Daniel Zhao

As Yale shifts its housing draw priority, students are divided on whether the change offers more stability or merely shifts challenges to their final year.

In November, Dean of Student Affairs Melanie Boyd announced changes to the housing process. This year, juniors will have the same priority as seniors in the housing draw and gain the highest priority in the years after. 

“Some people prefer housing that they could get off campus, where they might be guaranteed a single or guaranteed who they live with. That won’t change entirely, but my hope is that if juniors stay on campus, then they’ll choose to stay on as seniors,” Pericles Lewis, dean of Yale College, told the News. “In the past, we’ve seen that very often, if somebody moves off in their junior year, they don’t move back in their senior year, and we’d like to have people live at least three years on campus.”

Boyd’s message to the Yale community announced that the changes were made to encourage students to live on campus as upperclassmen and ease the transition from sophomore to junior year.

In this year’s housing draw, juniors and seniors will have equal priority in choosing suite configurations. Starting next year, rising juniors will select suites first and rising seniors second, with sophomores’ and first years’ orders unimpacted.

The News talked to fifteen students about the factors influencing their housing decisions.

When asked whether the announcement regarding the housing priority change for juniors and seniors influenced their housing plans next year, seven rising juniors said it did not, while three said it did. Among rising seniors, two said the announcement did impact their decision, and three said it did not.

When asked if the change in housing priorities was a good choice, three rising juniors said it was not, one felt neutral and three supported it. All five rising seniors spoke negatively of the change.

Kendall Archer ’27, who is staying on campus next year, wrote that while she understood the reasoning behind the choice, she wondered how it will impact her housing when she becomes a senior.

Benjamin Plana Trajtenberg ’27, who is living off-campus next year, shared a similar sentiment and wrote that though he would benefit this year as a rising junior, he thinks seniors who want to live in their residential college during their last year at Yale should maintain priority.

“As a rising senior, I strongly believe that we should be guaranteed housing on campus,” Kawthar Al Janabi ’26 wrote. “This is our last opportunity to fully experience life within our residential colleges, which, in my opinion, is a defining aspect of Yale’s community, and it is disappointing that we are once again at risk of being annexed.”

Coby Yang ’26 wrote that the change seems unclear, as it only shifts whether students must deal with the lack of priority in junior or senior year. 

Ferentz Lafargue, associate dean of residential college life, wrote to the News that a majority of feedback after the announcement has been from seniors who will be impacted by the changing priority. 

“We have heard from rising seniors who will not have ‘priority’ in this spring’s room draw. There is a level of curiosity regarding how this will play out over time, which we won’t really even begin to know until next year’s housing cycle,” Lafargue wrote.

The News has previously reported student concerns about on-campus housing shortages and the unaffordability of off-campus housing.

However, Lewis told the News that Yale has “always been able to give housing to everyone willing to take whatever is available,” including annex housing. 

Lafargue wrote that a recurring challenge for students who have reconsidered living off campus is how they underestimate the costs associated with the move.

“I think that the switch in priority will not have too much impact this coming year, because people have planned around it, but our hope is that in the long run, more juniors will choose to stay on campus,” Lewis said. Since class sizes have decreased, compared to the current senior class, students will have many more housing options, he added. 

The 2025-26 Housing Intent Declaration is open until 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 5.