With goals of fostering an intellectual atmosphere, building relationships, and increasing students' involvement on campus--and, ultimately, their rates of retention--universities around the country, including Elon, Michigan State, and Southern Methodist, are looking to residence life. House systems, residential neighborhoods, and living-learning…

Affordable housing is an elusive commodity for students in Paris and much of the rest of Europe. Many European universities are in cities where property values have soared in recent years--along with higher-education enrollment figures and the number of students vying for rooms. Few of the universities have dormitories, and students are left…

The numbers looked strange. In early March, the University of Missouri had received many more campus-housing contracts than it expected. Each year many upperclassmen cancel their agreements after finding an off-campus rental, leaving enough spaces for incoming students. But on March 17, the first day freshmen could select their rooms online, there…

Blind dates can go awry, but a roommate mismatch can spoil a semester. Nasty habits. Bitter grudges. Epic stand-offs over square inches. Luckily, most pairings don't get that ugly, whether campuses make them randomly or by running survey responses through a computer. These days many students even control their own fates: More and more colleges let…

This article describes a new dormitory complex at the University of Oregon. The Living-Learning Center, as it is known, is a pair of four-story brick buildings that bookend a large landscaped courtyard. The new buildings contain several elements designed to bring students and faculty members together--and it is these features that are the result…

For colleges eager to attract the best students, the quality of student housing is a key selling point. That shouldn't mean putting a Jacuzzi in every dorm, warns Susan Painter, a design psychologist. Painter, who holds a Ph.D. in behavioral psychology, uses her knowledge of human behavior to advise colleges on building design. Give students too…

Leaders at Indiana University of Pennsylvania had heard the horror stories: Students would be accepted here, visit the campus, take one look at the outdated dormitories, and decide to go someplace else. Something had to be done. So they made the bold move to replace all student housing, bed for bed--at a cost of $270-million. The public university…

Officials at Villa Julie College marvel at how quickly the institution's transformation took place, from serving commuters to becoming a much more residential campus. As recently as the 2003-2004 academic year, Villa Julie, located in an affluent suburb of Baltimore, was leasing off-campus apartments to house more than 300 students because zoning…

Describes how a few colleges are allowing coed dorm rooms, but that they are not the hedonistic experience some had feared. (EV)

More and more colleges are building fancy residence halls and improving their grounds to stand out in an increasingly competitive market for freshmen. Colleges are also finding that they must upgrade their dining halls because students are going off campus for pizza and other fast food. (MLW)

Colleges and universities face an annual challenge to distribute housing to students. Initial student numbers usually exceed housing potential, but no-shows and early departures often even the numbers in the first few weeks of the year. Complicating factors include families' increasing ability to pay for dormitory housing, better campus housing…

Hundreds of students have moved out of dormitories at the University of Calgary to make way for athletes participating in the Olympic Games. Other distractions and benefits are described. (MLW)

The trend in campus housing is to make college residence halls as much like apartments as possible, rather than impersonal high-rise dormitories. Older buildings are in favor despite a lack of amenities. Lower cost is a factor. One drawback is that students don't want to leave their rooms to socialize. (MSE)

The alcohol-related death of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) freshman has focused attention on problems in the institution's housing policies and fraternity system, including unclear policy about housing and long-ignored complaints about hazing and dangerous drinking in the Greek system. (MSE)

Under the College Housing Loan Program, the Education Department lends money to colleges to build and refurbish dormitories and other student facilities. Problems plaguing the loan program are discussed. Both colleges and the federal government have broken most of the rules governing the program. (MLW)