Preface Preface Stanford University houses 3500 graduate students. A housing lottery is run each May to determine which students will receive housing and which housing assignment they will receive.
Housing is guaranteed to first-year students who are willing to live anywhere on campus.
Thus, the remaining slots are available to continuing graduate students, who find themselves at the mercy of the annual lottery. She mandated that the committee increase the number of graduate spaces in housing without spending any money. Although students were involved with the commitee, the final decisions were made by Vice Provost James Montoya. The solution ultimately adopted was to double-up spaces currently occupied by single students. Also, several small changes were implemented, including a loan fund for first and last month's rent, free housing listings for students, and a new lottery rule allowing two-student couples to submit two applications.