{{Short description|Building where students reside}} '''Student accommodation''' is a building or buildings used to house students, particularly in higher education.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/student-accommodation|title=Student accommodation|work=Collins Dictionary|access-date=30 August 2025}}</ref> These are known by different names around the world, such as '''halls of residence''', '''residence halls''', '''accommodation blocks''' (particularly within [[residential college]]s) or '''student hostels'''. Student accommodation may be managed by educational institutions, religious bodies or other charities, student associations, private companies, or agencies of local or national governments.
==History== [[File:Nalanda 2.JPG|thumb|Cells in a [[vihara]] at Nalanda]] Student accommodation is thought to date back to the 5th century [[Nalanda mahavihara]], sometimes referred to as "the world's first residential university".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20230222-nalanda-the-university-that-changed-the-world|title=Nalanda: The university that changed the world| date=23 February 2023|author=Sugato Mukherjee|work=BBC News}}</ref>{{efn|Scholars have challenged the characterisation of Nalanda as a "university", but that it was a residential institution of higher learning appears to be undisputed<ref>{{cite book|last=Bhattacharya |first=Debaditya |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gT9sDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT33 |title=The Idea of the University: Histories and Contexts |date=3 September 2018 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-0-429-81428-0 |chapter=Introduction – The university in history: from 'idea' to impossibility|editor=Debaditya Bhattacharya}}</ref>}} Student accommodation appeared in the Islamic world as part of the 10th century ''masjid-khan'' (mosque-inn), the forerunner of the [[madrasa]].<ref>{{cite journal|title=Rethinking ancient centers of higher learning: madrasa in a comparative-historical perspective|first=Burhan| last=Fındıklı|pages =129–144 | date= 19 March 2021|journal=British Journal of Educational Studies |doi=10.1080/00071005.2021.1901853|volume =70| issue =2}}</ref> In China, student accommodation was introduced during the [[Song dynasty]] (10th to 13th centuries), with students having combined sleeping and study rooms.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.theworldofchinese.com/2024/09/chinese-college-students-shunning-dorm-life/|magazine=[[The World of Chinese]]|title=Why Are Chinese College Students Shunning Dorm Living?|author =Yang Tingting|date=13 September 2024}}</ref> Students were permitted to stay overnight at the ''[[Taixue]]'' from the 1050s, on the initiative of lecturers [[Hu Yuan]] and Sun Fu, possibly to avoid students being distracted by the entertainments available in [[Kaifeng]]. When a new campus for the institution was built by [[Li Jie (Song dynasty)|Li Jie]] in 1102, it contained 100 halls of residence housing 30 students each.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VY_UDwAAQBAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&printsec=frontcover&pg=PA70&hl=en&source=gb_mobile_entity#v=onepage&q&f=false|pages=70, 159|title=The Politics of Higher Education: The Imperial University in Northern Song China|author= Ming-kin Chu |date= 2020|publisher=Hong Kong University Press}}</ref>
The first college at a European university was the ''[[Collège des Dix-Huit]]'', established at the [[University of Paris]] in the late 12th century. However, the early European colleges were only for postgraduate students. Undergraduates were housed from the 12th century onwards in university-approved accommodation known as [[Academic halls of the University of Oxford|halls in Oxford]], hostels in Cambridge and pedagogies in Paris. These were run by a principal but were not endowed or incorporated. By the mid 15th century there were around 50 halls at Oxford, but following the admission of undergraduates to colleges and the rise of tutorial teaching at the expense of lectures, half of these had closed by the start of the 16th century and this declined further to seven or eight by the mid 16th century.<ref>{{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zZxCAAAAIAAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&printsec=frontcover&pg=PA1&hl=en&source=gb_mobile_entity#v=onepage&q&f=false|pages=1–3|chapter=Introductory|title=An Oxford Hall in Medieval Times|author=Alfred Brotherston Emden |date= 1927|publisher=Clarendon Press}}</ref>
