Overview
In this module, you'll configure how students browse and select rooms within your cycle. You'll create room selection phases that define activity windows, set up lottery systems to organize selection timing, and control what information students see when browsing available housing.
What you'll learn:
How to create room selection phases that define when students can choose rooms
How to configure room browsing settings and cost display
How to set up lottery types for fair selection ordering
How your ruleset controls room visibility and access
Time: 12 minutes
Resident Cycles Only: Room selection settings only appear for resident cycles. Non-resident cycles don't include room assignment, so these configuration options aren't available.
The Room Self-Selection Settings Tab
This tab organizes the room browsing experience and controls how students interact with available inventory during room selection phases. The ruleset you assigned in PLS-6B determines which rooms students can see.
Navigation: In the cycle editor, click the Room Self-Selection Settings tab.
How Rulesets Control Visibility: The ruleset you assigned in PLS-6B defines which rooms appear to each student based on their tags and attributes. Room selection phases define WHEN students can select; rulesets define WHAT rooms they can see and select.
Room Selection Settings
Allow Room Re-assignment
Toggle: Allow Room Re-assignment
Controls whether students can change their room selection after initially choosing a room during the active selection phase.
When Enabled:
Students can browse rooms and select a different room
Number of changes is controlled by "Max Reselection Attempts" (configured in PLS-6B Application Settings)
Time window is controlled by "Max Reselection in Days"
Creates flexibility for students to explore options and adjust their choice
When Disabled:
Students are locked to their first room selection
They cannot change rooms through self-service
Room changes require admin intervention or room swap process (PLS-6E)
Balancing Flexibility and Stability: Most institutions enable re-assignment with limits (2-3 attempts within 7-14 days). This allows students to adjust their choice early while creating stability as move-in approaches. Consider enabling during the selection period, then disabling as logistics finalize.
Show Room Costs in Student Portal
Toggle: Show Room Costs in Student Portal
Controls whether students see room pricing when browsing available housing during selection phases.
When Enabled:
Room prices appear next to each room in the browsing interface
Students can filter and sort by price when exploring options
Provides transparency about housing costs before selection
Helps students make informed financial decisions
When Disabled:
No pricing information appears in the student portal during selection
Students select based on features, location, and roommate preferences only
Costs appear later through billing systems
When to show costs:
Rooms have different pricing tiers (singles more expensive than doubles)
You want students to make cost-informed decisions before selecting
Institutional policy emphasizes financial transparency
When to hide costs:
All rooms are priced the same within this cycle
You don't want cost to influence room selection decisions
Pricing is handled separately from the housing selection process
Creating Room Selection Phases
Room selection phases define the activity windows when different student populations can browse inventory and select rooms. These are phase dates (when students can take action), not residence dates (when they live in housing).
Phase Dates vs. Residence Dates: Room selection phase dates define when students can choose their rooms (typically May). The residence period you configured in PLS-6A defines when students actually live in housing (typically August-May). Students select rooms months before move-in.
Why Multiple Selection Phases?
Multiple room selection phases organize access and timing for different student populations:
Give priority populations early access to room selection
Stagger selection by class year, program, or other criteria
Create sequential selection windows that prevent simultaneous load
Control the order in which different groups choose from available inventory
Creating a Room Selection Phase
In the Room Self-Selection Settings tab, find Self-Selection Phases
Click "Add Phase"
Configure the phase:
Phase Name: Clear, descriptive name (Example: "Priority Room Selection")
Start Date: When this selection window opens (e.g., May 1, 2025)
End Date: When this selection window closes (e.g., May 7, 2025)
Applicability Tags: Which students can access this phase
Example: "Student-Athlete" OR "Honors Program"
Lottery Configuration: Whether this phase uses lottery-based time slots (configured in Lottery tab)
Example: Three-Tiered Selection Timeline
Phase 1: Priority Selection (Student-Athletes)
Dates: May 1-7, 2025
Tags: "Student-Athlete"
Lottery: No (all-at-once access during this window)
Phase 2: Honors Students
Dates: May 8-14, 2025
Tags: "Honors Program"
Lottery: Yes (random time slots within this week)
Phase 3: General Selection
Dates: May 15-31, 2025
Tags: "First-Year" (all remaining first-years)
Lottery: Yes (random selection time slots)
Sequential vs. Overlapping Phases: Sequential phases (Phase 1 ends before Phase 2 starts) create clear priority ordering—Student-athletes select first from full inventory, then Honors students select from what remains. This is the most common approach for priority-based selection.
