Juniors may no longer receive priority for on-campus housing such as the Village East apartments. (Bobby Kaplan | Staff Photographer)

In the upcoming 2026-2027 school year, all sophomores will be required to live on campus. As a result, juniors will no longer receive priority for on-campus University housing, according to Will Andrews, Executive Director of Residential Life.

First-years share mixed reactions to the new policies mandating they live on campus for their sophomore year. Some expressed financial concerns surrounding the change. 

“The requirement for sophomores to live on campus is one that is very troublesome for me because I see both the University and [the] students’ sides,” first-year Tobias Montilla said. “I personally resonate more with the students because of the burden that it lays on the students. Living on campus, especially [given] the increase[ed] cost for housing and meal plans for next year, is an exponential cost that in many cases middle-class families can’t fully cover.”

First-year Annie Ketcham reports her housing selection experience went smoothly, but many sophomores she spoke to were struggling with the process. 

“I was aware of [these housing changes], especially because I had spoken to a number of sophomores who said they were experiencing difficulties in finding housing because they were planning on living on campus and could no longer do so due to the sophomore priority,” Ketcham said. “The process was not stressful for me at all […] the only stressful part was hearing of other people not getting what they wanted and being stuck in a dorm or area they didn’t prefer,” Ketcham said.

These changes mean many juniors will have to live in off-campus WashU housing, such as Greenway, Lofts, University Drive, and Rosedale. None of these housing options can accommodate groups larger than four people, and some rising junior groups of five or larger had to split up and rearrange their living situations for the upcoming school year.

Some rising juniors, such as sophomore Ailisa McGowan, were annoyed with the updated policies, noting that if they’d been aware of these changes earlier, they would have tried to find non-WashU housing to accommodate their group.

“We filled out the housing assignment in our group of eight and found out through word of mouth that we needed to redo the application and split into smaller groups. It is way too late to lease an apartment, and we would have had to find one months ago,” McGowan said.

Sophomore Anja Rauscher told Student Life that she was not aware of these changes until recently.

“I learned about the changes a week before the deadline,” Rauscher said.

Andrews said these changes were reported in November through various housing communication channels such as the Residential Life website and the Residential Life Reporter newsletter. Andrews said the housing changes are intended to simplify what has historically been a complex and high‑pressure process.

“By using the preferences students already provide and assigning housing based on those preferences, the process reduces pressure associated with timed selection, including concerns about missed classes, technical issues, or inadvertent errors. The goal is to create a more predictable, accessible, and student‑centered experience,” Andrews said.

To Andrews, the updated process is designed to shift the focus away from competition for specific spaces and toward thoughtful decision‑making about living preferences and roommate selection. 

While Rauscher’s living group of four were still able to apply to live in Village East, her group did not receive a timeslot to select their housing for next year due to high demand to live in Village East’s four-person suites. 

After a rising junior group is informed that they did not receive a timeslot, they will either be administratively assigned to a housing unit that is reserved from initial housing selection, or their group will have to split up further to fit off-campus WashU housing spaces that only accommodate groups of three or fewer.

“I am disappointed, and this has caused me and all my friends significant stress that would have been easily avoidable by announcing this earlier,” McGowan said.