Room Changes
Changes During The Semester
Room changes during the academic semesters are overseen by the Community Director for your area of campus. Requests must be submitted in the Housing Portal up until the housing freeze period.
We highly encourage you to review this step-by-step guide about how to submit that request.
Changes are based on availability and must be approved by the Community Director for your area of campus.
- Students requesting a change due to a disability-related accommodation should follow the process outlined on our Accommodations page and will be contacted by our Assignments team after their request has been reviewed.
- Students requesting a change due to roommate concerns/conflict will need to work through a mediation process with their Community Director prior to requesting a room change.
Changes at the end of the Fall Semester
Continuing (Sophomore, Junior, Senior) and Transfer students may:
- Request a Room Change
- Request to “Pull In” a roommate of choice into their room, suite, or apartment.
- Students with 4 or more housing credits may enter the Off-Campus Lottery.
Students returning to campus for the spring semester may:
- Enter the Off-Campus Lottery
- Be “Pulled In” by a student living on campus for the Academic Year
- Select housing in the Spring Only Selection Process
Examples of student types include: Returning from abroad, readmit, and return from CES.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
- Wednesday, October 8, 2025
- Spring 2026 Housing Requests will be available via the Housing Portal. At this time, only the Spring Intent, Off-Campus Lottery and Winter Break housing requests will be available.
- Wednesday, October 22, 2025
- Deadline for ALL students to submit their Spring Intent
- Deadline for Off-Campus Lottery Entry
- Deadline to submit requests for Winter Break housing
- Wednesday, October 29, 2025
- Off-Campus Lottery outcomes released
- Pull-in and room change requests for Spring 2026 available via the Housing Portal
- Saturday, November 15, 2025
- Deadline for pull-in, room change, and disability-related accommodation requests for Spring 2026
- Friday, November 21, 2025
- Students will be informed about the status of their pull-in request and room change request by this date
- Those who applied for disability-related accommodation requests will be notified on a rolling basis until December 5, 2025.
- December 3-5, 2025
- December 3 – Check in between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. at the RLH office for those approved for a Spring 2026 room change.
- December 5 – Check out by 2 p.m. at the RLH office for those approved for a Spring 2026 room change.
- December 10, 2025
- Spring 2026 Housing Selection between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. EST
Students looking to change rooms on-campus for the Spring 2026 semester, with 2 or more housing credits, may submit a request in the Housing Portal between October 29 and November 15.
- Requests will be processed in the order they are received.
- Students will be informed about the status of their requests by November 21, 2025, via email.
- If approved to move, students MUST
- Check in between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Wednesday, December 3 at the Residence Life and Housing office
- Check-out by 2 p.m. on Friday, December 5 at the Residence Life and Housing office
Block Housing and Residential Engagement Communities
To request a room change to or within Block Housing and Residential Engagement Communities, the group leader for your group must complete an updated roster and submit that to Residence Life and Housing.
- Students may be allowed to move within their designated housing blocks; however, students are typically not permitted to move out of their housing block.
- Finally, students who change rooms into a housing block are assigned to that space for the remainder of the academic year.
In the event of a vacancy in their room, the remaining resident may pull in a new roommate of choice rather than having a new roommate assigned via Housing Selection or by Residence Life and Housing.
To pull in a new roommate, the current resident must complete the pull in section of the Room Change Request form found on the Housing Portal between October 29 and November 15, 2025.
Note: The request must be submitted by only the one resident remaining in the space (room, apartment, suite) for the spring semester and discussed with all remaining residents in advance. If there are multiple spaces available, the same person may submit multiple requests.
If you are being pulled into a space, confirm with those residents that they have submitted the pull-in request.
You will receive confirmation of your request by Friday, November 21, 2025.
Students with 4 or more housing credits are eligible to apply for the off-campus lottery.
Wake Forest University views living on campus as integral to a liberal arts education and the Wake Forest experience. In support of that view, Wake Forest University has a six-semester residency requirement. Students with less than six semesters of housing credit should not make any plans to live off-campus unless they have been released in writing from the residency requirement by Residence Life and Housing.