Phase Timing Best Practices
Start room selection AFTER roommate phases close:
Roommate phase closes: April 30
Buffer period: May 1-4 (allows groups to stabilize)
Room selection opens: May 5
This ensures roommate groups are finalized before room selection begins
Allow sufficient selection time:
2-4 weeks is typical for room selection phases
Shorter windows create urgency; longer windows accommodate varying schedules
Consider academic calendars and finals schedules
Timeline Example for a cycle with August 15, 2025 residence start:
Application phase: March 1 - April 15, 2025
Roommate phase: April 21 - April 30, 2025
Room selection: May 5 - May 15, 2025
Move-in: August 15, 2025
The entire housing process happens months before the residence period begins.
The Room Selection Lottery Tab
The Room Selection Lottery tab configures how selection timing is organized when you want to prevent all students from selecting simultaneously.
Navigation: Click the Room Selection Lottery tab in the cycle editor.
What is a Room Selection Lottery?
A lottery system assigns each student a specific selection time (or priority number) to create organized, fair room selection. Instead of all students choosing simultaneously, the lottery staggers selection into manageable windows.
Without lottery (All-at-Once): All students in a phase browse and select simultaneously
With lottery: Each student gets a specific selection time slot based on lottery results
All-at-Once vs. Lottery: You learned about these selection methods in PLS-3. All-at-Once gives everyone in a phase simultaneous access. Lottery assigns individual time slots to stagger selection. Both approaches work—choose based on your population size and server capacity.
Lottery Types
Random Lottery
How it works: Every student receives a completely random selection time within the phase window.
Use when: You want pure fairness with no priority rules—everyone has equal odds regardless of status, GPA, or application timing.
Example: All first-years in the May 15-31 phase receive random time slots spread evenly across those dates.
Most Common Choice: Random lottery is the most popular approach. It's fair, easy to explain to students, and creates an organized selection process without complex priority calculations.
Priority-Based Lottery
How it works: Selection time is determined by priority rules you configure. Students with higher priority receive earlier selection times.
Use when: Institutional policies give certain populations priority within a phase (higher GPA, earlier application date, specific programs).
Example: Within the Honors phase, students with higher GPAs receive earlier selection times.
Configuration: You define priority rules based on tags, class year, GPA, application submission date, or custom profile fields.
Complex Priority Requires Planning: Priority-based lottery needs careful configuration and testing. Document your priority logic clearly and test with sample students before activating. Unclear priority rules create student confusion and support tickets.
Earliest Application Submission
How it works: Students who submitted their housing application earliest receive the earliest selection times. Rewards early applicants.
Use when: You want to incentivize early application submission and reward students who applied promptly.
Note: Only formally submitted applications count—pending or in-progress applications don't qualify for early time slots.
Configuring Lottery Settings
Selection Time Slot Settings
Bucket Duration: How long each selection time slot lasts
Example: 30 minutes means students with a "10:00 AM" slot can select from 10:00-10:30 AM
Shorter durations (15 min) for smaller populations
Longer durations (60 min) for larger groups or to accommodate varying schedules
Bucket Padding: Buffer time between selection slots to prevent overlap
Example: 5 minutes creates a gap from 10:30 AM to 10:35 AM before the next slot
Reduces server load spikes as one group finishes and another begins
Common configurations:
30-minute slots with 5-minute padding = 35 minutes total per group
15-minute slots with 2-minute padding = for smaller cohorts
60-minute slots with 10-minute padding = for flexible, larger windows
Selection Window Daily Hours
What it controls: The daily time window during which lottery selection time slots are assigned.
