Housing Accommodations

Housing Accommodation Request Deadlines

Housing Accommodation Requests Deadlines for the 2026-2027 School Year:

For Spring 2027: The deadline for ADS to receive completed requests and documentation is Friday, October 31,2026.
For Fall 2027: The deadline is Sunday, January 31, 2027 (Note: This is a change from the date in prior semesters.)
New Students: The deadline for ADS to receive housing accommodation requests and documentation was Monday, June 15, 2026.

If you did not meet the housing accommodation request deadline for the Fall 2026 semester, you may still submit a request, but know that available housing is now limited, and the Housing Accommodation Committee does not meet regularly to review requests outside of the three allocated times noted below. Any students who are granted housing accommodations past these posted deadlines will likely be placed on a waitlist until such housing becomes available.  Scroll down to the section on "Housing Accommodation Request Deadline Rationale and Options for Next Steps" for more information about addressing needs that arise after the above-posted deadlines.

These deadlines for housing accommodation requests were established to provide the Housing Accommodation Committee with sufficient time to review requests and all supporting documentation, to communicate with care providers and students as needed, and for consideration to be given to specific disability-related housing needs before the complex housing assignment processes take place.

WHAT CONSTITUTES THE NEED FOR A HOUSING ACCOMMODATION?

Dickinson is a residential college, and the residential experience is understood to be an integral part of a Dickinson education. Dickinson is committed to the full participation of students with disabilities in all aspects of college life, including residential life.

The disability accommodation process in higher education, including at Dickinson, is designed to prevent discrimination based on disability and to ensure students have equal access to the campus experience relative to their nondisabled peers. The goal of a housing accommodation is to remove environmental factors that, when combined with a disability, limit a student’s access or opportunities relative to other students. A student’s disability experience matters, and ADS is committed to connecting students with disabilities to appropriate supports and resources. But having a disability or an accommodation recommended by a care provider does not automatically mean that an accommodation is required. Accommodations are only provided when there is substantiation of a clear, logical connection between the disability and how a specific aspect of the living environment creates a substantial limitation for the student relative to other students.

Accommodations are meant to remove those barriers, not to treat the disability itself. If there are no specific environmental factors at Dickinson that adversely affect the student with a disability more substantially than other students, an accommodation is not required.

Please be advised that the Housing Accommodation Committee's role is to determine whether an accommodation is substantiated as a necessity. Requests for particular housing assignments based on a student’s preference, rather than need, for that type of living environment or location will not be honored (e.g., a student with ADHD or a learning disability seeking a single room to serve as a quiet, undisturbed place to study represents a preference, but not a necessity). Accordingly, a single room accommodation is reserved for individuals whose disability documentation illustrates clear and substantial barriers in the living environment, and for whom a standard housing assignment with a roommate is not viable. Similarly, if a student has a dietary-based disability for which a comprehensive dietary accommodation would not suffice, it may be determined that an accommodation for access to a semi-private bathroom or a kitchen would be necessary. Treatment providers should be able to speak to a student's current symptomology and needs and establish a nexus between the student's disability, the recommended accommodation(s), and how no alternative option can address the environmental barrier that substantially limits equal access for the student, as compared to most other students. All accommodation requests will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

For detailed information regarding policies and deadlines, please review the Disability Accommodation Request Procedures for College Housing.

Students who are granted an accommodation on a temporary basis who anticipate a potential accommodation need in subsequent semesters should take note of the guidance, notification information, and deadlines conveyed via email and posted in the above-linked document.

PROCEDURES FOR REQUESTING A HOUSING ACCOMMODATION:

A. Complete and submit a Disability Disclosure and Accommodation Request Form electronically through the Forms tab of the Dickinson Gateway.

B. Have your relevant care provider send ADS documentation of the disabling condition for which you are seeking a housing accommodation. You can instruct them to access the below documentation form on this page by going to: www.dickinson.edu/ADS-housing.

Instruct your care provider to send ADS the following 2 things:

A completed Disability Documentation Form for College Housing (For ESAs, please use the alternate form specified in NOTE below), and
Supporting documentation of the disability, such as test results, lab reports, office visit logs, and/or consultation notes. Review our Documentation Guidelines for the requirements for each specific disability.

Documentation should be sent directly from the student's care provider to ADS by one of the following means:

Fax: 717-254-8139
Email: access@dickinson.edu
US Mail: Access and Disability Services
Dickinson College
P.O Box 1773
Carlisle, PA 17013

C. Follow up with ADS to ask whether or not we have received the documentation that you asked your care provider to send us. It's possible that a care provider believes they have sent documentation (via email or fax), but it was not, in fact received, so it is important you verify with ADS to be sure.

NOTE:

If you are requesting the accommodation of having an Emotional Support Animal (ESA) that would meet the criteria articulated in Dickinson's Animals on Campus Policy, you will need to have your licensed mental health provider complete this Disability Documentation Form for Housing with an ESA (in lieu of the other documentation form).
Students requesting a kitchen-related housing accommodation based on dietary-related needs must also follow the process outlined at www.dickinson.edu/ADS-dietary.
The presentation of documentation and/or the recommendation of a care provider does not automatically guarantee disability status or specific accommodations. See below for more information about the Determination of Accommodations process.

