Eligibility for Faculty, Staff and Postdoc Housing

Columbia Residential has limited availability for eligible faculty, staff and postdocs only for the duration of a full-time appointment. Please review the information below for more information about each group's eligibility.

Eligible faculty, staff and postdocs may move into housing no earlier than 30 days prior to the start-date of their affiliation.

In general, priority for housing is given to full-time Officers of Instruction, especially those moving to New York from outside the Tri-State area.  

Approval for housing is based on Columbia University’s Faculty Housing Policy as established by the Provost’s Office as well as overall housing availability. The University's Housing Priorities Committee, which is chaired by the Provost, sets guidelines which govern the type of housing for which officers are eligible. It also determines the assignment of certain types of apartments, including those typically available to senior faculty. 

Part-time Officers are not eligible for University housing. 

Titles Eligible for Housing 
  • Officers of Instruction 
    • Tenured Faculty 
    • Tenure-Track Faculty 
    • Non-Tenured Faculty 
    • Ritt Assistant Professor, Mathematics Only 
  • Special Instructional Faculty 
    • Lecturer, Non-visiting only  
  • Officers of Research  
    • Lamont Research Professor 
    • Senior Research Scientist/Scholar  
    • Research Scientist/Scholar  
    • Associate Research Scientist/Scholar  
    • Senior Staff Associate  
  • Officer of the Libraries 
    • Librarian 
    • Junior Librarian 
  • Other Instructional Staff 
    • Athletics Coach/Assistant Coach 

Columbia Residential is available for approved postdocs only for the duration of a full-time appointment and in no event may exceed a period of three years. Approval for housing is obtained from one's department or school, and fellows must contact the Columbia Residential housing office within 30 days of receiving notice of approval. 

Postdocs with the following titles and in the following schools and institutes may be eligible to apply for housing through Columbia Residential:

Titles Eligible for Housing
  • Law Associate
  • Postdoctoral Research Fellow
  • Postdoctoral Research Scholar
  • Postdoctoral Research Scientist
    Schools and Institutes Eligible for Housing
    • Arts & Sciences
    • Business
    • Center for Science and Society
    • Committee on Global Thought
    • Engineering
    • Frontiers of Science
    • Law
    • Harriman Institute
    • Institute for Cancer Dynamics
    • Italian Academy
    • Interdisciplinary Center for Innovative Theory and Empirics / Robert Wood Johnson
    • Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy
    • Irving Medical Center (CUIMC)
    • Journalism
    • Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
    • Society of Fellows
    • Weatherhead East Asian Institute
    • Zuckerman Institute