
At UBC and in Student Housing and Community Services we are committed to providing an inclusive and welcoming campus environment for all our gender and sexually diverse students, faculty, staff and community members.
This guide is for trans, non-binary and other gender diverse students who are applying to live in student residence at UBC.
We are excited that you’re interested in applying to live in residence at UBC. We hope this guide helps you better understand how the process works, how we can help and what to expect when you move into your new space at UBC.
Whether you are a first year, upper year or graduate student, use this guide to get set up.
On this page:
The overview
How the process works—from application to room assignment.
We’ll go into more detail about a few aspects of this process below, but here’s the basic overview of the process from when you apply to when you receive your room assignment.
Apply
Here are some things to keep in mind when completing your application to live in residence.
Indicating your gender identity and trans experience
In the residence application, we ask all applicants to complete two mandatory fields related to gender identity and trans experience, with the option to choose not to disclose, which align with the EducationPlannerBC application.
- For gender identity, there are four possible responses: “Woman”, “Man”, “Non-binary” and “Choose not to disclose”.
- For trans experience, there are three possible responses: “Yes”, “No” and “Choose not to disclose”.
These fields are mandatory, but you are welcome to indicate “choose not to disclose” if the available options do not align with your gender identity or trans experience. Note that in some cases, we will follow-up with students who indicate “choose not to disclose”, in addition to students who indicate a non-binary gender identity or trans experience.
Providing your residence and room preferences
In the application, we’ll ask you to provide your preferences regarding residence area, room/unit type, living habits and if you are interested in living in an all-gender unit.
Depending on whether you will be moving into Winter Session residence or Year Round residence, a variety of different options are available.
Residences and rooms for gender diverse students
Check out our guide to residences and rooms for gender diverse students.
Visit the guideProviding your roommate preferences
For a limited time period after you apply—and once you’ve received your application confirmation by email—you’ll be able to provide any preferences for specific roommates online in the SHCS Online Service Centre.
Please follow the instructions provided in the confirmation email.
If you indicate a non-binary gender identity, trans experience or, in some cases, if you’ve chosen not to disclose, we’ll ask a few more questions when we follow up.
Using your chosen name
Student Housing identifies students by their chosen name and Student ID. You can enter or update your chosen name in Workday.
Your chosen name will automatically update in our Student Housing systems, and you should then see your chosen name used in communications addressed to you by residence staff.
Please note that some UBC systems may label this field “preferred name” rather than “chosen name”.
Note: in very limited circumstances, the legal name you provided when applying to UBC may be visible to Student Housing staff. For example, if staff at your residence front desk receive mail addressed to your legal name, it’s possible they may incidentally use your legal name. However, when Student Housing staff have access to your chosen name, you will be addressed by your chosen name.
Student Housing follow-up
Before we assign you to a room, we’ll follow up with you by email to learn more about your room and roommate preferences.
For Winter Session applicants, we may reach out between late spring and early summer, after you receive your generic offer.
We follow up with applicants who indicate a non-binary gender identity or trans experience and, in some cases, applicants who indicate “choose not to disclose”.
Questions we typically ask
Depending on whether you are a first year student, upper year student, have applied to Winter Session or Year Round residence, and your preferred room types, here are some questions we might ask.
- Do you prefer to be placed on an all-gender floor or in an all-gender building?
- Do you prefer to be placed with another student who identifies as trans or non-binary? Do you have a specific person in mind?
- Do you wish to be placed in an all-gender or single-gender unit? If a single-gender unit, would you prefer a woman-identified or man-identified unit?
Room and roommate confirmation
After we’ve received your answers, we’ll email you to let you know we have noted your preferences. Since room assignments are based on availability, if your assignment is different from your noted preferences, we’ll email you again to make sure it’s appropriate and so you can let us know if you have any concerns.
Door tags: it’s your choice
In most residences, we put up door tags with new residents’ chosen names on them at the start of Winter Session. This practice helps residents find their room and meet their neighbours during move in.
When you apply for residence, you can let us know if you’d prefer that we didn’t put up a door tag for you. Or you can take yours down at any time. It’s up to you!
When you move in, if you find that we’ve put up a tag with the wrong name on it, please feel free to take it down and request a new one from your Residence Advisor.
Room assignment
In addition to gender identification, room assignments are based on several factors, including application date, age and the room or unit types available.
Winter Session
For students moving into Winter Session residence at the start of the Winter Session (i.e., late-August/early-September), room assignments are typically sent out in mid-August.
Year Round
For students moving into Year Round residence, offers/assignments are sent out on a rolling basis throughout the year.
Contacting roommates
Once you’ve received your room assignment—or for Year Round residence, accepted your offer and assignment—you can reach out to any roommates through the Online Service Centre.
Getting to know your residence
Living in residence is a unique experience. You may be excited and even nervous at the same time—but don’t worry, we are here to help support you as you settle in.
Other resources
UBC has a ton of additional resources available for students. Check out some of them below.