By Brandon Bocanegra, November 4, 2025
Approximately 2,800 students currently live on campus across the three residence communities, many of whom submit requests to change where they stay, according to University Housing.
Students request to change their rooms for multiple reasons, including disability accommodations, facility issues, financial changes, wanting to live with friends and conflict with roommates that can’t be resolved, according to Director of Housing Operations Jackie Natividad.
Mechanical engineering student Kate Strickland said they requested a room change at the University Village after conflict and roommate incompatibility arose in the gender inclusive housing unit.
“My one and only roommate in the apartment was uncompromising, transphobic and later physically assaulted me in the apartment,” Strickland said. “Mediations with the RAs and supervisors hadn’t changed this behavior, so it was clear to me that I had no other choice but to move out.”
Strickland contacted the Village Sept. 15 for information on moving out and was given seven new apartment options to choose from the next day. Village Assistant Director for Community Standards & Wellness Allyson Leclair presented Strickland with two apartment options Sept. 18 and gave them tours of the rooms. Strickland then chose an apartment Sept. 22 and moved in the following day.
The entire process lasted eight days.
“I’m thankful that Ally Leclair made moving out easy for me, but I wish I never had to endure these issues in the first place, especially with it being a gender inclusive space,” Strickland said.
According to Natividad, getting the room change request approved relies on the availability of space University Housing has during a specific time of the year.
Certain sessions like summer see more traffic than fall as students are returning or leaving, allowing many spaces to be moved into or out of easier. In months like September are more difficult to have a request approved, as most students are freshly moved in and there are no vacancies, according to Natividad.
The process takes place in the University Housing Portal, where a room request form is open at certain times of the year that are announced months prior. The form consists of students’ names, Bronco ID and the type of room they are looking to move into.
University Housing introduced a feature this year that allows students to view room availability through the housing portal when room change requests are open, making the process easier to monitor. Before, students’ only option was to ask University Housing what spaces were available and wait to hear back, but now they have a visual reference before making requests.
“I think it really helped with transparency because students can see what we have,” Natividad said. “Almost 500 students were able to navigate through it really easily.”
Out of the nearly 500 students who were processed during the summer and start of the fall, only 46 were denied a room change due to availability. Those students will have to wait till next semester when there is vacancy, according to Natividad.
Requests are processed in the order they are received, but some cases like accommodations from the Disability Resource Center and facility issues like leaks and damage to living spaces, are processed quicker.
The solutions for requests include movement to different buildings within a community or to a new community entirely, different floors or in spaces going from a double to a single. Students with financial difficulties often opt to change from smaller occupancies to larger ones because the fees are less than single rooms, according to Natividad.
Finance, real estate and law student, James Ochoa had a unique scenario that prolonged his request. On Ochoa’s application, his gender had been mistaken, and he was assigned to a different building and living space than his original roommate group.
“It was a long process that required constant communication through emails and phone calls with the housing director,” Ochoa said. “Sending a room swap application to my friend’s roommate to switch spots was also a part of this process.”
After two months of communication and sorting information, Ochoa moved from the Sicomoro Residence Hall to his planned dorm assignment in the Secoya Residence Hall with his friend.
As occupancy grows higher, it becomes harder for requests to be fulfilled and puts students into a waitlist, according to a disclaimer in the University Housing application portal. Requests during transition periods like summer to fall become more complicated on move out days with staff getting spaces situated for a new resident, according to Natividad.
“Making sure people check out on time becomes a domino effect of people moving in and out,” Natividad said. “Generally, we’ll try to get the folks that are moving out quicker so that we can then clean the space or do what we need to do, so the next person moving in can do so in a timely fashion.”
The room change request tool will become available again Nov. 5 for residents wishing to move during the winter and spring session.
Feature image courtesy of Brandon Bocanegra
