Office of Residence Life

Hello Everyone,

On behalf of the Department of Residence Life, I would like to congratulate you on your acceptance and welcome you to SUNY New Paltz.

The purpose of this email is to provide you with general information about living on campus, as well as details regarding the room assignment and roommate matching processes.

If you are receiving this but you no longer plan to attend SUNY New Paltz in Fall 2021, please skip Section A and scroll down to Section B at the bottom of this e-mail. Please read Section B and follow the directions to let us know you no longer plan to attend.

If you DO plan to attend SUNY New Paltz, please read Section A in its entirety.

Section A
You are about to begin one of the most exciting times in your life and we’re thrilled you’ve decided to make New Paltz a part of your journey. When entering our residence hall community, you will be unlocking a door that will offer you a world of exciting new experiences, academic and personal support, and meaningful connections with others.
I would like to take this opportunity to give you some information about living on campus.

RESIDENCE LIFE STAFF

Complex Directors

Complex Directors (also called Resident Directors or RDs) are primarily responsible for the overall operation of the residence hall. Complex Directors are full-time professional staff members who live and work within the hall and aid students with social, academic, and personal concerns. The Complex Director supervises seven to ten Resident Assistants who live in the hall and are available to assist residents.

Resident Assistants (RAs)

An RA is a student staff member who lives in a house/wing of the residence hall and assists in maintaining a comfortable environment for 25-40 students. They assist, support, and develop living/learning communities through various programmatic initiatives. RAs provide administrative support for the department and the college community. They facilitate purposeful programming, conduct peer counseling, enforce policy and provide on-call duty coverage during the semester, among other things.

COMMUNITY LIVING

Life in the residence halls is exciting, fun, and challenging. You will learn about different cultures, interests, and values while your roommates and community members learn about you.

Living on campus will enhance your university experience by providing you many opportunities to develop lasting and memorable relationships with your roommate(s), neighbors, student staff members, and others on campus. It is our goal to provide you with as many new learning experiences as possible that will benefit your overall growth and development as a productive citizen in society. We encourage you to take the time to learn new things, experience new ideas and develop new friendships while living in our community.

UNDERSTANDING THE ROOM ASSIGNMENT PROCESS

The Residence Hall License and Housing Key
Each student living on campus must submit a Residence Hall License. The Residence Hall License is an agreement that outlines the policies and procedures each student living on campus must adhere to.

The Housing Key is a five-digit code that identifies you within the room and roommate assignment process.

To submit the License and get a Housing Key, click the following link and follow the instructions:

Residence Hall License and Housing Key PDF

Please submit the Residence Hall License before you attend your Summer Orientation session.

Roommate Assignments

First-year students will submit a Roommate Matching Survey during Summer Orientation. The survey asks questions about living habits.
If you already know another incoming first-year student or transfer student, or you meet someone during Summer Orientation, or on social media, you can request them as a roommate by entering their name and Housing Key on the roommate matching survey. As long as you both request each other on your individual surveys, you will be guaranteed a room together.
If you know someone who was a New Paltz student this past semester (Spring 2021), and who will be living on campus again in Fall 2021 that wants you as a roommate or suitemate, give them your Housing Key now. They can email us at reslife@newpaltz.edu now and let us know that they would like to request you as a roommate or suitemate. Once they request you, we will place you in their room or suite.
If you do not know or meet anyone specific, we will use the answers you provide in the survey to match you up with another first-year student that has similar living habits.

Room assignments

Once the roommate matching process is completed, (whether you requested a specific person, or whether we matched you with someone), roommate pairs will be placed in rooms together. The room and building each pair gets placed in will be chosen at random. There are three exceptions to this:

Students who choose to join one of our Living-Learning Communities. LLCs are building-specific so participants will be assigned to the building which houses their chosen LLC. LLC participants will be assigned roommates who are also part of the same LLC. You will receive an email with information about our LLC's next month, and information will also be provided in the Summer Orientation Information/Modules.
Students who inform us that they have a medical diagnosis or disability that requires specific accommodations. To request a Disability-based Housing Application, please email us at reslife@newpaltz.edu if you have not already done so.
Students that need to stay on campus during winter and/or spring break must live in specific buildings as there are only four buildings that stay open during the breaks. This includes athletes who will play on teams that have games and/or practices during the breaks, as well as other students that cannot go home during either or both breaks.

All first-year students will receive an email with their room and roommate assignments on August 10th. This email will include instructions on how to access your roommate's name, phone number and school email, provided they gave us permission to release that information when they submitted the Residence Hall License.

B. If you no longer plan to attend SUNY New Paltz.

If you are no longer attending SUNY New Paltz, e-mail Residence Life at reslife@newpaltz.edu and CC the Admissions Office at admissions@newpaltz.edu as soon as possible to let us know that you will no longer be attending.

In your cancelation email, please answer the following questions:

What is your student ID number? (It is the number that starts with N followed by eight digits). If you do not know your Banner ID, include your New Paltz admission status portal student ID number, which was included in your acceptance materials.
Are you an incoming first or transfer student?
Do you plan to re-apply for acceptance in a future semester or school year, or you wish to withdraw from SUNY New Paltz permanently?
Did you pay a room deposit?
Do you already have a room assignment? If yes, tell us the building and room you were assigned to.

Thanks. We'll see you soon,

Rafael Calderon
Coordinator for Housing Operations