Step-by-Step Housing Selection Guide

Housing Selection Guide

The housing selection process takes place in The Housing Director (THD). You can sign in to THD from the Champlain Current Students portal.

Follow the steps outlined in this guide to help navigate your way to housing for the upcoming school year.

If you have questions, check out the FAQs page or reach out to reslife@champlain.edu.

Overview of the Housing Selection Process

All students who apply for housing by the deadline will receive a housing selection time block. This is the time during the housing selection process where you will log into THD and select your housing. The time block will be posted to your home page on THD. See Important Housing Selection Dates for key deadlines.

The housing selection process is completed entirely within the THD system. For specific information on the 194 St. Paul application process, see the 194 FAQs.

Step-by-Step Application Process:

Step 1: Log In to The Housing Director and Complete the Main Campus Housing Application (available in March)

Using your Champlain credentials, log in to The Housing Director (THD).

At the top of the screen, select the Application Tab and a view of available applications will display. Select the Main Campus Housing Application for the semester you are applying for, and complete and submit that application. Students who do not fill this out before the deadline cannot participate in the Housing Selection process and will not be able to be part of a roommate group to sign up for a room or suite.

Step 2 (Optional): Select/Change Roommate Groups

NOTE: We highly recommend you complete this step prior to the beginning of a Time Block to maximize efficiency.  See below for further details on Forming a Roommate Group. 

Students may form roommate groups based on who they would like to live with.  Every individual must confirm each other as roommate(s). If a student does not have a desired roommate, they do not need to complete this step and may sign up as an individual. 

To do this, each person in the group must first submit an application. Then find and request each other on THD by clicking on Room Selection / Select Roommates, and select "For the term" as the upcoming fall semester. You may search for a specific person, or you may search for a roommate based on similar lifestyle choices or preferences and contact them before requesting to be matched.

Be sure you get fully matched: If you request someone, that person must then approve your request by clicking the "match" icon. Both of you will then see you are fully matched. If the other person does nothing, you are not a fully matched group. You may do this with up to four people in your group (the largest suite houses 4 people). 

Step 3: Sign Up for a Room During Your Time Block During Housing Selection

You will receive a Time Block for the specific window of time during which you may log in and choose your room.  Be ready when your window opens, because the best selection will be available early!

Using your Champlain credentials, log in to The Housing Director (THD) before your Time Block so you are ready. 

THD will display a real-time list of every room option available for each selection process. To see a list of available rooms for a specific selection window, click on the selection time and you will see a list of the rooms for which you are eligible.  The number of spaces still available in each room will be displayed.

If you are in a roommate group, each person in a group has a time, but the person with the earliest time should log in and choose the room or suite for the group. Be sure to talk to each other in advance and be ready when your window opens, because the best selection will be available early! The system will automatically assign everyone in the roommate grouping to the room selected.

Be sure your group size matches the room size you want to select, as students will only be able to see rooms that the roommate group can occupy. For example, a triple group will not be able to see or search for double rooms.

Students sign up for a specific room—however, due to the consolidation policy, they may receive the same room type but not the exact same room number. (For example, if you sign up for a double in Valcour, you'll remain in a double in Valcour even if it's a different-numbered room). Once a room is selected, it cannot be changed.

• Once the desired room is selected, click on Select Room. A screen with the beds available as well as the housing contract will display.  Note that the specific bed number inside the room does not matter.  
• Once you have read through the contract, click on the "I Agree" button at the bottom to reserve the room.

Congratulations! Your housing selection process is now complete!

More Information About Champlain Housing

Time Blocks for Housing Selection

Time Blocks are assigned only to students who have applied for housing by the application deadline, and they start and end at specific times. Time Blocks are assigned based upon the number of completed credits earned toward graduation. The more credits, the earlier the Time Block starts. For example, rising seniors receive the earliest Time Blocks, followed by rising juniors, and then rising sophomores.

Please rectify any credit discrepancies with the Registrar's Office prior to the application deadline. The dates and times that Time Blocks will be announced are listed on our Important Housing Dates page.

Students will be notified of their Time Blocks on The Housing Director online. We strongly recommend each student go in immediately at the earliest Time Block to ensure the best selection. Time Blocks generally have a few people added every few minutes. Once a room is chosen, no changes will be allowed.

Remember: Only one student in a roommate group will sign up for the entire group. If you know in advance that you will not be able to log in during your Time Block, one of your roommates should choose the room for you.

If you are not part of a roommate group and will not be able to log in during your time block, please contact Housing and Residential Life. Do not give your password or login credentials to anyone for any reason.

Please note that only those students who applied for housing on THD by the application deadline will be allowed to participate in the Housing Selection process. Students who did not apply by the deadline will not be able to participate in Housing Selection and will not be able to be part of a roommate group to sign up for a room or suite. They will be placed later as space allows, with no guarantee to be part of their roommate group.

Forming a Roommate Group

Prior to Housing Selection:

• Students who wish to live together should each complete a housing application
• Form the roommate group on The Housing Director (all students in that group must select each roommate request)
• Identify the best housing option for the group (e.g. double, triple, quad)
• Come up with a back-up plan in the event of unavailability
• Review this housing selection guide

During Housing Selection:

• One designated member of the student group (ideally the person with the earliest time block) should sign on to The Housing Director to sign up for a room or suite on behalf of the whole group.
• As long as the group is complete and approved, the system will automatically assign everyone in the roommate group to the space selected.
• Should a large-enough room or suite not be available at the time of selection, students may need to readjust the roommate group to sign up for a different room that will accommodate that group. For instance, should a group of three attempt to sign up for a triple room and all triple rooms have been assigned, that roommate group will need to either reduce the size of the group to be able to search for double rooms or they can search for rooms or suites of a larger size. A triple group will not be able to search for a double room as its numbers exceed the capacity of that space.
• Keep in mind that the time blocks are very close together so any delays to making selections, will result in reduced options as others make their room selections. 

Consolidation Policy: An Individual Bed in Multi-Person Room

In order to create more open spaces for returning residents who want to live with a friend, as well as for first-year and transfer students, Housing and Residential Life has established a Consolidation Policy. During the Housing Selection process, a student who signs up for a room where one or more spaces remain open is subject to consolidation within the same building to a room with the same or lower occupancy.

For example, if a double room in a building only has one resident, and a triple down the hall only has one resident, Housing and Residential Life reserves the right to move the lone student in the triple to the double room. In the case where both rooms in question have the same potential occupancy (e.g. 2 quads with 2 people each) then the room of the resident holding the highest priority number will be where all 4 students are consolidated. Additionally, if fewer students sign up for a larger occupancy room (e.g. 2 students in a triple) they may be moved to a smaller occupancy room in the same building in order to make space for a student group of a larger size.

Housing and Residential Life will not move students from their building to a room with a higher occupancy in order to consolidate. This process will happen throughout housing selection to create open spaces so that confirmed roommate groups during different time blocks will have options available to them. Housing and Residential Life reserves the right to consolidate students under these terms up until the time that a student moves into their room in the fall.

Waitlist

Every year, we have a waitlist following Housing Selection. We anticipate a certain amount of attrition amongst students who sign up for housing and we will do our best to assign all students who request housing. This process will occur throughout the summer. Additionally, we will do everything we can to honor any roommate requests as we are able.