Barnard opens new residential building following years of non-guaranteed housing for transfer, commuter students
Updated: 22 minutes ago
Located on 108th Street, the building was leased as part of Barnard’s "ongoing efforts" to expand housing for students not guaranteed campus housing. Barnard did not inform transfer or commuter students of its availability, which began this fall.
Photo by Jessica Liu/The Barnard Bulletin
October 16, 2026 at 6:40 p.m.
For those accepted as transfer students to Barnard College, non-guaranteed housing — and facing the potentially high cost of living off campus — can play a major role in their decision to attend the College.
After receiving her acceptance in May, Suvi Carlile (BC ’29) told The Barnard Bulletin that she and her family had to discuss and carefully consider the possibility of finding an apartment in New York City before accepting her offer of admission. She stated that Barnard’s non-guaranteed housing policy for transfer students “was one of the only things … holding [her] back,” from attending Barnard.
“Seeing as it’s New York City, it’s very expensive, especially this area of the city,” Carlile said. “It did make me a little bit nervous.”
While she received a housing assignment in July, Carlile mentioned that finding an off-campus apartment within four months would have been a difficult process — considering limited off-campus housing options near Barnard and finding roommates — which she would have worried about balancing with navigating Barnard as a new student.
“Because you get in so late, you have to decide everything, like your classes, and then you have to do housing, accommodations, and everything,” She explained.
Carlile added that she has already begun considering off-campus housing for the following year due to concerns that her chances of obtaining campus housing will become more unlikely.
“They’re very cut and dry about it,” Genesis Streeter (BC ’27) told The Bulletin. “They [say] you don’t have guaranteed housing … If you do get it, you get it.”
Streeter transferred to Barnard in the spring semester of her sophomore year and secured campus housing through the non-guaranteed waitlist.
For her junior year, Streeter stated that she was not notified about her housing assignment until approximately two weeks before the move-in date. While on the non-guaranteed waitlist, Streeter stated that she considered alternative housing arrangements with friends, as Barnard’s late housing notifications for transfer students made planning alternative housing accommodations difficult to execute. This year, Streeter said she was notified of her housing assignment on July 29, and that the late notification “was really stressful."
"My parents were really concerned,” she recalled.
Barnard’s Residential Life and Housing website states that transfer students are notified about housing decisions by August 1.
Streeter added that the uncertainty of housing can affect transfer students who do not have the financial flexibility to wait until shortly before the semester begins to secure housing.
“Not everybody has the privilege to wait two weeks before school starts to decide,” Streeter said. “If I hadn’t been in the financial situation I’m in, then me waiting two weeks and then them telling me ‘no’ [would have made finding an apartment difficult].”
“Typically, continuing students who started as Transfers will need to find their own housing off-campus,” Barnard's page for Residence Hall Resources states.
Transfer and commuter students’ frustrations over non-guaranteed housing have persisted for years. At Barnard, “space in campus housing is limited” and the College “cannot guarantee [transfers] campus housing in advance.” Unlike those who enroll at Barnard for their first year of college, transfer students are not eligible for the Room Selection process and apply for campus housing through a non-guaranteed waitlist.
This August, Barnard announced to select students that a new residence hall would be opening at 61-63 West 108th Street, which was formerly used to house students of Columbia University’s School of General Studies. Similar to other apartment-style residence halls offered by Barnard, dormitories in the new building include two to three bedrooms, a shared kitchen, and one to two bathrooms.
In a statement to The Bulletin, Barnard Residential Life and Housing wrote that the building would expand housing options for students, “including transfers and commuters who want to live on campus.”
"As a residential college in the heart of New York City, Barnard is committed to providing a variety of housing options for our students. The residence hall at 61–63 W. 108th Street reflects our ongoing efforts to expand those options, particularly for our transfer and commuter students," a Barnard spokesperson wrote in a statement to The Bulletin. "First made available during the 2026–27 academic year, it will remain part of our residential offerings moving forward."
This summer, Residential Life and Housing offered students who withdrew from the 2026 housing lottery the opportunity to move into the new residence hall.
Antara Kshirsagar (BC ’27), who has lived in Barnard housing since she was a first-year, told The Bulletin that she requested a room change in September after being placed in Hewitt Hall.
“I really wanted access to a kitchen, and bathrooms that weren’t communal, especially as a senior,” Kshirsagar explained. “As nice as my Hewitt single was, and as good as the location was, I was keen to explore other options.”
Kshirsagar stated that her current suite has a large living room, three bedrooms, a kitchen, and two bathrooms.
“Other than the commute to school, it’s very great,” she said.
Anjani Chokkalingam (BC ’28), who also lives in the new residential hall, views the distance from campus as one of the positive aspects the hall has to offer.
“I have a little bit more work-life separation because I’m able to designate my school time as being different from my home time, in a way that I think is a lot harder the closer you get to campus,” Chokkalingam said.
A student who wished to remain anonymous told The Bulletin that they dropped out of the housing lottery for the fall semester and planned to seek off-campus housing, but received an email on August 3 about the new building. The student added that they knew others who had withdrawn from the housing lottery and received the same email.
The email advertised the new residence hall as having “guaranteed single rooms” and encouraged students to act quickly, as room availability was provided on a “first-come, first-serve” basis.
While the building was advertised as providing more housing options for students, especially transfers and commuters, both Carlile and Streeter stated that they did not receive the email. Carlile told The Bulletin she knew transfer students who live in the new building.
“I didn’t know about it before, but they both [applied] for housing late,” Carlile stated.
Carlile said she would like Barnard to provide guidance to transfer students who do not receive campus housing.
“I think the most important things are just being very clear with the transfers and saying ‘we have many options for support for helping you find, either an apartment or somewhere to live, or we have people who can guide you in the whole [non-guaranteed waitlist] process,” said Carlile.
Streeter told The Bulletin that she was not aware of the new residence hall on 108th Street.
The housing lottery will be held during the spring semester. The College confirmed that 61-63 West 108th Street will be included in housing offerings for future semesters.
