Academic Year Housing Selection

As we move forward, there is one significant change we want everyone to be aware of. Beginning this cycle, housing selection will occur by housing credits in the following order:

1. Selection for 1+ Housing Credits (Rising Sophomores)
2. Selection for 3+ Housing Credits (Rising Juniors)
3. Selection for 5+ Housing Credits  (Rising Seniors)

Each selection group will see the specific communities designated for them. 

Rising sophomores will be able to select from spaces in the following communities: 

• Quad Area – Davis, Efird, Huffman, and Taylor
• North Campus – Dogwood, Magnolia, Martin, and North Campus Apartments

Rising juniors should expect to select from spaces in the following communities: 

• North Campus Apartments, Student Apartments, and Polo Hall
• Any remaining spaces in sophomore designated communities – Davis, Efird, Huffman, and Taylor, Dogwood, Magnolia, Martin

Rising seniors will be able to select from spaces in the following communities: 

• Deacon Place
• Any remaining spaces in sophomore or junior designated communities – North Campus Apartments, Student Apartments, and Polo Hall, Davis, Efird, Huffman, and Taylor, Dogwood, Magnolia, Martin

2026-2027 Campus Occupancy

Our incoming classes continue to grow, and Babcock Hall will be offline during Fall 2026 for renovation. That said, most of Kitchin and Poteat Halls will be held for incoming students.

Wake Forest University views living on campus as integral to a liberal arts education and the Wake Forest experience. In support of that view, the University has a six-semester residency requirement. 

Those with 6+ housing credits (typically seniors), will be asked to express their intent to live on or off campus for the upcoming academic year. Those who do not express an on-campus intent by the deadline will be assigned an off-campus application.

Students for whom a portion of college costs are provided by Wake Forest Need-Based Scholarship funds should carefully consider their housing and meal plan selections. Please read about the financial impacts of the various options and then contact Student Financial Aid at finaid@wfu.edu with any questions.

Students who select during housing selection will NOT be permitted to request a room change between housing selection and the Fall Semester. The earliest opportunity for a room change for those students is during the Fall Semester.

If students would like to make rearrangements of their current selected suite, they must submit the following linked form between May 1 and July 31.

Unapproved room changes may result in a fine, a return to the original assignment, and/or other administrative actions.

Residents of the apartment/block/room may have the first opportunity to fill vacancies during the year by pulling in a roommate of choice.

There is a second round of the room selection process which occurs during the summer, usually in July, each year. All students who are required to live in campus housing, but do not select during the first round of housing selection, are automatically placed into the second round. Again, this is a normal part of our assignments process and occurs each year.

During the summer, rooms open up across campus for a number of reasons, including when students decide to go abroad or transfer. After allowing time for these changes to be processed, unused spaces are made available alongside those which were not yet selected in our second round of housing selection. Students on the list for the second round will receive an email with a selection day to go online and select at that time.

During the second round of selection, students can plan to select a single bed or to look for open doubles in a roommate group of two people.

Fall Study Abroad

Fall Study Abroad

Students studying abroad during the Fall Semester will NOT select housing during Academic Year Housing Selection. Instead, students abroad for the Fall Semester will be required to select their housing for the Spring Semester ONLY online in December.

If you are planning to go abroad for Fall 2026, please keep these critical considerations in mind as you begin to think about Spring 2027. 

• Students who participate in study abroad/away are still subject to the residency requirement, with their semester abroad counting towards the six-semester requirement.
• Students abroad for the fall semester will select their spring semester housing in December.
• Students returning from study away programs in the fall have limited housing options for the spring and are often placed into rooms with open beds, meaning they may be living with random roommates.

As with Spring 2026, we will be unable to house all students returning from abroad. Babcock Hall will reopen for Spring 2027, providing just over 200 beds for students returning from abroad. Additional availability is expected to be severely limited and unpredictable. 

Most students returning from abroad should not expect to live in University housing. 

Spring Study Abroad

Students planning to study abroad during the Spring Semester should proceed with Academic Year Housing Selection for the Fall Semester. During the Fall Semester, our office will be notified by Global Programs and Studies that these students are going abroad, and their Spring Semester housing will be canceled.

During the Spring Semester, these students will be able to participate in Academic Year Housing Selection for the following fall from abroad.

If you are going to be an RA for the Fall Semester, you will participate in this online process. When instructed, you will need to visit the Housing Portal to update contact information, pull in suitemates – if your space allows, select a meal plan, and sign the Housing and Dining Agreements.