DETERMINATION OF ACCOMMODATIONS

Housing accommodations are determined on a case-by-case basis, according to documented need, and prevailing standards for reasonable accommodations. Guiding questions may include:

Does the student have a disability (i.e., a substantial limitation of a major life activity, as compared to the majority of students) that would prevent or significantly impair their participation in Dickinson's standard residential experiences?
If so, what barrier(s) does the disability pose, as documented by one or more professionals with expertise in the diagnostic area(s) for which the accommodation is being requested?
If the student's request is based on an emotional, behavioral, or mental health disability, is the person recommending the accommodation a mental health professional (counselor, therapist, psychologist, or psychiatrist) who has been treating the student over a number of sessions (including recently), and can speak to the student's current symptomology?
Has the care provider established a clear nexus between the recommended accommodation and the specific barrier that is limiting equal access to campus and opportunities at Dickinson?
Has the treatment provider provided any alternative options if their primary recommendation is not possible?
Are there reasonable accommodation(s) -- substantiated by the documentation as necessary, and which would not pose a fundamental alteration to core or essential practices – that should be granted in order to reduce and/or remove the identified barrier(s) in the residential environment?

Dickinson is not required to implement a provider’s recommendations. Having documentation from a care provider is an important way for a student's disability to be confirmed, but it does not guarantee accommodations. Rather, the Housing Accommodation Committee reviews all information received as part of a broader process and -- in compliance with the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act -- determines accommodations on the basis of a substantiated disability-related barrier to access that would necessitate an accommodation. As noted above, accommodations are only provided when there is substantiation of a clear, logical connection between the disability and how a specific aspect of the living environment creates a substantial limitation for the student relative to other students.

Please note that students requesting a housing accommodation are not making a request for a specific outcome, but rather requesting an accommodation that would foster access to equitable participation in Dickinson's academic and residential programs and services. The Disability Housing Accommodations Committee will review each student’s request and related documentation on a case-by-case basis and determine whether a reasonable and appropriate accommodation is warranted.

HOUSING ACCOMMODATION REQUEST DEADLINE RATIONALE & OPTIONS FOR REQUESTING ACCOMMODATIONS MOVING FORWARD

This deadline was established to provide the college with sufficient time to engage in all steps necessary to consider for whom standard housing would not be a viable option due to the substantiated functional limitations of the student's disability, and to determine how to meet those students' accommodations needs in compliance with Section 504, the Fair Housing Act, and the ADA. The Housing Accommodation Committee therefore allocates a three week periods (in January/February, June and in October/November, during which to:

review all housing accommodation requests and supporting documentation that were submitted by the deadline;
deliberate as to whether each request and supporting documentation met the criteria presented, following the "Determination of Accommodations" criteria outlined above;
schedule time to communicate with care providers and students, as needed;
review any additional documentation provided; and to
ultimately determine whether a request meets the eligibility criteria for necessitating a disability-based accommodation.

After that, additional time is needed for staff in Residence Life and Housing to identify appropriate housing for each student determined to be eligible for a housing accommodation and to make all necessary assignments before the complex housing assignment processes take place for all Dickinson students (which, in the spring, is the housing lottery). For this reason, requests for housing accommodations and supporting documentation for the fall semester that are not received before the deadline, cannot begin to be considered until mid-April, after the lottery has taken place.

CAN A HOUSING REQUEST BE MADE AFTER THE DEADLINE HAS PASSED?

Yes. As previously noted, housing accommodation requests can be made at any time, but if done after the deadline, students should anticipate that it might take approximately 6-8 weeks for the request to be processed, reviewed, and determined, depending on when it was received, the availability of care providers reached out to, and whether members of the Housing Accommodation Committee are on campus and available to engage in the review and determination process.

Newly arising needs for housing accommodations (that is, those who would not have been able to meet the deadline) will be recognized as such, and reviews of post-deadline requests will be made as soon as reasonably possible. Placement, however, should not be expected to be immediate, given the limited availability of housing options following the housing assignment process. If a student's granted housing accommodation is unavailable, the student will be placed on a priority waitlist until such housing becomes available.

Here, again, are the Disability Accommodation Request Procedures for College Housing.

APPEALS

If you submit a housing accommodation request that is denied (or if there is an issue with the specific accommodation you were granted), and you wish to appeal the decision that was made, the standard first step in the appeals process is to identify which of the two reasons why you would like to appeal the decision:

The college staff did not follow the established procedure for reviewing requests for reasonable accommodations for housing. OR
You have new information/documentation that you believe is sufficient to alter the decision that was not available to you / not provided prior to the accommodation request deadline.

You should then respond to your email notification and convey that you would like your request to be reconsidered. Be sure to provide one of the above rationales, as well as an elaboration regarding the barrier(s) in the residential living environment that significantly limit your access at Dickinson, and which cannot be addressed through reasonable alternative options.

As previously noted, the Housing Accommodation Committee does not base housing accommodations solely on the recommendation of care providers, but rather on the criteria standards established by the ADA, as outlined in the above "What Constitutes a Need for a Housing Accommodation" and "Determination of Accommodations" sections. If you have one or more care providers who can provide additional documentation (lab results, visit notes, test results, etc.) to support your appeal, you should request that this be sent to ADS as soon as possible. After emailing your elaborated rationale, you should also convey your availability to meet to discuss your appeal. If you are dissatisfied with the results of your informal appeal, or if you wish to forgo the informal appeals process, you can find information regarding the formal appeals process in this Disability-Related Complaints Policy.