Colleges flourished most strongly in England and France, with comparatively few medieval colleges in Spain and Italy. In Germany and other lands of the [[Holy Roman Empire]], colleges developed as accommodation for masters rather than students and the non-collegiate halls remained until after the [[Reformation]]. Even in Paris, Oxford and Cambridge, where the colleges were strongest, they only accommodated 10 to 20 per cent of students.<ref>{{cite book|title=[[A History of the University in Europe]]|publisher=Cambridge University Press|pages=213–222 "Lodgings"|chapter=Student education, student life|author=Rainer Christoph Schwinges|editor=Hilde de Ridder-Symoens |volume= 1. Universities in the Middle Ages|date=1992}}</ref>
[[File:Madraza Ben Youssef 04.JPG|thumb|Student rooms overlooking the central patio at Madrasa Ben Youssef]] In Islamic lands, madrasas offered student accommodation within the main building. Examples include the 13th century [[Mustansiriyya Madrasa]] in [[Baghdad]], where students were housed in individual cells,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://web.mit.edu/4.614/www/madrasaal-mustansiriyya.html|title=Madrasa al-Mustansiriyya|work=Religious Architecture and Islamic Cultures|publisher=Massachusetts Institute of Technology|access-date=8 September 2025}}</ref> and the 14th century [[Al-Attarine Madrasa]] in [[Fez, Morocco]], which had over 30 rooms housing around 60 students.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=monuments;ISL;ma;Mon01;21;en|work=Discovery Islamic art|publisher=[[Museum with No Frontiers]]|title=‘Attarin Madrasa|access-date=8 August 2025}}</ref> The [[Madrasa Ben Youssef]], built in the 16th century in [[Marrakesh]], Morocco, had 134 student rooms arranged around 13 small courtyards to accommodate its student population. These had a reading area near the window, in the brightest part of the room, and a wooden alcove enclosing a sleeping area in the darker interior.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.medersabenyoussef.ma/en/architecture/|at=Student rooms|title=Architecture of the Madrasa Ben Youssef|website=Madrasa Ben Youssef|access-date=8 September 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.medersabenyoussef.ma/en/histoire/|title=The History of the Madrasa Ben Youssef|website=Madrasa Ben Youssef|access-date=8 September 2025}}</ref>
In the early modern period, residence in college became the norm in England and France, and was even made a legal requirement at French universities in the mid 16th century. Colleges were also important in Spain, although a majority of students there rented privately until the mid 17th century. Jesuit-run colleges drove a growth in residence in Spain in the 17th and 18th centuries. However, in Germany, Poland, Austria, the Netherlands and Bohemia, the halls fell away after the Reformation in both Catholic and Protestant regions. With the exception of the Jesuit colleges, there was a tendency for colleges to cater increasingly for wealthier students, which drove an increase in the number of colleges in Italy in the 16th and 17th century.<ref name=HotUiE2>{{cite book|title=[[A History of the University in Europe]]|publisher=Cambridge University Press|pages=333–339 "The collegiate system"|chapter=Student education, student life|author=Rainer A. Müller|editor=Hilde de Ridder-Symoens |volume= 2. Universities in Early Modern Europe (1500–1800)|date=1996}}</ref>
[[File:Indian College at Harvard College conjectural image drawn by Harold Robert Shurtleff.png|thumb|Conjectural reconstruction of the Harvard Indian College.<ref>Drawn by [[Harold Shurtleff]]; in {{cite book|chapter-url=https://legacy.sites.fas.harvard.edu/~hsb41/Inventing_Harvard/morison.pdf|title=Harvard College in the Seventeenth Century|pages=344–345|author=[[Samuel Eliot Morison]]|chapter=Indian College and Press|volume=1|date=1936|publisher=[[Harvard University Press]]}}</ref>]] In the US [[colonial colleges]], accommodation was often provided within the main college building in the 17th and 18th centuries. The first residential building was the [[Harvard Indian College]] in 1650.<ref name=Yanni>{{cite journal|author=Mary R. Springer|title= Review of Living on Campus: An Architectural History of the American Dormitory, by Carla Yanni|journal= Panorama: Journal of the Association of Historians of American Art|volume= 6|issue= 1 |date=Spring 2020|doi= 10.24926/24716839.10010|doi-access= free}}</ref> The early halls had a (normally shared) bedroom with a small [[Study (room)|study]] or [[Cabinet (room)#Closet|closet]] off it for each student.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5KQs_f7JfuQC&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&printsec=frontcover&pg=PA121&hl=en&source=gb_mobile_entity#v=onepage&q&f=false|pages=120–121, 134–135|title=Travels through the Middle Settlements in North-America. In the years 1759 and 1760. With observations upon the state of the colonies| author=[[Andrew Burnaby]]|date= 1775}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|chapter-url=https://www.masshist.org/publications/adams-papers/index.php/view/DQA02fd7|chapter=Descriptive List of Illustrations: A Westerly View of Harvard College, Circa 1783–1784|pages=x–xi|title=Diary of John Quincy Adams|volume =2}}</ref> These small rooms off a bedroom had become fashionable in Tudor England and had remained popular in the US.