It feels like the fall semester just started a couple of weeks ago, but Carolina Housing is already planning ahead to fall semester 2025. They launched their Priority Housing Application Process Oct. 21, with a deadline for applying of Nov. 12.
Carolina Housing started educating students about this year’s process in mid-October with emails and live virtual information sessions that are also saved on their resources page. The resources page includes a list of common questions and answers, a step-by-step guide to the process and updates on how the process is a little different this year.
Avery Hall will remain offline for maintenance and upgrades, and while it is expected to reopen before fall 2025, it will not be available during the room selection process. Students will be reassigned to Avery Hall in spring 2025, which will temporarily reduce the number of available beds in the application process. Additionally, Carolina Housing anticipates that Craige North will be used to house first-year students and as a result, the hall will not be available during room selection for returning students.
Given the likely increased demand for rooms for returning students, Carolina Housing implemented several changes to try to streamline the assignment process, including shortening the window available for students to cancel their contract and increasing the penalty fee for cancellation from $300 to $500. These changes allow staff to move through the waitlist more quickly and provide housing for students who truly need it.
The Carolina Housing team pushed hard to reach students with information and resources about this year’s application process, including proactively sharing the information with the Daily Tar Heel, tabling, giveaways, a robust social media campaign on their Instagram account, and a video promoting the process — including Rameses as guest star — on their YouTube channel.
“Our goal is to ensure students have all the information they need to make confident choices about on-campus living,” said Matt Bertram, Assistant Director of Marketing for Carolina Housing. “We’ve been pleased to see so many students proactively submitting their applications early and taking full advantage of the educational resources we’ve developed to guide them through each step.”