Housing
Visit the Cornell Housing website to learn about more about the different types of housing available here at Cornell.
View our Frequently Asked Questions about housing!
What are disability-related housing accommodations?
We can work with you to identify housing options to address your disability-specific needs. A disability is defined as a condition that substantially impacts one or more major life functions (such as walking, breathing, learning, hearing, thinking, etc.).
Examples of disability-related housing accommodations:
- A wheelchair accessible room
- A ground floor room, or a room near an elevator
- Access to a private bathroom, or a low-use shared bathroom
- Strobe alarms in the room
- Air filtration and/or air conditioning in the room
Requesting Disability-Related Housing Accommodations
Step 1: Apply for Campus Housing
- Complete the Housing Application process outlined by the Housing Office. You must do this to secure housing on campus, even if you need housing accommodations.
- If you currently live on West Campus, in an upper-level residence hall (e.g., Collegetown), or live in a program house, you should participate in your residence hall’s Continued Occupancy Process before requesting housing accommodations from our office.
Step 2: Request Disability-Related Housing Accommodations
- If you do not already have housing accommodations through SDS:
- Follow the steps to Register with SDS or request additional accommodations
- If you already have housing accommodations with SDS, we will email you to check in about the steps you should take for housing accommodations in upcoming semester(s).
Step 3: Await Communication from SDS and/or Housing Office
- SDS will follow up with you to discuss next steps
- If approved, we will work with the Housing Office to arrange an appropriate housing option for you. If you meet the deadlines (below), this will take place prior to general room selection and placement.
- The Housing Office will communicate with you regarding housing placement. You are responsible for meeting all of the Housing Office's deadlines and requirements.
- You will be contacted at your Cornell email address.
Deadlines
It is best for us to receive complete information from you by a certain date in order to facilitate the accommodation process:
Newly-admitted freshmen
- Fall admits: May 15
- Spring admits: December 15
Rising sophomores
- February 7
Rising Juniors/Seniors
- For new accommodations: by February 7
- For ongoing accommodations, see "Important Info" below for deadlines
Summer students
- May 31
Transfer, graduate, and professional students:
- Housing options are limited. Start the registration process with our office as soon as you have confirmed your admission to Cornell.
If we hear from you after your deadline, we can still work with you to try to identify an appropriate housing option, however availability will be more limited. We can put you on a waiting list to be reassigned to a room that meets your needs, but cannot guarantee one will become available.
If you are looking to continue existing housing disability accommodations, please see important info below for those timelines.
Important Info to Continue Housing Accommodations for Next Year
What you need to know about choosing on-campus housing
Second year students are required to live on campus.
You can learn about the on-campus residential options for rising sophomores on the Housing and Residential Life website.
The Housing Office will be sending out emails and has information on their website as well; please review that information and your responsibilities carefully. Please note that all students must complete the Residential Application via the Housing Portal.
What you need to know about disability housing accommodations
Disability related housing accommodations are not guaranteed from one year to the next. If you are requesting disability housing accommodations for the next academic year and are wanting our assistance in getting accessible housing for next year, please reply to the email we send you by February 7th. In your reply, please let us know if you are requesting the same accommodations you currently have or if you feel that you have new or different disability access needs. In either case, we may ask you to submit updated disability information/documentation. If we do not hear from you by February 7th, we will assume that you do not need our assistance in acquiring accessible on-campus housing.
Accepting a housing offer via the SDS process means that you would not participate in the General Room Selection that happens in mid-March. You will receive your SDS-facilitated room offer prior to the general room selection process, so you will have the opportunity to decide which you’d rather do: accept the SDS-facilitated offer, or decline and participate in general room selection instead. Please understand that the SDS-facilitated room offer will be a room that meets your disability-related needs, but not necessarily your roommate, room type, or building preferences. If you do not accept the SDS-facilitated room offer, you are declining accessible housing and we are not obligated to offer it to you again for that academic year. Accepting the SDS-facilitated room offer is the only way that we can guarantee placement in a room that meets your disability needs without having to be placed on a waitlist to be moved into a room that meets your needs if a vacancy becomes available.
What you need to know about choosing on-campus housing
It’s important to know that on-campus housing is not guaranteed for juniors and seniors.
If you wish to continue living in on-campus housing next year, you should use the continued occupancy programs that exist within your current residential community to secure continued occupancy for next year. If you would like to continue living where you currently live, your best chance at doing that is to secure a room during your community’s continued occupancy process. If you do not secure a room during that process, you would then need to sign up and participate in General Room Selection to secure a room. You must secure a room and sign a housing license agreement in order to live on campus.
The Housing Office will be sending out emails and has information on their website as well; please review that information and your responsibilities carefully. Please note that all students must complete the Residential Application via the Housing Portal.
What you need to know about disability housing accommodations
Disability related housing accommodations are not guaranteed from one year to the next.
Please reply to the email we send you by the following deadlines:
- You are currently approved by SDS to live in a non-carpeted room: reply by Dec. 15th.
- You are currently approved by SDS to live in a room with a “private - not shared with others” bathroom: reply by Dec. 15th.
- You are approved for housing accommodations, but signed a housing contract for next year for a room that does not meet your currently approved accommodations: please reply within 48 hours after signing your housing license agreement and include the building name, room number, and why the room does not meet your needs.