What is the "residence guarantee"? How do I know if I qualify?
The 100% Residence Guarantee at the University of Waterloo is a collaborative effort between Waterloo Residences and the University College Residences. All first-year undergraduate students have the opportunity to stay in residence during their first-year if they apply by the June deadline. Note: Conrad Grebel is not included in the first-year guarantee and follows a separate application process.
Learn more about the first-year application process.
What happens if I miss the deadline to be guaranteed residence?
If you miss the deadline for the residence guarantee you can apply to the Vacancy Application. This application does not guarantee you a place in residence, and will be used if residence spaces open up and vacant rooms need to be filled.
What happens if I don’t like my room assignment?
All of our residences offer a strong sense of community, support for academic pursuits, full-time professional staff, and many amenities to make it feel like home. Upon move-in, our Residence Life Staff team will help students adjust to their new living placement and ensure their students feel supported and comfortable in their placement. Conversations with your Residence Life Don can help ease the transition and develop ways on how to make the most out of your Waterloo Residences experience.
How is residence inclusive for all students?
Waterloo Residences, and our Residence Life staff provide inclusive living spaces to all residents by creating an inclusive environment within each community.
Multi-Faith Rooms: Multi-faith rooms can be found in both Village 1 and Claudette Miller Hall residences and can be used by all students living in any of our Waterloo Residences buildings.
Room Assignments: Students are placed into residence based on living preferences. Over 20 factors are considered when placing students into residence. Students are placed using some key factors like Living-Learning Communities, academic streams, accessibility needs, roommate requests, residence ranking, space availability, and personality matching. Factors like race, religion, ethnicity, languages spoken, and dietary preferences (unless indicated by a medical professional as an accessibility need) are not taken into consideration when placing students.
Where can I store my belongings between terms?
If you are staying in the same space for two consecutive terms (fall to winter, winter to spring, spring to fall) you can keep all your belongings in your current residence space.
If you are moving residence spaces between terms, you can fill out this form to request storage space in residence to keep a few of your belongings on-campus. Storage space is limited to current students returning to residence the following consecutive term.
Holiday Break
Join us for the December International Student Stay Program.
International Arrival
Learn more about when you can arrive to residence and visit the Student Success Office for more resources including Orientation, Airport pick-up service, and more!