Applications, Contracts, & Cancellations
Eligibility
Residential Services offers three residence halls for graduate students: Engelhart Hall, Garrett Place Apartments, and McManus Center. All three residence halls are open to all graduate students. All graduate apartment facilities are open year-round. To apply for housing, you must be accepted into your specific program.
Rates for Graduate Housing
Contract Information/Renewal
Housing contracts are for the academic year (Fall, Winter, and Spring Quarters) with an option to renew for the summer and/or another academic year. Current residents are given an option to recontract in March, before assignments are offered to new students. More information for current student recontracting will be available in early 2026.
Residency Limitations
Occupancy is limited to eight years (96 months) from the original date of your admission to your program.
2025-2026 Housing Process
The housing application for Winter Quarter 2026 opened on November 3, 2025, and can be accessed in the .
2026-2027 Housing Process
Important Dates for the 2026 Process
|
DATE |
PROCESS |
|
March 23- April 3 |
Recontracting open for returning students. |
|
March 23 |
New Student Housing Application Open |
|
April 6 |
Returning Student Room Changes Processed |
|
April 8 |
Returning Student Room Changes Sent via Email |
|
April 28 |
New Student Assignments Processed |
|
May 1 |
New Student Assignment Notification Sent via Email |
New graduate student assignments will continue to be made on an ongoing basis after May 1 and notification emails will be sent following the processing of those assignments.
Recontracting For Current Students
Recontracting is the process by which returning residential graduate students secure on campus housing for the upcoming academic year. All current residential graduate students will need to submit a contract between March 23 and April 3 in order to guarantee a space in graduate housing for the following year.
During this process, current residents will be able to recontract for their current apartment or request a change to a different apartment. Additionally, during recontracting, current residents will be able to sign a Summer 2026 contract if they will be on campus and enrolled in classes.
Current residents who will not be here in Summer 2026 but are seeking a late stay to extend their contract until June 30, 2026 will complete a Late Stay Request in Spring Quarter. Information will be provided to current residents in early May.
Get Started!
The 2026-2027 graduate contract will open on March 23, 2026. To get started after that date, access the contract via the .
New Student Housing Assignment Process
Residential Services is excited to welcome you to the first step in choosing your campus residence for the next academic year. Residential Services will assign you a building and apartment type based on the preferences you share in the housing contract. While every effort will be made to fulfill your preferences, assignments to specific buildings, rooms, or roommates cannot be guaranteed.
The 2026-2027 contract for new graduate students will open on March 23, 2026 in the Housing Portal. New graduate students can apply any time on or after that date. Please note that the graduate housing application requires a $100 non-refundable application fee.
We will notify applicants of their assignments on May 1, 2026, but assignments will continue to be made on an ongoing basis after May 1 until graduate housing is full.
Get Started!
The 2026-2027 graduate contract will open on March 23, 2026. To get started after that date, access the contract via the .
Housing Contract Terms & Conditions
Eligibility to Request Cancellation
Before reading the details below about graduate housing cancellations, please confirm your eligibility to submit a request.
- Academic dismissal
- Disciplinary exclusion from the University
- NU sponsored internships (including study abroad, Co-Op, graduate programs, etc.)
- Marriage/civil union (for marriages/civil unions occurring after date of contract)
- Induction into military service
- Graduation/Degree completion
- Approved Housing & Dining Accommodation
- New graduate assignments within 5 business days
Cancellation Requests
Graduate students eligible to cancel their housing contract can request to do so via the . Submitting a cancellation request is not an automatic release from your contract, nor does it guarantee a release. Each request is reviewed on a case-by-case basis. Once submitted, your cancellation request will be approved or denied within 10 business days.
Fees During the Academic Year
If approved, and depending upon the submission date, you may be responsible for a cancellation fee ($300) and/or a portion/entirety of the contracted rate.
In the event that a student wishes to relocate to a different room or building on campus, they can add themselves to the room change waitlist(s) and/or room swap portal via the Housing Portal under ‘Forms & Requests’. To learn more about each process, please see the corresponding sections below.
Room changes and swaps are processed in the order requests are received and as spaces within preferred buildings become available. We cannot guarantee that all requests will be fulfilled. If you feel your situation requires additional support beyond the standard room change and/or swap processes, please see the section titled ‘Other Concerns’ below.
Standard room changes and swaps are only processed during the academic year when a housing freeze is not in effect. Please see the section ‘Housing Freeze’ below, for more information.
Room Change
Through the room change process, students are offered the opportunity to move to a currently vacant space on campus. Students may add themselves to either, or both ‘Singles’ and ‘Doubles/Triples’ (room type) waitlists, and can preference up to five buildings. Graduate students can add themselves to the Graduate Housing waitlist and can preference up to 5 building and unit type preferences. Please note that vacant spaces within a residential college will be offered only to members or non-resident members of that college.
Students may also specify another contract-holding student they wish to move with. If requesting to move with another student, both parties must add themselves to the room change waitlist. Please note that group requests may take longer to process than individual requests due to limited availability of fully vacant double and triple rooms.
Students will not receive an update on their waitlist request(s) until an offer can be made. Offers will be sent to student’s Â鶹´«Ã½ email, with an expiration of 24 hours from the time of receipt.
Room Swap
Through the room swap process, two students can perform a 1-to-1 swap of their current assignments. Students can ‘post’ their current space on the room swap portal and specify the building (and room types for graduate housing only) they are open to swapping into.
The only available spaces shown in the room swap portal are those matching both parties' gender, classification (first years or returners/transfers), and building/room type preferences. Spaces within a specific residential college will only display for members and non-resident members of that college.
Once students accept a room swap, it will be reviewed and processed by Residential Services staff. If a room swap is approved, students will be provided with specific instructions for completing their swap.
Housing Freeze
Housing freezes are periods in which no students are permitted to move from their assigned rooms, allowing staff to account for vacant spaces and make new assignments for returning residents. Housing freezes are typically in effect at the beginning and near the end of each quarter.
Other Concerns
Should a student wish to change rooms due to roommate challenges, they should contact their Resident Assistant (RA), Graduate Resident Assistant (GRA), and/or Resident Director (RD) for assistance.
For students seeking an accommodation please see the processes for ‘Housing & Dining Accommodation Requests’ on our website.
Note that accommodation requests are reviewed by our peer department, AccessibleNU. The review process can take up to four (4) weeks.