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Housing and Residential Experience

Requests for ADA Accommodations and other Special Requests

Vanderbilt University is a residential campus for undergraduates, and the residential experience is understood to be an integral part of a Vanderbilt education. This commitment to residential education is clearly expressed in the University’s residential requirement:

“All unmarried undergraduate students must live in residence halls on campus during the academic year, May session, and Summer sessions. Authorization to live elsewhere is granted at the discretion of the Director of Housing Assignments in special situations or when space is unavailable on campus.” (Student Handbook)

Housing and Residential Experience partners with the Student Access Office (SAO) to ensure consistency in evaluating requests for reasonable accommodation in housing. Students with physical, psychological, or other disability-related limitations who would like to be considered for reasonable accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and/or Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, will need to submit a request to the Student Access Office via the Commodore Access Portal. The SAO will review all ADA requests and share approved student accommodations with Housing Assignments. Students with approved ADA accommodations will be offered a housing assignment that meets the documented and approved need, as determined by SAO. The SAO website provides information for students regarding reasonable accommodations, documentation guidelines, and other information about the office.

All students who request reasonable accommodation in housing due to a physical, psychological, or other disability impairment must submit documentation to the SAO. The documentation requirements are provided on the SAO website. Housing Assignments does not accept any documentation or housing requests regarding a student’s physical, psychological or other disability-related condition.

If the SAO determines that a student is eligible for reasonable accommodation in housing, Housing Assignments will contact the student about their assignment. Housing Assignments makes every effort to make appropriate and reasonable assignment as recommended by the SAO.  To ensure SAO approved accommodations are met, please be sure to submit required documentation by the deadlines provided below.  Late requests will not be considered until the housing assignment process is complete.

All students with temporary accommodations should follow up with the SAO by the deadlines below if an accommodation is needed for future housing.

Key Dates:

  • Early February 2026 – Students who registered for housing with APPROVED 2026-2027 housing accommodations will be contacted by Housing Assignments. Unless otherwise noted, all previously approved accommodations are for a student’s housing tenure and students do not need to reapply for housing accommodations.
  • June 1, 2026 – Deadline for all incoming fall 2026 first-year and transfer students to submit requests for reasonable accommodation for the 2026-2027 academic year.
  • November 1, 2026 – Deadline for students returning to Vanderbilt for the spring 2027 semester (fall 2026 study abroad participants, internship participants, and students on a leave of absence) to submit requests for a reasonable accommodation.  Students residing on campus for the fall of 2026 do not need to resubmit documentation for the spring 2027 semester.
  • December 1, 2026 – Deadline for all continuing students to submit requests for reasonable accommodation for the 2027-2028 academic year.