Invitation to Apply to Live on the Lawn

Dear Third-Year Students:

On behalf of the members of the Lawn Selection Committee, I invite you to consider applying to live on the Lawn. Life on the Lawn is an incredible, unique experience, and the committee will soon begin the difficult task of choosing the 2023-2024 Lawn residents. The application is now available on the Office of the Vice President and Dean of Students website.

Perhaps the most valuable aspect of living on the Lawn is the opportunity to meet and spend time with such a dynamic and dedicated community of individuals, your neighbors for a year. Please use your response to application question 3 to display your creativity--- what will you bring to the Academical Village? The Lawn is a community that values diversity in all aspects of a person’s identity and respects efforts to be inclusive and welcoming.

Applying to live on the Lawn should be something to which you devote a considerable amount of thought. Living on the Lawn imparts both privilege and responsibility and should not be taken lightly. You become a representative of what the University values – honor, student self-governance, and responsibility. You become a custodian of a historical physical space. And most importantly, the passions and energy that you bring to the space will help to fulfill a longstanding goal to cultivate a Lawn community that reflects all the talents, knowledge, and backgrounds that the student body has to offer. For this reason, we ask that you reflect on your time here at the University, consider the aspects of your UVA experience that have brought you the most joy, and leave your most authentic self on the application.

You are expected to make your Lawn room your primary overnight University residence and place of abode if selected. In addition, it is expected that students selected to live on the Lawn will not study abroad during that academic year, other than during J-Term.

We ask that no student allows their GPA to prevent them from applying for the Lawn. As you’ll notice, there is a brief space on the application for you to explain your GPA if you were affected by extenuating circumstances. Although academic success is one of the criteria for selection, the Committee recognizes that University students may experience personal circumstances that occasionally lead to a student experiencing a rough semester. If that is the case for you, feel free to use this space to explain your circumstances. However, by no means should you feel compelled to use it.

We also hope that your financial situation will not be a factor in your decision of whether or not to apply to the Lawn. For those on financial aid, a recent cost-of-attendance adjustment for second-fourth year students has made it so there is a negligible gap between the financial aid allotment for housing and the cost of living on the Lawn – about $70 per semester. If you are selected for the Lawn and are receiving financial aid, your cost-of-attendance can be adjusted to allow for additional aid to help cover that small gap.

Residents on the Lawn must be undergraduate degree applicants in their final year of undergraduate study at the University. Students in a joint degree program may apply to live on the Lawn if they will receive their bachelor’s degree in May of 2024.

Please remember that your application must be submitted by 12:00:00 noon on Monday, January 9, 2023, in order to be considered by the Committee. Should you have questions, you are welcome to contact me via email at [email protected] or stop by my room, 26 East Lawn, and catch me in person.

Best of luck with the application process and with the remainder of your time at the University.

Sincerely,
Raghda Labban
Lawn Senior Resident, 2022-2023