Transfer Students

Transfer Student Housing Registration

The George Washington University (GW) considers anyone who has graduated from high school and who has completed at least one college course since high school graduation to be a transfer student.

Fall 2025 transfer student housing registration opens in July, and transfer students will be emailed when housing registration is open.

Our team is extremely excited to welcome new transfer students to our community. Our core mission is to build positive communities that empower our students to grow and develop as they engage in unique challenges and possibilities throughout their undergraduate experience. Our residence halls are a focal point of our institution's mission to further human well-being by offering a space of cultural and intellectual diversity that is the foundation for the exploration of new ideas.

Housing for incoming transfer students is based on a student’s class year, or anticipated graduation year. For transfer students, this accounts for the academic credits that a student has. Most incoming transfer students are considered second- or- third year students. For the 2025-2026 Academic Year, class years are as follows:

Class of 2029 - first-year student
Class of 2028 - second-year student
Class of 2027 - third-year student
Class of 2026 - fourth-year student

All housing processes happen via a student's Campus Living GW Home Portal, which requires a student to claim a GW email address and UserID to log in.

REGISTRATION STEPS

Review Criteria to Receive an Exemption to the Residency Requirement

The George Washington University requires all first-, and second-year students to reside on campus unless they are approved for an exemption to our residency requirement. Second-year incoming transfer students who believe they meet one of the seven criteria and desire to live off-campus may apply for an exemption to the requirement. Applying for an exemption does not guarantee that the exemption will be approved. Exemptions approved will remain in effect for the remainder of a student's time as an undergraduate student at GW, unless relinquished to allow a student to live on-campus if desired.

The form to apply for a residency exemption is available via a student's Campus Living GW Home Portal. Students who intend to request an exemption should begin to prepare the documentation required for exemption requests.

Review Upperclass Residence Halls, Costs, and Dining Plans

During the 2025-2026 academic year, GW has 5 upperclass-only residence halls on our Foggy Bottom Campus:

Foggy Bottom Campus

1959 E Street
The Dakota
District House
Mark Shenkman Hall
South Hall

Review 2025-2026 housing costs before beginning the housing registration process. All students who live in a GW residence hall are required to have a dining plan and students should review the dining plan that upperclass students are required to have. Dining plans will be selected during housing registration.

All housing and dining costs are placed on a student's eBill, similar to tuition and other fees.

If Desired, Register with Disability Support Services (DSS) to Request a Housing Accommodation

Residential living is central to the learning environment for many GW students. Students with specific disability-related needs may request housing accommodations. If approved for a housing accommodation that we can meet, a student will be placed into the type of room that meets the specific housing accommodation.

Students who feel that they need a housing accommodation must register with GW Disability Support Services (DSS). Housing accommodations are reviewed by Disability Support Services, and if approved, sent to Campus Living & Residential Education. The CLRE team then uses the housing accommodation to place a student in a room that meets the accommodation.

Prepare for Life with a Roommate

Almost all students who live in GW residence halls have roommates: someone who they share a bedroom or other living space with. Beginning to prepare for life with a roommate is an important step in the transition to becoming a GW student. Students and families should begin thinking about the following topics of shared living:

Number of desired roommates (sharing a bedroom) and suitemates (sharing bathrooms)
Bathroom types:
- private (bathroom inside a room used by only those who live in that room)
- adjoined (bathroom shared between two double rooms)
- community (bathroom used by the entire floor, with distinct men's and women's bathrooms per floor)
- common, private bathroom suites (shared gender-inclusive bathroom suites used by entire floor; multiple suites per floor with shared sink area and private, secure rooms with a toilet, sink, and shower; Thurston Hall only)
Sleep schedules
Desired use of the room (including studying, having friends over, noise, or other use)
Desired level of room cleanliness
Resolving differences in personal living preferences with roommates
Any other important considerations around shared living environments

Students are assigned roommates through a variety of methods:

Students find each other and mutually agree to live with one another. Students may identify any other transfer student to live with, regardless of sex or gender, or
Students are automatically assigned one or more roommates of a similar sex. This roommate assignment used personal living preferences, noted in a student's housing registration, to match them up with students who may have similar living styles or preferences, or
Students who desire to live with any other student, regardless of sex or gender, may participate in our in Gender Inclusive Housing group. A student who desires this will note that in their housing registration and will be placed into a pool of students who may be assigned to live with one another without regard to a roommate's sex or gender. Personal living preferences will be used to match up roommates with others. Students who participate in this Gender Inclusive Housing group should be welcoming and affirming of all student gender identities, sexual orientation, or other identities

Register for Transfer Student Housing

Housing registration will begin via a student's GW Home Portal. We encourage all students to take their time and be thoughtful in their housing registration, in which a student will:

If desired, indicate a desire to live with other specific people as roommates by creating a roommate group
- Each student receives a number, called their RMS ID, which can be shared with other students to formally create and join roommate groups. Each student's RMS ID can be found on their GW Home Portal.
Indicate personal living preferences, through a series of Yes/No questions, regarding important topics such as sleep schedules, use of rooms, cleanliness, and more. These answers will be used to assign students with roommates, if they don't request specific other people
Sign a 2025-2026 Housing License Agreement, the agreement that outlines what you agree to in order to live in a GW residence hall
Update contact information that Campus Living & Residential Education need to have on record for students and their emergency contacts

Upon successful registration, a transfer student will be able to edit their housing registration as many times as desired assigned to a room:

sending invitations to other students to join a roommate group
accepting invitations to join another student's roommate group
adjusting the ranking of hall and room types
adjusting answers to personal living preference questions

Receive Housing Assignment

Over the summer, all transfer students who register for housing will receive their specific housing assignment, including the residence hall, room number, and information about any specific roommates (if applicable). The CLRE team will release housing assignments on a rolling basis.