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WqxvlLwc2v8C&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&printsec=frontcover&pg=PA72&hl=en&source=gb_mobile_entity#v=onepage&q&f=false|pages=72–74|author=[[Bill Bryson]]|title=At Home: A Short History of Private Life|date=2011|publisher=[[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-12483492|date=12 April 2011|at=Bedroom|title=The story of our rooms|work=BBC News Magazine|author=Megan Lane}}</ref> These could be rather small, with ''The Harvard Book'' of 1875 referring to the ones in [[Massachusetts Hall (Harvard University)|Massachusetts Hall]] as "(so called) studies, or closets".<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=noMxAQAAMAAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&printsec=frontcover&pg=PA55&hl=en&source=gb_mobile_entity#v=onepage&q&f=false|page=55|title=The Harvard Book|date=1875|author1=Frederick Ozni Vaille|author2=Henry Alden Clark}}</ref>
The [[French Revolution]] and the subsequent [[Napoleonic Wars]] saw the suppression of colleges in France and Spain, although some survived in Italy.<ref name=HotUiE2/><ref name=Spain>{{cite web|url=https://www.consejocolegiosmayores.es/historia-colegios-mayores/|title=Historia de los Colegios Mayores Universitarios|website=Consejo de Colegios Mayores Universitarios de España|access-date=25 July 2025|language=Spanish}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://global.ucsd.edu/_files/programs-partnerships/global-exchange-programs/outbound/ghislieri/collegio-ghislieri-international-students-handbook-2023-24.pdf|title= Colegio Ghislieri International Students Handbook |date=2023|pages=4–6|access-date=2 September 2025}}</ref> In the US, [[Thomas Jefferson]]'s "[[academical village]]" at the [[University of Virginia]] in the 1820s attempted to break away from the model of a large hall for student accommodation, with student rooms being directly off a classical arcade. However, the cost of building this made the university the most expensive in America, resulting in only the sons of the wealthiest families in the [[American South]] being able to attend.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/articles/thomas-jefferson-s-plan-for-the-university-of-virginia-lessons-from-the-lawn-teaching-with-historic-places.htm|title=Thomas Jefferson's Plan for the University of Virginia: Lessons from the Lawn (Teaching with Historic Places)|website=National Park Service|access-date=6 September 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=The Contradictions of Jefferson’s Vision for an American University|author=Nicole Penn|work=[[The Bulwark (website)|The Bulwark]]|date=26 June 2022|url=https://www.thebulwark.com/p/the-contradictions-of-jeffersons-vision-for-an-american-university|access-date=6 September 2025}}</ref>
[[File:Hatfield College C Stairs.jpg|thumb|Hatfield College, Durham (originally Bishop Hatfield's Hall) – "Other than the foundation of the University itself ... arguably the single most successful and influential undertaking at Durham throughout the nineteenth century"<ref name=andrews>{{cite book|page=237|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RYteDwAAQBAJ|title=Universities in the Age of Reform, 1800–1870|author=Matthew Andrews|publisher=Springer International Publishing|date=June 2018 |isbn=978-3-319-76726-0 }}</ref>]] In England, the expense of the colleges of Oxford and Cambridge similarly acted as a barrier to entry to those universities. This was initially replicated at [[Durham University]], established in 1832, but a much more economical residential system was initiated there at [[Hatfield College, Durham|Bishop Hatfield's Hall]] in 1846, with rooms let furnished and with shared servants, all meals provided in hall, and prices for both rooms and meals set in advance. It also pioneered the use of single-room study bedrooms rather than the "set" (suite) of rooms with a separate study and bedroom found in the older colleges.