The Offices of Student Accessibility Services (SAS), Residence Life, and Physical Plant work together to ensure students with disabilities have full access to the college’s residential environment.
Important Notes about Housing Accommodations:
- SAS considers all accommodation requests on an individual, case-by-case basis. A diagnosis alone does not automatically qualify a student for a housing accommodation.
- Residence Life determines all housing accommodation assignments based on available spaces that satisfy the approved accommodation. SAS is unable to guarantee a preferred building, room, or floor plan.
- Adjustments to a student’s residential space due to health-related symptoms that do not rise to the level of a significant disabling condition (e.g., living with a particular group of friends, living in a specific building or location, or having a quiet/undisturbed place to study) are considered housing preferences and are handled separately by Residence Life.
Examples of Housing Accommodations:
- Wheelchair accessible room
- First-floor room or room in a building with an elevator
- Room with attached, suited or in-unit bath
- Visual smoke alarm
- Dietary accommodations related to meal plans and kitchen access
- Service animal or emotional support animal in the residence hall
- Medical single room
- Medical single room requests are not granted solely based on having a quiet place for study. With the number of people living in residence halls, shared facilities, and shared resources, a single room does not necessarily provide a quieter, more distraction-limited space than a standard shared room.
- The amount charged to students in approved medical single rooms will be determined based on the residence hall. Students with disabilities who are approved for a medical single room accommodation will be billed at the lowest rate for the assigned residence hall (e.g., the double room rate). Any student choosing to trade in their medical single room assignment for an available higher-tier room (e.g., apartment-style unit or under-booked double) solely based on preference will be charged the corresponding higher rate.
- Students interested in a single room for any reason, disability or otherwise, are encouraged to add themselves to the Single Room Waitlist, maintained by Residence Life.
To Request a Housing Accommodation
Students seeking a housing accommodation based on disability must complete the following steps.
- Complete the SAS Accommodation Request Process.
- Complete the housing registration link through Residence Life.
Key Dates and Details
Continuing students:
- February 15: Continuing students must complete the SAS accommodation request process and the housing registration link through Residence Life by February 15. If the 15th falls on a weekend, then the deadline will be the next business day by 5:00 pm CT. Housing accommodation requests submitted after this date will still be considered, however, students approved after the preferred date may need to be placed on a waitlist for a necessary housing assignment to become available.
- Approved Medical Single Rooms: Rhodes has a limited number of single rooms. If Residence Life assigns an approved student to a medical single room within a suite or apartment, the student will not be able to bring an additional person into the unit. The medical single room accommodation applies to the approved student only.
- Approved Animal Accommodations: Students approved only for a service animal or emotional support animal in housing will complete the regular room selection process to select their desired location with a roommate and/or suitemates who agree to live with their animal.
- Tentative Housing Accommodation Assignments: Students approved for other select housing accommodations before the preferred date will be notified by Residence Life of their tentative fall housing accommodation assignment before the standard room selection process begins. Students who decline their tentative accommodation assignment, who fail to respond to their tentative accommodation assignment by the deadline given, who submit late requests, or who are not approved for a disability-related housing accommodation, must complete the standard room selection process through Residence Life.
- Cancellation: If a student with approved housing accommodations declines their tentative assignment or cancels their housing before the housing cancellation deadline, their requested roommate without housing accommodations will also be canceled. If a student with approved housing accommodations cancels their housing after the housing cancelation deadline, their requested roommate without housing accommodations will not be canceled.
New students:
- June 15: Incoming students must complete the SAS accommodation request process by June 15. If the 15th falls on a weekend, then the deadline will be the next business day by 5:00 pm CT. Housing accommodation requests submitted after this date will still be considered, however, students approved after the preferred date may need to be placed on a waitlist for a necessary housing assignment to become available.