Graduate, Optometry, & Student Families

People sitting around and on picnic table.

Why make the Columbia Lake Village (CLV) Graduate Community your home? 

Please note: Many of the amenities and options differ for student families. Please visit the Student Family Housing page if you are looking for how to apply, available amenities, contract details, and other information related to Student Family Housing.
Columbia Lake Village is a safe, quiet, and conscientious community of graduate students, optometry students, and student families that has lots to offer, no matter what your housing needs are. 

Why make the Columbia Lake Village Graduate & Student Family Community your home?  

  • 4-month renewable contracts that align with academic term  
  • Reliable and trustworthy maintenance services (with a great landlord!) 
  • Onsite support and community building from Campus Housing and Residence Life Dons 
  • All-inclusive living (utilities, high-speed Internet, community events) 
  • Community Centre with ping pong table, foosball, pool table, TV for movie nights, and quiet study area 
  • Programming designed with all graduate students in mind 
  • Option to live in a 2-bedroom or 4-bedroom townhouse (find out more about tours and residence buildings)  

How to apply

For Current Graduate & Optometry Students

Once you accept a contract with us, great news! You do not need to apply for future housing at CLV. Two to six weeks into each term, you will receive an offer via email to renew your stay with us – in the same room – by accepting another 1-term contract for the upcoming term. Current tenants are given priority over incoming students.

Please refer to the schedule below to anticipate when you can expect to receive your renewal offer from Campus Housing. For the official application dates please see our important dates page.

Term living in Housing  Renewing placements for  Renewal offers sent to current residents  New offers sent to new applicants 
Fall Winter Early October Mid-October 
Winter Spring Early February Mid-February 
Spring Fall Early May Mid-May 

*See the FAQ for more answers about the renewal process.

For Prospective Graduate & Optometry Students

1) Decide who you want to live with

Choose a roommate and request each other (mixed gender requests welcome), or you can apply on your own and we’ll match you with some new friends. Choose from CLV-North or CLV-South. Please note CLV-North is comprised of 2-bedroom townhouses, and CLV-South is comprised of 4-bedroom townhouses. We will try our best to accommodate your requests and preferences. 

2) Apply!
Check our Important Dates Calendar for application open dates. Offers are made on a first-come, first-served basis. In current years we have seen a lot of interest and demand for graduate housing - apply early to make sure you get a residence offer.

3) Accept your offer   
Check your UWaterloo email often, as we will be sending offers soon after you apply. Please note your offer is based on availability of space that considers your highest ranked community preference for your contract term.

Please Note: We receive a high number of applications on Graduate application opening day, which can cause our system to slow down. If you experience a slow connection, please do not refresh your browser. Questions? Connect with us.

Frequently asked questions

Prospective Graduate & Optometry Students

I'm a visiting scholar, can I apply to live on campus?

Only full-time registered UWaterloo students are eligible to live in Campus Housing. Visiting scholars (researchers, professors, students from another institution) can look into our faculty accommodations.

Are the fees paid by year or per term?

Residence fees for students living in graduate housing are assessed and paid per term, and follow the University’s fee schedule.

What is the length of the contract?

Graduate and Optometry students are offered one-term (4 month) renewable contracts. 

Graduate student contracts always end at 10am on the last month of the term.  

EXAMPLE:  

Term living in Housing   Move-in Date (at 8am)  Move-out Date (at 10am) 
Fall September 1  December 29 
Winter January 1  April 29 
Spring  May 1  August 29 

Visit Graduate & Optometry Move-out page for more detailed move-in and move-out information.

DO YOU HAVE ONE-BEDROOM APARTMENTS?

Graduate housing consists of 2-bedroom (CLV-North) and 4-bedroom (CLV-South) townhouses located in Columbia Lake Village. Find out more about Columbia Lake Village - North or South.

WHAT ARE THE ACADEMIC REQUIREMENTS FOR STUDENTS TO BE ELIGIBLE TO LIVE IN CLV GRADUATE HOUSING?

Students must be registered in full time studies at the start of their contract in order to qualify for residence; continued stay in residence is dependent on continued academic eligibility (ie. Full-time student enrollment).

AM I GUARANTEED MY TOP RANKED BUILDING COMMUNITY PREFERENCE WHEN APPLYING FOR CLV-SOUTH OR CLV-NORTH?

