Housing season is upon us and nothing is more daunting than entering the Thunderdome that is the housing portal. Each year results in a new challenge. The portal crashes, your fourth roommate drops from your group, you cannot get the floor you want, etc. Housing season is at a stressful time as students are also battling for classes in registration and fighting off end-of-semester burnout. So here’s a breakdown of the various on-campus living options.

Freshmen dorms are more than adequate, though dated and in need of consistent maintenance; however, CNU has allowed students to forgo the communal bathroom experience, which is highly disliked and common at larger universities.

Sophomore housing is a little dicey. At this point students want a kitchen and they want it to feel less like a dorm and more like an apartment. Warwick is highly requested, most likely due to its young architecture, a stark contrast to the prison-esque aesthetic that James River Hall radiates. Students have the common misconception that sophomore housing is better than freshmen housing. In reality, Warwick and James River consist of cramped quarters and minimal sunlight. By semester two, you and your roommate are going to be sick of living on top of each other, and will want the much more accommodating upperclassmen housing.

Upperclassmen housing consists of apartment style rooms of varying quality. There is no perfect apartment unit, there will always be grievances. Village is close and the commute to the main campus is not difficult, but you run the risk of waking up to rowdiness outside the shops, hearing your neighbors above you, a car alarm going off in the village garage, etc. However these drawbacks can all be forgotten when you are almost always guaranteed a spot in the parking garage. The east campus apartments also hold similar attributes and problems, but what many students tend to forget amidst their rising frustrations with housing, is that many schools don’t even offer apartment style residence halls with a private room and bathroom. 

Rappahannock offers a similar style of apartments, and I used to be a young naive sophomore who desired to live there. However, room sizes vary, so you and your suitemates have to come to an agreement ahead of time. In addition, Rappahannock residents endure a poorly executed washer and dryer combo that fails to dry. I have also heard residents talk about the difficulties of navigating the Rappahannock parking deck or even securing a decal. Students who live in Rapp might also feel isolated from the rest of upperclassmen housing.

There is not a strategic or perfect residential experience. They definitely do not guarantee that on the housing website. Part of the frustrations with housing are students creating these high achievable expectations for a 50-year-old apartment complex or dorm building. It is important to understand that CNU’s housing is unique and a privilege for students to have access to.