<ref name=andrews/><ref name="Hatfield history">{{cite web|url=https://www.durham.ac.uk/media/durham-university/colleges/hatfield-college/resources/BriefHistoryofHatfield.pdf|title=Brief History of Hatfield|page=5|website=Hatfield College, Durham|access-date=8 August 2025}}</ref><ref name="Northern Echo">{{cite news|url=https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/6952715.building-renamed-founders-honour/|title=Building renamed in founder's honour|work=[[The Northern Echo]]|date=7 May 2005}}</ref><ref name=WHS>{{cite web|url=https://www.durhamworldheritagesite.com/learn/architecture/bailey/north-bailey/hatfield-college|website=Durham World Heritage Site|title=Hatfield College|at=University Accommodation: The First or Among the First|date=15 December 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://glossary.lib.cam.ac.uk/term/set|title=Glossary of Cambridge-related terminology: Set|website=University of Cambridge|access-date=5 September 2025}}</ref> The study bedroom was a recent innovation at that time, with the term first recorded in 1842.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.oed.com/dictionary/study-bedroom_n?tl=true|title=Study bedroom|access-date=6 September 2025|work=Oxford English Dictionary}}</ref> These innovations inspired the foundation of [[Private halls of the University of Oxford|private halls]] (later [[permanent private hall]]s) at Oxford and private hostels at Cambridge in the later 19th century<ref name="Ox RC 1852">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BPm9V0_lzUgC&pg=PA41|page=41|title=Report of Her Majesty's Commissioners Appointed to Inquire Into the State, Discipline, Studies, and Revenues of the University and Colleges of Oxford|date=1852| publisher=[[HMSO]]|quote = The success that has attended Mr. Melville's labours in Hatfield Hall at Durham is regarded as a conclusive argument for imitating that institution in Oxford}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eH0kAAAAMAAJ&q=%22private%20hostels%20in%20cambridge%22|page=12|title=Fitzwilliam College Cambridge, 1869-1969|author=W. W. Grave|date=1983|publisher=Fitzwilliam Society}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VegzAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA195|title=College reform under the Cambridge University Act of 1856|pages=195–196|author=H. J. R.|date=7 October 1909|magazine=The Eagle|volume=31|publisher=St. John's College, Cambridge}}</ref><ref name=Adamson>{{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d240AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA282|chapter=University Legislation|page=282|title=A Short History of Education|author= John William Adamson|date=1919|publisher=Cambridge University Press}}</ref> and were taken up by [[Keble College, Oxford]]<ref>{{cite book|pages=69–70|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RYteDwAAQBAJ|title=Universities in the Age of Reform, 1800–1870|author=Matthew Andrews|publisher=Springer International Publishing|date=June 2018 |isbn=978-3-319-76726-0 }}</ref> and [[Selwyn College, Cambridge]],<ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Mary_Gladstone_and_the_Victorian_Salon/HS87DwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA20&printsec=frontcover|page=20|title=Mary Gladstone and the Victorian Salon: Music, Literature, Liberalism|author= Phyllis Weliver|date= 2017|publisher=Cambridge University Press}}</ref> subsequently becaming the standard model for residential accommodation at universities around the world.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aBwF7kl4q70C&pg=PA19|page=19|title=May and Amy|author= Josceline Dimbleby |date=2007|publisher= Crown Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-307-42126-5 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fehvEAAAQBAJ&dq=hatfield%20college%201846&pg=PA5|title=Durham Weather and Climate|chapter=Durham City: a brief history|author1= Stephen Burt|author2= Tim Burt|date= 2022|publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-264337-7 }}</ref>
The second half of the 19th century saw the development of [[North American fraternity and sorority housing|fraternity and sorority housing]] in the US. The first residential chapter house was established in 1864 by the [[Kappa Alpha Society]] at [[Williams College]]. At many US universities, fraternities provided the only organised student accommodation.<ref name="fraternity houses">{{Bairds17|section=Origins and Evolution of the College Fraternity|pages=12-14, The Chapter House}}</ref>{{efn|The first fraternity chapter house was a {{convert|20x14|ft|m}} cabin built in 1846 by [[Chi Psi]] in Michigan, but this was a meeting lodge rather than a residential house<ref name="fraternity houses"/>}}
