By Ainslee Archibald, PZ ’25

The April 5 application deadline for Pitzer housing is fast approaching, and the suite politics on campus are reaching a boiling point. This year, Pitzer is organizing a Substance Free Living Community, creating dedicated space for single-gender housing, and implementing new procedures for evaluating accommodations applications. All the while, competition for main campus singles ever increases.

By noon on April 5, all returning students must submit an accommodation request, an off-campus housing request, or the general housing application. Students will hear back from Residence Life (ResLife) by April 19 if they’ve been approved for accommodations or off-campus housing, providing a buffer before the housing lottery begins the following week.

Once a student’s housing application is accepted, they will be able to form a roommate group of up to four people. However, groups must perfectly match the available space in the suite in order to select it.

Housing selection runs April 23-25 from 4-7 p.m., with rising seniors on April 23, rising juniors April 24, and rising sophomores April 25. The group selection time will be the earliest individual selection time of the group members. Students will be able to see the names of the students already in the other rooms of a suite when choosing spaces.

For students requesting singles through the accommodations application, the main change from last year is the introduction of a panel of professional Pitzer staff to approve requests.

“It’s still a new process for us,” Natalie Murillo, assistant director of residential operations, said. “But usually the applications are based on the need and the severity of the accommodation and why they need it. So those usually get approved first.”

Murillo anticipates that single accommodations will be even more competitive this coming year. Last year, ResLife received about 250 accommodation applications, though not all were for singles. This year, they’re expecting around 300. Because of the limited number of singles, both on main campus and at the Claremont Collegiate Apartments (CCA), this means some applications will be denied.

Additionally, students will have no guarantee of what building they will be placed in. Students requesting mobility-related accommodations will likely be placed closer to campus, while those who are not are more likely to be placed at CCA.

Those with approved accommodations can email ResLife to request to live with others with approved accommodations, but they cannot pull other students without accommodations into their suites, with one exception: students placed in accommodations singles in Mead can pull two seniors into a double in the suite by emailing Reslife with the request.

“You should have a plan in mind for if you don’t receive a single,” the ResLife office warns in their housing info session slides.

For students requesting off-campus housing, priority will be given to those living with off-campus family; those who are married, have children, or who have medical documentation indicating a need for off-campus housing; those who are 24 years of age or older, and seniors. However, last year Reslife rejected very few off-campus requests.

ResLife anticipates having the space to approve around 150-200 off-campus housing requests, but the final number will depend on the size of the incoming class. The office is expecting a larger incoming class than last year, so they’re forecasting approving more than the 150 spots that were accepted during the previous cycle. These numbers are set to balance the incoming class so that Pitzer’s campus remains at full capacity.

They expect to approve most seniors who apply this year, but cannot weigh in on the outlook for juniors or sophomores yet. As of March 21, ResLife had received about 50 off-campus applications, and anticipated getting close to 150.

Off-campus housing provides a potential remedy for students who are unhappy with their housing situation after the lottery week has concluded, as people have the option to apply for off-campus housing late. However, ResLife can provide no guarantee that spots will still be open, and it’s all contingent on availability.

The Substance Free Living Community is a new option for Pitzer students next year, with the application process being part of the general application. The location for the community will depend on the number of applicants; around 20 students would be enough to reserve a whole floor, while a smaller group would just be placed in neighboring rooms. Regardless, the community would likely be situated in West, East, or Skandera (WES).

The Substance Free application will be handled similarly to the accommodations process, in that students will receive information about whether they were approved and placed in the community or not by April 19.

Also new this year is the potential for a single-gender housing section in Mead. While students have been able to form their own single-gender suite groups, ResLife is now planning on blocking off a few spaces in Mead for all male or all female students.

“That was an issue we had last year of people being placed with both genders and people not being the most comfortable with it,”  Murillo said. “So [we’ll] try to block some spaces off.”

These spaces will be visibly labeled as single-gender during the selection process, and will not require a special application.

“I’m gonna do my best to hold some off, but I can’t guarantee that they will all be open,” Murillo said, of suites in Mead generally being open for the beginning of the lottery.

ResLife is hoping to keep some CCA suites open for the beginning of the lottery, but they can’t guarantee how many — if any — actually will be. That uncertainty comes from people forfeiting their accommodation placements, not from ResLife not accepting accommodations, so they can’t be sure of the numbers.

Last year, ResLife placed students at CCA who later had to be moved to Mead, leaving some suites in CCA partially full. They’re hoping with the introduction of the accommodations panel, people will be placed where they need to be to start, minimizing this issue. 

“But unfortunately, through the lottery,” Murillo said of suites where people forfeit their singles, “it would just kind of have to play itself out.” Other changes promised at CCA include “enhanced” shuttle service and a greater focus on community.

For underclassmen, the outlook is a bit different. Reslife cautions that incoming sophomores making selections on the last day should expect to live in WES, as Mead and CCA probably won’t still be open.

“Be prepared if your group has to split up,” Murillo said. “By the time we get to sophomores, full suites may not be open anymore.” Alternatively, sophomores can form housing groups with upperclassmen to select earlier in the process.

For more information, students can attend drop in office hours (3-5pm in the ResLife office through April 4), tabling sessions (11am-1:30pm through April 4 outside of McConnell), or an information session (April 2 at 1pm on Zoom).

If all else fails, students still have options to make adjustments to their housing situation after selection week. The week after housing selection is dubbed “swap week,” when students can potentially switch rooms.