Building and community preferences are not guaranteed. Your residence offer takes into consideration ranked community preferences and is based on available space for the term.  

Please note: current residents may request a one-time room change to move from CLV-South to CLV-North, or to live with a preferred roommate. Limitations apply. See additional FAQs below for more detail.

I received an offer for Columbia Lake Village South, but I really wanted CLV-North. Can I receive an offer for Columbia Lake Village North instead? Is there a CLV-North waitlist?

Offers for CLV Grad Housing are sent on a first-come first-serve basis and depend on availability of CLV bedspaces at the time when your application reaches the top of the application queue. If you indicated CLV-North as your first choice but were sent an offer for CLV-South instead, then that means there are no available CLV-North units at the time of your offer. You can choose to accept or decline your CLV Grad Housing offer for CLV-South based on this information.

There is no “CLV-North specific” waitlist. If you choose to decline a CLV Grad Housing offer that is for CLV-South but wish to still be considered for other Grad Housing offers in CLV, please email us at housing@uwaterloo.ca to request for your CLV Grad Housing application to be reactivated.

  • Please note: reactivated applications go to the bottom of the application queue, and generally there is a lot more demand for graduate housing than we have available space for, so it may be unlikely that you will receive another offer for graduate housing for the term that you originally applied for.

Note: if you become a Columbia Lake Village resident, you may be able to request during the termly renewal process to be considered for a one-time room change to move to CLV-North. Our ability to accommodate this request will be based on availability in CLV-N and on several other factors. We cannot guarantee we can accommodate your request. See FAQs for Current Residents below for more information on this process.

I received an offer for Single Graduate Housing but would like to request a preferred roommate, can this be accommodated?

Unfortunately, we can only accommodate roommate requests made during the application process. Once offers are sent we cannot accommodate roommate requests.

Note: if you become a Columbia Lake Village resident, you may be able to request during the termly renewal process to be considered for a one-time room change request to live with a preferred roommate. Our ability to accommodate this request will be based on availability in CLV-N and on several other factors. We cannot guarantee we can accommodate your request. See FAQs for Current Residents below for more information on this process.

I am enrolled at the university as a part-time graduate student - can I still apply to live in Columbia Lake Village as a part-time student?

The Campus Housing graduate community is available to full-time graduate students at the University of Waterloo. You must be registered as a full-time student on Quest in order to be eligible to live in Columbia Lake Village, and it is your responsibility to ensure your status reflects “full-time” before the start of term. 

All students - incoming and current residents - are responsible for making sure you meet the full-time eligibility requirement before you move-in to Columbia Lake Village. Visit our Terms & Conditions for more eligibility details.

Please note, you will be held financially responsible for your $500 non-refundable deposit if you need to cancel a future contract due to ineligibility. Visit the cancellation page for more details and information.

For current residents, see FAQ below for more details if your status changes to part-time or inactive after you are already living in CLV. It is your responsibility to reach out to Campus Housing (housing@uwaterloo.ca) if you anticipate your enrolment status changing. 

Am I eligible to live in residence as a Postdoctoral Fellow?

Postdoctoral Fellows are not eligible to live in residence. Postdoctoral Fellows are considered employees of the university and are not full-time graduate students. To live in residence, residents must be graduate students enrolled with full-time status in Quest.

I have accepted my residence offer and have been assigned to a unit. Am I allowed to see my unit prior to move-in?

Columbia Lake Village does not offer in-person residence tours.

On the Campus Housing website, under "Our Residences", you can check out the amenities that come with each unit, photos, and virtual tour videos of units in CLV North and South.

Current Graduate & Optometry Students

WHAT IF I MISS ACCEPTING MY RENEWAL CONTRACT OFFER AND I WANT TO LIVE IN MY ROOM FOR THE UPCOMING TERM?

Once the renewal deadline has passed, you will need to reapply as a new applicant. In this case, you will be re-added to the end of the waitlist. 

Please immediately notify us at housing@uwaterloo.ca to let us know you missed the renewal but wish to stay in your current room for the next term. We will make every effort to place you within the same unit and room you are currently in.  

Due to the demand and interest of applicants we cannot guarantee the same residence placement or that you will receive an offer of housing.

Why do renewal offers get sent out so early in the term?

