Roommates and Best Practices

Having a roommate(s) can play a big part in your college life and beyond. Roommates often become life-long friends. With the right roommate, you can create a supportive and fun living environment that will enhance your academic journey.

Finding a Roommate

Whether you prefer a familiar roommate or someone with shared interests, the next step is getting to know each other.

Before agreeing to become roommates, schedule a meaningful conversation and assess if their preferences and lifestyle match yours.

Discuss lifestyles, study habits, hobbies, daily routines, sleep schedules, and cleanliness practices
Imagine living together in the space provided.
Trust your instincts: sometimes, you’ll sense a connection.

Next, discuss and set clear boundaries, preferences and expectations to help create a positive living experience. Examples include the following:

Share responsibilities. How will you divide chores, such as cleaning, cooking, or taking out the trash?
Guest and privacy. Discuss preferences for having visitors and respecting each other's personal space.
Shared cost. Clarify contributions to shared costs such as cleaning supplies. (FGSH roommates should discuss rent payments.)
Conflict resolution. Talk about how you will address disagreements to maintain a healthy relationship. See entry below.

Undergraduate Halls

Housing Registration's Roommate Questionnaire
- The first step to finding a roommate is to complete the roommate questionnaire as part of housing registration (via OSU Housing Portal) and to make it searchable by other residents. The questionnaire is a quick overview of you—your study habits, sleep schedule, cleanliness preferences and so forth.
- Be sure to provide a thoughtful description of yourself in the space provided.
- You can customize your search to find others who share the traits you are most interested in.
Room Transfers
- Residents might need to relocate during the academic year for various reasons.
- To understand the specific dates and policies regarding room changes or transfers, visit Request to Change/Transfer Room.

Conflict Resolution

Roommate Agreements
- In fostering a healthy roommate relationship, effective and open communication is vital. To aid this, Housing and Residential Life provides a roommate agreement program for residents.
- These agreements empower roommates to establish boundaries, preferences, and expectations upfront. Facilitated by a community mentor or apartment assistants these formal documents can be viewed and adjusted by all parties as necessary.