer you are to graduation and the longer you’ve been living in UM residence halls, the better (lower) your Priority Number.

Your Priority Number is always four digits — #0001 is the best Priority Number on campus, #4500 is about the worst. Priority Numbers are split by gender.

Your Priority Number is determined by the number of “points” which you accumulate as you build up your seniority at UM. Points are accumulated:

• 2 points for every consecutive semester that you have lived in UM residence halls
• 2 points for every consecutive semester that you have been enrolled at UM
• 1 point for every 12 credits that transfer to UM from another college or university and show on your UM transcript. (NOTE: Advanced Placement and summer session credits do not count)
• 2 points forfeited for each sanction of Administrative Housing Probation.

For residents who are “tied” with the same number of total points, the “ties” are broken and Priority Numbers are randomly assigned by computer within each point total. For example, when first-year students are “tied” with 8 points at the end of their freshman year, the computer randomly decides Priority Numbers for all 3,500 to 4,000 such students, meaning that freshman roommates could find a big difference between their Priority Numbers.

Special Room Assignment Situations

If There’s a Vacancy in Your Room
Don’t get too used to the extra space and privacy — if you don’t name an eligible “pull-in,” a roommate can be assigned by Resident Life at any point in the school year and with as little as 24-48 hours’ notice (less in some cases).

If there’s an opening in your room, you’ll have a new roommate at the start of Spring semester. Out of courtesy to this student, please leave your room in “clean, move-in” condition when you depart in December, so that check-in day in January for your new roommate can be a pleasant experience.

Temporary Assignments
At the start of a semester, we may have new-to-housing students temporarily assigned to rooms in the residence halls or in a nearby off-campus facility. When this happens, priority for the use of all spaces that become vacant is given to dissembling these temporary spaces.

You could be affected by this situation if there’s an unexpected vacancy in your room at the start of a semester. In this event, priority will be given to relocating students from temporary assignments and we may not be able to honor any “pull-in” requests.

Emergency Relocations
In an emergency (such as fire, flood, storm damage or extended power outage) that forces you from your room temporarily, if you do not choose to stay with another student, you may be offered emergency shelter in an on-campus facility such as a community center or recreation center.

In an emergency that results in a closing of the campus (such as approaching hurricane or pandemic flu), you will be expected to vacate your room within 24-48 hours. Individuals who are unable to leave by the time the campus is closed may petition Resident Life for permission to temporarily occupy a designated temporary emergency shelter, either a New Leonardtown apartment (if “social distancing” is advisable to contain the spread of illness or disease) or a community center or recreation center if there is no indication of communicable illness or disease. Residents of New Leonardtown apartments should be aware that their entire apartment could be reoccupied by other students within 24-48 hours after a campus closing is announced. As a result, residents of New Leonardtown apartments should be prepared to pack and store or remove all of their belongings and vacate their assigned rooms, within 24-48 hours after a campus closing is announced.

Displacement
This is our term for the rare occasions when students are forced to relocate from their rooms because their floor or building is:

• scheduled for renovation or closing,
• being converted for use by the opposite sex,
• being converted for students in a special University program, or
• uninhabitable because of an emergency.

Normally, announcements can be made several weeks or several months in advance. Under normal circumstances, no student has to leave on-campus housing and there is an opportunity to select one’s new room using the regular room change, Room Selection and “pull-in” procedures.

Absences of 1-2 Semesters
If you leave the residence halls because you have been registered to participate in one of the following programs, you can be assured of having another room assignment when you return, so long as you otherwise are eligible, if you follow the proper guidelines for securing a residence hall space:

• Study Abroad
• Student teaching
• Approved internship/co-operative education programs

If your absence starts in the Spring 2007 semester, you must petition for release from your Agreement by November 29, 2006 by visiting www.resnet.umd.edu.

If your absence starts in the Spring 2007 or Fall 2007 semester, you should not participate in Room Selection 2006 (or by July 56 you should petition for release from any Agreement and be subject to “release fees” for any later request). At the beginning of your last semester away from the residence halls, you should contact the Assignments staff to:

• provide your contact address and phone number,
• ask that new housing and dining Agreement information be sent to you,
• indicate where you had been living and where you would like to be reassigned,
• indicate whether any resident should be “pulling” you into a vacancy, and
• ensure that your signed Agreement request is returned by December 1, 2006 for Spring 2007, or April 1, 2007 for Fall 2007.

Attempts will be made to assign you where and with whom you prefer, within the limitations of available space and time, so long as you return your Agreement by the above deadline.

Once you’re back on campus, you can ask to have a Priority Number assigned to you. You will get points for continued college/university enrollment and will keep all housing points earned. This provision does not apply to residents who leave the University and/or the residence halls for other reasons (e.g., personal, financial, medical) and later return to residence halls.