The renewal process into the next academic term for single graduate residents begins 2-6 weeks into the current term. The reason renewals occur earlier in the semester is so that we can give our current residents the first opportunity to book their spot into the next term, while balancing consideration for future students who want a spot in graduate Campus Housing as well.  

Early renewals allow for certainty for both us and you, while allowing us to better serve future residents by being able to send new offers earlier on as well. Please note there are financial consequences to signing a residence contract, read more here.

Can I request a room/community change as part of accepting my renewal offer?

No, Renewal offers for future terms are to renew your contract in the same room; your renewal cannot include a room change.  

See additional FAQs below for ways to request room changes for upcoming term contracts.

CAN I REQUEST A CLV-SOUTH TO CLV-NORTH ROOM CHANGE FOR NEXT TERM?

Renewal students in CLV-South may send a request prior to renewal offer expiry to be moved to CLV-North. These requests can only be filled based on room availability and the order requests are received. This request may also require the resident to be present on the last day of the contract and to move their belongings during a specific moving window

While we will try our best, we cannot guarantee that we can accommodate these requests

CAN I REQUEST A ROOM/COMMUNITY CHANGE FOR DIFFERENT UNIT AMENITIES?

Preference-based room change requests are not permitted.  

Room change processes are resource and time intensive for operations and for staff. As well, while we may not have control over which units meet personal preference thresholds (e.g., personal preferences for views, location in CLV, etc.), we do ensure that all townhouse units and bedrooms consistently offer the same housing amenities. Thus, preference-based room change requests are not considered at this time.

MY FRIEND AND I BOTH LIVE AT CLV IN DIFFERENT UNITS – CAN WE REQUEST ROOM CHANGES TO LIVE WITH EACH OTHER FOR NEXT TERM?

Current residents must connect with their Residence Life Coordinator to inquire about room availability in other buildings and to receive approval for roommate requests. 

Where possible, Campus Housing tries to support grad students that want to live with specific friends or other community members. However, these requests cannot be guaranteed, and can only be considered if a bedroom becomes available in one of the current resident’s unit.  Even if a space opens up in a residence unit, roommate requests may not be approved.

There are limitations to being able to accommodate these types of room change requests. Dependencies include (but are not limited to): proximity to term turnover, cleaning schedules, moving timelines, unit space/availability, occupancy levels, and staff capacity to accommodate/support these room change requests.

WHO ARE THE GRAD DONS? WHAT CAN I EXPECT FROM MY GRAD DON WHILE I LIVE IN CLV?

A Residence Life Grad Don is a graduate student who lives and works in CLV. Your Grad Don can help with questions or concerns, provide general support, and help you build connections with others also living in the Graduate & Student Family Community  

Grad Dons also help organize fun and engaging events that can help you connect with your peers and build useful skills. They provide residents in the community with opportunities to learn about valuable campus resources and how to access them.   

To learn more about CLV Grad Dons, please visit the Jobs & Leadership page . To contact your grad don, visit the community center and ask the CLV Front Desk or your Residence Life Coordinator.

I AM NOT GOING TO LIVE IN CAMPUS HOUSING NEXT TERM SO I DO NOT WANT TO RENEW MY CONTRACT. WHAT DO I DO?

No problem. When you receive your contract renewal offer, please decline the offer.  

Please note: until you decline your offer, you will continue receiving reminders of your renewal offer throughout the renewal window.

AM I ALLOWED TO INSTALL AIR CONDITIONING IN MY CLV TOWNHOUSE?

Air-conditioning units are only permitted in CLV-North townhouses. Air-conditioning units are not permitted in CLV-South townhouses. 

Within CLV-North townhouses, air-conditioning restrictions are:   

  • One (1) air conditioner is permitted per townhouse.   

  • Must be CSA approved and operate on 115 volts.   

  • Portable, free-standing units only; window mounted air conditioner units are not permitted.   

Refer to your Terms & Conditions for more information on air conditioners, or reach out to CLV maintenance if you have any questions about your CLV unit.

DO I NEED PERSONAL (OR RENTER’S) INSURANCE FOR MY BELONGINGS?

Accidents can happen. The University of Waterloo is not liable, directly or indirectly, for any loss or theft of personal property, or for the damage or destruction of such property by fire, water, or other use. We strongly recommend that you obtain adequate personal insurance to cover your personal property while living in residence.

