Housing

The Rooms and Buildings table is where SONIS stores information about on-campus buildings and the rooms within them. Buildings are separated by type with the types defined by each individual institution. Types can include administrative buildings, dorms, labs, lecture halls, etc. When using the table for classroom buildings, the system tracks the available seats in each room and allows administrators to list amenities that may or not be present such as whiteboards, projectors, etc. These attributes are used when selecting meetings for a course section. When using the table for residential facilities, the system tracks amenities in a similar manner, but can also be used to assign the housing cost for the room.

The Housing Additional Fees page is a utility that can be used to charge fees to students who live on campus in addition to their standard room cost. This can include things like meal plans, deposits, utilities, and miscellaneous upkeep fees.

Jenzabar SONIS member institutions that would like to post housing or room charges monthly, or at a specific interval, can do so using the Housing Transactions Systems menu page. An administrator can select a dormitory, school year, semester, or student to either post housing transactions or post room charges. Transaction codes (T-codes) and amounts can be selected and edited, and there is a memo field for including additional information.

The Housing: Search page allows SONIS administrators to search for both empty and assigned rooms. Searches may be done by student using their ID number, first name, or last name, as well as by room, building, school year, and/or semester.

The Housing: Copy page provides SONIS administrators the ability to copy housing assignments from one year or semester to another. If desired, charges and additional housing fees can be posted when the assignments are copied. Buildings, floors, school years, and semesters can be selected.

A student's residence hall and room assignment for a given year and semester may be recorded in SONIS on the Housing Assignment Records menu screen. Buildings are created using the Rooms and Buildings table under the Systems menu.

If a student has a housing challenge or event that should be recorded in SONIS for future referral, this can be done on the Housing Incidents Records menu screen. Details such as the start and end date(s) of the situation, the school year or semester, and any pertinent information regarding the situation or resolution can be entered.

Housing staff frequently need information on a student's desired qualities in a roommate, as well as their current roommate assignment. SONIS users can access and manage this information in the Housing Preferences Records menu page.

Some Jenzabar SONIS member institutions have charges associated with on-campus or institutional housing, such as fees specific to a given housing building, key deposits, and meal plan charges. These, as well as the charges for housing, can be entered on the Housing Post Related Charges Records page. Charges can be assigned to a particular year and semester, and amounts and check numbers can be entered. The page also displays a ledger of the posted charges and any associated credits.

The Housing report allows administrators to view the number of rooms available per dormitory building, as well as the capacity and current occupancy of each. The report can be run by specific campus and building, as well as by year and semester.

The Housing Requests report allows administrators to view student requests for housing. The report filters include campus, division, department, level, ID, activity date, and status (completed or not). The report can be produced in Excel or PDF. The output displays the student name, request date, and any information entered with the housing request, such as room type or roommate characteristics.