Student accommodation was established at the Victorian [[redbrick universities]] in England in the late 19th and early 20th centuries for a number of reasons, including philanthropy, provision for female undergraduates, attracting students from outside of the local region, and because it was seen as an essential part of university life.<ref name="Whyte 2015">{{cite book|chapter=Halls of Residence at Britain's Civic Universities,1870–1970|author=[[William Whyte (historian)|William Whyte]]|pages=158, 159|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HohECgAAQBAJ&pg=PA158|title=Residential Institutions in Britain, 1725–1970: Inmates and Environments|editor1=Jane Hamlett|editor2=Lesley Hoskins|editor3=Rebecca Preston|date=6 October 2015|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-32026-5 }}</ref> It was not until after the first world war that university-funded halls of residence brought residential life back to continental Europe.<ref>{{cite book|title=[[A History of the University in Europe]]|publisher=Cambridge University Press|pages=104–107|chapter=Resources and management|author=Paul Getbod|editor=Walter Rüegg |volume= 3. Universities in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries (1800–1945|date=2004}}</ref> In the UK, the [[University Grants Committee (United Kingdom)|University Grants Committee]] also identified building halls of residence as a priority for growing the provincial universities,<ref name=HEPI/> while the inter-war period in the US saw the revitalisation of residential life with the construction of the [[Harvard House system|house system at Harvard]] and the [[Residential colleges of Yale University|residential colleges at Yale]].
==Types==
===Fraternity and sorority housing=== {{main|North American fraternity and sorority housing}} Only found in North America, these are houses owned by student social societies known as [[college fraternities and sororities|fraternities and sororities]]. They are a major component of student accommodation in the US, but are also linked with reputational risk to universities and have been criticised for attracting alumni donations that might otherwise have gone to institutional projects.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Housing Students: Fraternities and Residential Colleges|author1=Guillermo de Los Reyes|author2= Paul Rich|journal=The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science|volume= 585, Higher Education in the Twenty-First Century |date=January 2003|pages= 118–123|jstor=1049754}}</ref>
===Halls=== [[File:Broward Hall.jpg|right|thumb|Broward Hall at the [[University of Florida]] in the 1960s]]
Known in different countries as halls,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/hall|title=Hall|website=Cambridge Dictionary|access-date=20 December 2023|quote=a college or university building where students live}}</ref> halls of residence,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/hall-of-residence|title=Hall of residence|website=Cambridge Dictionary|access-date=20 December 2023|quote=a college building where students live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Ursula Hall Main Wing|url=https://study.anu.edu.au/accommodation/our-residences/ursula-hall-main-wing |access-date=29 August 2025|website=Australian National University|quote=Ursula Hall is one of ANU's oldest Halls of Residence}}</ref> residences,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sydney.edu.au/study/accommodation.html|title=Accommodation|at=Accommodation types|website=University of Sydney|access-date=29 August 2025}}</ref> residence halls,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Residence Halls |url=https://www.uwindsor.ca/residence/1124/residence-halls |access-date=2025-05-19 |website=www.uwindsor.ca |language=en}}</ref> dormitories<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dormitory|title=Dormitory|quote=2: a residence hall providing rooms for individuals or for groups usually without private baths|access-date=29 August 2025}}</ref> or hostels,<ref name=Grunebaump165>{{cite book|last=Grunebaum|first=Jason|chapter=Choosing an English for Hindi|editor1=Esther Allen|editor2=Susan Bernofsky|title=[[In Translation: Translators on Their Work and what it Means]]|publisher=[[Columbia University Press]]|year=2013|isbn=9780231159692|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=E2GsAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA165 165]|jstor=10.7312/alle15968.16|via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> this is the basic type that describes most student accommodation.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hall%20of%20residence|title=Hall of residence|work=Merriam-Websteraccess-date=31 August 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/residence%20hall|title=Residence hall|work=Merriam-Webster |access-date=31 August 2025}}</ref> Halls are distinguished from residential colleges by students being residents for the period they live in a hall rather than members throughout their time at university, whether in residence or not.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://collegiateway.org/howto/membership/#section-1.3|at=1.3 Residential College Junior Members|website=The Collegiate Way|title=How to Build a Residential College|author=Robert J. O'Hara|access-date=31 August 2025}}</ref> