UCLA Housing introduces early room sign up for roommate groups
UCLA Housing will now allow students who have planned who their roommates will be to sighn up for housing one week earlier than other students.(Shelby Scoggins/Daily Bruin)
By Nicholas Yu
Feb. 2, 2016 7:35 a.m.
Students who have chosen roommates for the 2016-2017 academic year will be able to choose room assignments a week earlier than students who have not.
Those in verified roommate groups will be randomly given a sign-up time between Feb. 23 and Feb. 25, and students who are not in roommate groups will sign up between Feb. 29 and March 4.
Housing officials implemented the change in an effort to ensure students who want to live together get to do so, said UCLA Housing representative German Medina.
In order to be in a verified roommate group, students must have submitted their housing application before Jan. 26 and must list future roommates on the application before 8 a.m. on Feb. 18.
Helen Meng, a first-year molecular, cellular and developmental biology student, said she thinks the change will allow groups of friends to stay together.
Joanna Li, a first-year molecular, cellular and developmental biology student, said she was initially assigned one of the latest sign-up times but was be able to secure an earlier time because she joined a roommate group.
Li said she thinks the change is unfair to students who haven’t decided whom to room with next year, but it may encourage students to find roommates sooner.
Medina said students who do not form roommate groups may have a more difficult time getting the rooms they want, but UCLA Housing officials expect the majority of students to be eligible for the early sign-up period.
