Starting tomorrow, Jan. 29, the process to obtain a Longwood-managed apartment for next year will begin. Longwood has three apartment complexes where students may live. Longwood has three types of living situations in Lancer Park, including four-bedroom apartments for rising sophomores only, and four-bedroom townhouses and two-bedroom apartments for rising juniors and seniors. The Longwood Landings have four-bedroom apartments and studio singles for rising juniors and seniors. Longwood Village has three-bedroom apartments for rising juniors and seniors. In order to move into an apartment the Office of Residential and Commuter Life (RCL) has some rules that students should note. RCL defines the year a student it in by the number of credits that student has taken. A sophomore is anyone with 25 credits or more, juniors must have 56 credits or more and senior must have 89 credits or more. There are no mixed-gender assignments within a Longwood-managed apartment complex, and no smoking or pets are allowed.
Students applying for an apartment must have a full set of roommates, and everyone in the apartment must sign up together. Roommates must be current residential students at Longwood, which means that students who are transferring in or are already commuter students are not eligible. Students must have a contract already filled out and signed by all roommates when requesting an apartment. After the form is submitted changes cannot be made, and submission of falsified contract information will void the entire apartment grouping and will be considered a Longwood Honor Code violation for each resident of that grouping.
All of the apartments come with furniture, high speed internet and cable TV. Students who live in Lancer Park and the Landings have parking spaces at their apartment complexes and will still buy a residential parking pass. Students who live in the Village (about 2.5 miles away) can purchase a commuter decal to drive to campus.
The majority of sophomores who request apartments will be placed in a four-bedroom apartment in Lancer Park. There are 90 apartments reserved for sophomores in the complex. Sophomores can move into the Landings or the Village only if they are pulled in as a housemate of juniors or seniors. There are no pure sophomore apartments at the Landings or the Village this year.
RCL has a set system in which apartments are divided up. On Thursday, Jan. 29, RCL will have a squatting day where students who currently live in one of the 24 studio singles in the Landings have the option to say they want to keep it. Friday, Jan. 30, is the single studio lottery day. Students who want to move into a studio single can submit their application on this day to the lottery. Applicants will find out that evening if they "won" a studio single. Anyone looking to do either one of these options should go to the RCL office in Lancaster G-13 between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.
For the week of Feb. 2, RCL will be in Lankford Student Union "A" room from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday, Feb. 2, and Tuesday, Feb. 3, are the "return to the same apartment squatting days" for students who want to stay in the same apartment that they are in this year. Students wanting to move into a different apartment within the same apartment complex (for example, moving from a 4B apartment in Lancer Park to a 4BR townhouse) may do so Wednesday, Feb. 4.
Students wanting to move to a different apartment complex (i.e. from Lancer Park to the Landings) can do so on Thursday, Feb. 5. Students currently living in a residential dorm on Longwood's campus who want to move to an apartment can sign up Friday, Feb. 6.
Only one person per apartment needs to show up on the day of signups, and that person should be a current Longwood apartment resident. That person will be responsible for selecting the accommodation location and for making the necessary data entry into the online assignment system. The designated housemate must be a current Longwood apartment resident if the assignment is made Feb. 2-5.
On Friday, Feb. 6 ("new residents to Longwood apartments day"), the designated housemate can be any current Longwood residential student. Housemates are strongly encouraged to discuss community preferences (and any back-up plan, should their desired apartment not be available).
After a 2009-2010 (August-May) apartment assignment is made, residents may not submit an off-campus release application or request to be assigned to any main campus residence hall. Contract termination must be based on a documented academic reason for campus departure (student teaching, graduation, university withdraw, etc.).
Students with enough credits who want to move off campus still need to apply and must have 89 credits. The only exceptions are for students who are married, 23-years-old or older, a part-time student for two consecutive semesters, or living at a permanent home address in one of the eight surrounding counties. Application to move off campus will be accepted during the second week of February. Main campus registration starts the week of March 23. Check out www.longwood.edu/rcl for more information and to download the housing contracts.
