<p>How does housing work? Is it ever guaranteed?</p>
<p>Yes its guaranteed if you live in housing freshmen year and continue to do so (which the vast majority of students do). Its not guaranteeed if you live in the dorms, move out, and then decide to move back in.</p>
<p>Somewhere I read they only have housing for 11,000 people. Is this right? Do they really have buildings for 20,000 people?</p>
<p>About 11,000 undergrads live in NYU housing (NYU has something around 16,000 undergrads). Almost all freshmen live in the dorms, as do vast majority of the upper classmen, though some will tend to move off campus over the years. In short, if you start out your NYU days living in the dorms, housing will be guaranteed so long as you are a student there.</p>