Living Off Campus & Senior Release

Due to Union College's status as a residential campus, students are required and expected to live in College housing for the entirety of their undergraduate experience.

Each year, to balance campus occupancy the College permits a small number of eligible rising seniors to be released from their Housing Contract to secure Private Off-Campus housing (housing not owned by/affiliated with the College) for the upcoming year. Unless a student receives a written "release" from the College, they are not authorized to secure private housing or a lease for an off-campus residence in place of their College Housing Contract. Signing a lease without permission will not release applicants from Union College’s residency requirement or any on-campus financial obligations due to the College.

For planning purposes, students can expect the 2026 senior off-campus release to releasee 20-40 students from their on-campus living requirement Additional releases may or may not happen after the initial process.

Senior Off-Campus Release Eligibility

To be eligible for the release process, students must be currently enrolled and:

• Have had a 2.5 cumulative GPA as of the beginning of the Winter term in their junior year.
• Be a member of the current junior class (as determined by the Registrar's Office) as of the beginning of the winter term.
• Be in good standing with the Office of Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution.
  • Any student who has been suspended or has been placed on any level of probational status is not eligible.
  • Students are required to remain in good standing or could have their approval revoked.
• Not have another required housing assignment for the next (senior) academic year
  • Example: Fraternity or Sorority chapter house requirements could limit a student's ability to participate in the Senior Off-Campus Release lottery. Students who have not completed the minimum 3-term requirement inside their fraternity/sorority house will not be eligible for release.
• Complete assigned online Bystander Intervention Training module
• Members of the junior class who are on leave of absence during the winter term will not be eligible to participate in the Senior Off-Campus Release lottery unless their formal approval to return to campus has been processed through official college channels

Personal Pre-Release Checklist

Prior to opting in to the Senior Off Campus Lottery our office recommends students take the following action:

1. Confirm that they have the right number of credit hours (27 hours needed by fall term of senior year)
2. Contact Financial Aid to see if living off-campus would have any impact on their financial aid package. Contact the Office of Financial Aid at (518) 388-6123 to make an appointment with a counselor.
3. Review the housing registration timeline, and submit the housing registration by the required deadline.

2025- 2026 Lottery Application Process

Students who would like to participate in the Senior Off-Campus Release lottery must be eligible to participate in the lottery and complete the Housing Registration Form in their student housing portal. The Housing Registration Form will have a question asking each individual student if they would like to be considered in the Senior Off-Campus Release lottery.

After the Housing Registration Form closes on January 31st all eligible students who opted into the lottery process will be extrapolated from the Housing Registration Form. All students who meet the eligibility criteria at this point will be assigned an online bystander intervention training module that must be completed by February 7th at 11:59 pm to continue to be eligible for the lottery. Any students who do not meet the eligibility criteria will be removed from the lottery process.

After February 7th, 2025 students who have completed the online educational model will be assigned priority numbers at random. Releases will be offered to students in the order of their randomly assigned priority number until our maximum number of releases has been reached. The maximum number of off-campus releases is tied to overall enrollment and on-campus occupancy projections.

Based on the amount of interest received for Senior Off-Campus Release, not all interested and eligible students will be randomly selected for a release from their housing contract. Students who are not selected for release or decline their offered release will be able to participate in other subsequent college housing selection processes. Students who are offered a release from their live-on requirement are required to confirm and accept their offer of release. Failure to complete this confirmation will result in a student's forfeiture of their release offer.

General Information on Senior Off-Campus Release

When considering if the Senior Off-Campus Release lottery is right for them, we ask our students to take into account the following:

• The senior off-campus release process is individual-based and students are not able to apply or be released in groups
• Priority numbers are randomly assigned to all eligible students who opt into the lottery. There is no process that exists for a student to increase their chances of getting released from their live-on requirement through the Senior Off Campus release process
• Once a student accepts their offer of Senior Off-Campus Release they are locked into this decision, are no longer guaranteed campus housing, and are ineligible to participate in any room selection processes
• There will be no waitlist after the Senior Off-Campus Release lottery for students who did not receive a release offer
• Students will be informed of their release status whether they were offered a release or not