WHAT DO I DO IF I COME ACROSS ANY PESTS IN MY UNIT? E.G. A SPIDER, BEDBUGS, ETC

Residents should note that CLV is surrounded by greenspace as well a protected wet area.  This makes the community beautiful. However with greenspace there are also common household bugs for which we do not provide pest control. Examples include: flies, spiders, earwigs, silverfish, etc.   

Pest control is provided for bedbugs and cockroaches. For more information please refer to your residence contract, or reach out to CLV maintenance if you have any questions about your CLV unit.

HOW DOES MY FURNACE WORK, AND HOW DO I MAKE SURE IT IS HEATING MY HOUSE?

CLV North townhouses are equipped with forced air gas furnaces.  The furnace heats the air and then uses a fan to blow it into duct systems and distribute it throughout the house. The air flows through the ducts and is expelled out of the ducts through vents located in different rooms around the building.  

You can feel a flow of air coming out of these vents when the furnace fan is going. You will note that the air coming out of the vent will feel cool regardless of the heat setting – this is normal.  Once the set temperature in the unit is reached the furnace will turn off until the temperature drops below the setting at which time the furnace will turn back on.  

Reach out to CLV Maintenance if you have any questions about your CLV unit.

AM I ALLOWED TO MAKE MODIFICATIONS OR RENOVATIONS TO MY UNIT?

No. CLV townhouse unit modifications and/or renovations by tenants are not permitted under any circumstances. Examples of modifications that are not permitted include (but are not limited to): changes to walls, floors, ceilings, furniture, plumbing, electrical, appliances, equipment, unit exterior, unit interior, or more. 

If a resident does modify or renovate any elements of their CLV unit, they will be found in breach of contract and may be required to move out of residence. Additionally, they will be responsible for any financial costs associated with the maintenance team restoring the unit back to its original condition.  

For more information, please refer to your residence contract.

CLV-NORTH TOWNHOUSES ONLY: CAN THE BASEMENT OF MY CLV-NORTH UNIT BE USED AS A BEDROOM?

No. Residents are not permitted to sleep in the basement for fire safety purposes.  

In order to sleep or live in a basement, there needs to be 2 exits out of the building. This condition is not met by the CLV-North unit townhouse layout.  

Thus, basements are intended to provide residents with additional study and/or living space only (not sleeping space).

I've completed my degree requirements; can I continue living in residence?

If you become degree complete* while in residence, you will be allowed to remain in residence for the remainder of the current term that you become degree complete*in. NOTE: Any contracts for future terms will be cancelled. Please note, you will be held financially responsible for your $500 non-refundable deposit if you need to cancel a future contract due to degree completion. Visit the cancellation page for more details and information. 

Example 1If you completed your degree requirements on January 17 you would be permitted to remain in residence until the last day of your Winter term contract (end of April). You would not be eligible to receive a renewal offer. 

Example 2If you completed your degree requirements on April 2 you would be permitted to remain in residence until the last day of your Winter term contract (end of April); Any future term contracts (e.g. your Spring term contract, if you have one), would be cancelled. 

Please reach out to your Residence Life Coordinator to communicate your intention to become degree complete. 

*Degree completion is not the same as degree conferral.  Eligibility will be determined based on the date that is reflected on Quest confirming that all degree requirements were completed.This date can often be well in advance of the conferral of your degree (ie. Convocation).  

What happens if I'm inactive or part-time for a term?

You must be registered as a full-time student to apply for residence in Columbia Lake Village, and to remain in the community. 

If you become inactive once you are already living in the community; you may be permitted to remain in residence for as long as your inactive status is approved by the Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs office or your Faculty (e.g. medical leave, etc.). You are required to inform us of your situation and submit documentation to verify your circumstances. If you are not able to submit appropriate documentation to verify your inactive status is approved by the Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs office or your Faculty, then you will not be permitted to remain in residence. Contact your RLC immediately to discuss next steps and what verification needs to look like. 

If you become enrolled part-time once you are already living in the community; you will be required to submit documentation from your faculty confirming an intent to become full-time enrolled again the following term. If you continue to be enrolled part-time for more than one consecutive term, you will not be permitted to remain in residence. Contact your RLC immediately to discuss next steps 

Please note, you will be held financially responsible for your $500 non-refundable deposit if you need to cancel a future contract due to ineligibility. Visit the cancellation page for more details and information.