Students unable to open StarRez portal for apartment selection

Students registering for housing in on-campus apartments for the 2021-2022 academic year were unable to access StarRez, UR's automated housing system, when the selection portal opened at 9 a.m. on March 24, according to an email sent to affected students by Patrick Benner, director of residence life and housing. 

Students' time slots were reset for March 25 because the error on the morning of March 24 made the portal inaccessible, and no student was able to select an apartment, according to the email from Benner. 

“Despite time slots being set and entered into the system for each student, the software did not register the student’s access when they were permitted to enter the portal to select an apartment,” Benner wrote.

The March 24 apartment selection period was open only to seniors and juniors who could choose to live in UR's Gateway Village or University Forest Apartments, according to the Residence Life website.

Anna Thompson, a junior, said the housing application page did not refresh when she tried logging on to her 9:30 a.m. time slot on March 24. 

“It was very frantic because we did not know what was happening,” Thompson said. “It was annoying because [the StarRez portal] had been down for awhile, and [Residence Life] had not notified anyone. We ended up emailing housing and calling them a couple of times to make sure it wasn’t just us.” 

Benner's message about the portal error was sent to students at 9:51 a.m. on March 24.

Chester Todd, also a junior with a 9:30 a.m. time slot, did not see the returning student application, which is available to upperclassmen students who have participated in room selection for the following year, on his portal when he logged on to StarRez, he said.

Todd said everyone he knew was impacted by the inability to access the StarRez portal, as everyone who tried to fill the selection form out on Wednesday morning had the same issue. 

StarRez advised Benner that the issues surrounding the portal had been resolved, according to the email. Each student selecting an apartment received the same time slot and was able to log in and access the portal on Thursday, March 25, to make their selection, Benner wrote.

Todd was able to log on at 9:30 a.m. Thursday morning, follow the directions prompted on the portal and secure an apartment through StarRez, he said. 

"Zero students were impacted [on Thursday] as we were able to identify the issue immediately and adjusted selection by one day," Benner wrote in an email to The Collegian. 

Contact news co-editor Ryan Hudgins at ryan.hudgins@richmond.edu