Earlier this spring, University Family Housing underwent a thorough review of the transfer process. To ensure we received an in-depth and impartial series of recommendations, the review process was conducted by a third-party staff member from the University. A portion of the review process included interviewing staff who were involved in the transfer process, students who had successfully transferred within the past three years, and students who were currently on the waitlist.   

University Family Housing’s senior team were presented with a series of recommendations resulting from the in-depth review. The first was to improve the admissions’ office communication and transparency of where an individual stands on the waitlist over the duration that one may be on the list. Currently, unless the student reaches out directly to inquire about their place on the waitlist, there would be no communication until an offer was made. The second key recommendation was to better streamline and automate the transfer process to eliminate paper submissions and the possibility of human error.    

As a result, the key recommendations from the investigation were:  

1. To create an automated and digital transfer process and; 

2. To establish a protocol to provide applicants increased transparency on their position on the waitlist  

After careful consideration of the feedback and recommendations, University Family Housing has put into motion plans to overhaul the transfer process over the next several months. Currently, the processes are paper-based, and the intention is to relocate the transfer application and process onto StarRez, a familiar and seamless platform that students already use for housing application and maintenance requests.  

As the transition is made to StarRez, some immediate changes and milestones for this project are as follows:  

Immediate Changes 

• Students will be able to complete a digital transfer application through Microsoft Forms which will be available on our website. This will allow some initial automation to ensure all records are digital as soon as they are submitted. Your opinions and feedback are very important to us. Please help us improve your experience with the transfer application by completing the feedback questionnaire at the end.  
• Transfer applicants on the waitlist will be receiving quarterly status updates on their position and standing from the Admissions Office 
• Improvements will be made to the Apartment Transfer webpage, including increased information about the apartment transfer screening process, the quarterly waitlist status email, acceptable proof of pregnancy/birth/adoption documentation 

Winter 2023 

• University Family Housing will engage with various colleagues across the University to help facilitate the new transfer process on StarRez 
• As changes are made to the transfer roll-out, updates will be reflected on the transfer application webpage   

Summer 2023 

• New StarRez transfer process that is integrated with added features will be launched 

Starting the week of December 5^th , the first quarterly apartment update email will take place. All transfer applicants currently on the waitlist will be receiving an email from the admission office on their position. If you are on the waitlist and do not receive an email, please contact studentadmissions.ufh@utoronto.ca   

The next upcoming dates for the waitlist status emails are as follows: 

• First week of April 2023 
• First week of August 2023 
• First week of December 2023 

We are continually seeking to further improve the transfer process and welcome any feedback as project milestones are carried out.   

If you have any questions or feedback on the transfer process, please email  studentadmissions.ufh@utoronto.ca. For any additional concerns, please contact Apostolo Zeno, Assistant Director of University Family Housing at apostolo.zeno@utoronto.ca.  

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