Students wishing to change or swap living arrangements lack administrative assistance and guidance from area coordinators, students say.

Students can room swap over the summer before moving in and request room changes three weeks after the semester begins as rooms become available, according to GW Housing’s website. In interviews, more than 10 students who changed rooms said the operation was confusing, and they did not receive assistance from housing officials throughout the process.

Seth Weinshel, the assistant dean of students, said students typically room swap because they are not assigned to their first choice of housing.

“There are a number of factors that go into the length of time that a room swap may take,” Weinshel said in an email. “Much of the time period is determined based on the space available, communication with roommates and finding a better fit for the student looking to swap.”

He said officials facilitate about 250 room swaps each academic year and have processed 75 so far this fall.

“The main complaint that housing receives is that the specific type of room a person is looking for is not currently available,” Weinshel said. “Staff work with each student until an alternative acceptable assignment is found.”

The housing website states that students should contact their resident adviser and area coordinator to facilitate room swaps. But students said officials don’t make the room changing process clear, and many students are left in rooms they don’t want to be in.

Olivia Gay, a freshman assigned to live in Somers Hall, said she room swapped at the beginning of the semester because she wanted to live in Thurston Hall. Gay said she placed her name in a pool of people who wanted to room swap to receive emails from people who were looking for more rooms, but she could not find someone to switch with her.

“It was very independent, and there weren’t a lot of resources,” she said. “You didn’t really know much about the other roommates. You just knew how many people would be in the room you’re swapping into.”

Taja Nadau, a freshman who moved rooms in Thurston Hall, said she contacted her resident adviser and the housing office several times about changing rooms but could not get in touch with the correct person to facilitate the change.

Nadau said she then contacted Thurston’s area coordinator after she heard other people in her hall had gone to an administrator for room swap requests. She said officials should clearly communicate to students that they need to contact their area coordinators if they wish to change rooms.

“It was awful because I asked them if I could move rooms the first couple of days I got here and they told me it wasn’t possible and that I had to wait until I could room swap,” she said. “I got really angry and confronted them.”

Kelly Collins, a freshman who lives in a room in Thurston with a vacant bed, said she is concerned that a student will fill the vacancy without notice from officials because she and her roommates are comfortable in their room and are apprehensive about adding a new person to the mix.

“I have read the previous correspondence that I have gotten from the system and it specifically states that the housing department doesn’t have to give a 24-hour notice before somebody has locked in on the room and is going to move in,” Collins said. “It can be anywhere from a few days to a week in advance.”

She said she and her roommates will do their best to make the person who fills the vacancy feel welcome in their room.

“Their environment is probably one of the most important things that they need in order to succeed here and I am willing to empathize with somebody who may not have as good of a situation as I have,” Collins said.

Seline Guzini, a freshman who lives in Somers and wanted to move to the Vern, said she went to the housing office to change rooms in the first two weeks of the semester, but officials could not assign her to a different room because the room swap period had not yet opened.

“Before the third week there might be some serious situations, and I cannot swap my room, which is a big problem for me,” she said.