As a part of the Spring 2026 Housing Process, students may choose to enter the Off-Campus Lottery. This indicates a desire to live off-campus prior to fulfilling the residency requirement. As Residence Life and Housing finalizes the number of students able to live on campus for the spring semester, they will use random selection to release the appropriate number of students.
When the Off-Campus Lottery period is active, it does not matter if you apply when it opens or right before the close date. You have the same odds of being selected.
You must submit your Spring Intent before you are able to enter the Off-Campus Lottery.
Directions on how to complete your Spring Intent and Off-Campus Lottery Entry
The Off-Campus Lottery opens on Wednesday, October 8 and closes on Wednesday, October 22. Results of the Off-Campus Lottery will be released by Wednesday, October 29, 2025.
Other FAQs
What if I want to live off-campus with a certain group of people?
Each group member must first complete their Spring Intent form. After submitting, the Housing Portal will prompt you to confirm your interest in entering the off-campus lottery. Once that step is complete, one student should create a roommate group and invite up to three others (for a maximum of four people total). All invited members must log back into the portal to accept the group, complete the off-campus agreement, and continue through to the final confirmation page. At that point, your group will be officially entered into the lottery, and each member will also receive an email confirmation.
How do I know that I have been successfully entered into the off-campus lottery?
Be sure to complete every step in the Housing Portal until you reach the page with a green check mark. You will also receive an automatic email confirming your successful entry. If you do not see the green check mark or receive the confirmation email, your process is not complete.
What if I would like to no longer be in the off-campus lottery?
To withdraw from the lottery, log back into the portal and select the option indicating you no longer wish to be considered. You will then receive an automatic email confirming your withdrawal. This must be completed by Wednesday, October 22, 2025, at 9:00 a.m. EST.
Can I form a roommate group with someone who is already living off-campus?
No, you cannot. You may enter the lottery, and if you are approved to live off campus, you can then decide whether you’d like to live with that individual.
In support of students with disabilities, Residence Life and Housing has a wide variety of housing and dining options on-campus that can accommodate the vast majority of disability needs.
If entering the off-campus lottery, please wait for those outcomes before submitting a disability-related accommodation request.
Students who need to request disability-related accommodation should visit our website to begin the request process. For the Spring term, all students should provide complete documentation for consideration by November 15.
Students returning from abroad should pay particular attention to question four on the request form, which asks, “Have you previously requested accommodations for the CURRENT functional limitation? If so, what specific accommodations were provided? If not, what are the specific reasons for requesting it now?”.
In most circumstances, the University is able to provide reasonable accommodations that allow the student to fulfill the University’s residency requirement without an early release. In the request process, students should specify their housing needs (e.g., single room, limited-use kitchen), not a preference for “off-campus”.
Students abroad for the Fall 2025 semester will participate in our Spring Only Housing Selection process. Please read below for an overview of the process.
- Students participating in Spring Only Housing Selection will select their room and meal plan for the spring semester on Wednesday, December 10, via the Housing Portal.
- Selection times and an availability list will be available on December 5 in the Housing Portal.
- All selection times will be between 10 am and 4 pm EST, so please plan accordingly.
- You will receive an email to your WFU email address with specific instructions by December 5.
- Please note that options will be limited; you are not guaranteed the option to select a roommate group or roommate of choice. You may need to fill an empty bed in a double room with an existing roommate.
- You should plan for roommate groups no larger than two people
- You will receive an email via your WFU email address with specific instructions to select your Spring housing and meal plan.
To review the Fall Study Abroad Housing Agreement you signed, you received an email from Residence Life and Housing with a copy. You may also reference the agreement by clicking here.
Any student currently assigned to campus housing who is leaving Wake Forest University for any reason (e.g., continuous enrollment, withdrawal, transfer) must notify our office at housing@wfu.edu.
*Please note that we recommend using a pencil not a pen when adding these dates to your calendar. Though we’ve taken a great deal to provide accuracy for the upcoming year, dates are subject to change as needed should institutional changes impact the 25-26 academic year dates. Check back here regularly as we near key dates and deadlines and be sure to check your WFU email for the most updated information.
QUESTIONS?
See your community staff or contact Residence Life and Housing at housing@wfu.edu or 336.758.5185 for further information.