Example:
Daily window: 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Lottery only assigns selection times within this window each day
No overnight or weekend time slots (unless you configure those hours)
Priority Rules (Priority-Based Lottery Only)
If using priority-based lottery, you'll configure rules that determine the order students receive selection times:
Priority rule examples:
Tag-based: Students with "Returning Resident" tag get priority
Class year: Seniors before Juniors before Sophomores
Application date: Earlier application submissions receive earlier times
GPA: Higher GPA students select before lower GPA
Custom fields: Credits earned, seniority points, or other institutional criteria
Priority rules are assigned weighted scores, and students are ranked by total priority score to determine selection time assignment order.
Room Selection Configuration Checklist
Before leaving these tabs, verify:
✓ Allow room re-assignment toggle set based on your flexibility policy
✓ Show room costs toggle set based on your transparency preference
✓ At least one room selection phase created
✓ Selection phase dates come AFTER roommate phase closes (5-7 day buffer)
✓ Selection phase allows sufficient time (2-4 weeks typical)
✓ Phase dates are set months before residence period starts
✓ Lottery type selected if using lottery (Random most common)
✓ If using lottery: bucket duration and padding configured reasonably
✓ If using priority lottery: priority rules defined, documented, and tested
✓ Phase applicability tags set correctly for multi-phase selection
Room Selection Ready: Students can now browse available rooms (controlled by your ruleset) and select their housing during the phases you configured. Next, you'll set up room swap functionality for students who want to change rooms after the initial selection period.
Key Takeaways
Room selection phases define activity windows when students can choose rooms
Phase dates occur months before the residence period begins
Your ruleset (from PLS-6B) controls which rooms students can see and select
Multiple selection phases organize sequential or priority-based access
Allow re-assignment provides flexibility within limits you set
Show room costs provides pricing transparency during selection
Random lottery is the fairest and most common lottery type
All-at-Once selection works well for smaller populations or single phases
Priority-based lottery requires careful configuration and testing
Bucket duration and padding control lottery time slot organization
Common Questions
What's the difference between All-at-Once and Lottery selection?
All-at-Once gives everyone in a phase simultaneous access to select rooms during the entire phase window. Lottery assigns each student a specific time slot when they can select, staggering the process to prevent server overload and create organized selection.
How does my ruleset affect room selection?
The ruleset you assigned in PLS-6B controls which rooms appear to each student based on their tags and attributes. Room selection phases control WHEN students can select; rulesets control WHAT rooms they can see and choose from.
How many room selection phases should I create?
Start with one phase for all eligible students. Add multiple phases only if you need priority tiers (athletes before general population, upperclassmen before first-years). 2-3 sequential phases is typical for institutions with priority structures.
Can students see rooms being selected in real-time?
Yes, inventory availability updates in real-time within the cycle. When one student selects a room, it immediately becomes unavailable to others. This is why lottery time slots help—they prevent hundreds of students competing for the same rooms simultaneously.
What if a student misses their lottery time?
Depends on your configuration. Some systems allow selection after the assigned time (with lower priority), others restrict selection entirely. Document your policy clearly and communicate it to students before the lottery runs.
Do I have to use a lottery system?
No. You can use All-at-Once selection where all students in a phase select simultaneously during the entire phase window. However, lottery systems create fairer processes, reduce server load, and organize selection timing more predictably.
What's Next: PLS-6E
Now that you've configured room selection phases within your cycle, you're ready to set up room swap functionality for students who want to change rooms after the selection period ends.
In PLS-6E: Room Swap Configuration, you'll learn:
How to create room swap phases for post-assignment changes
How to configure swap approval workflows
How hard rules from your ruleset apply during swaps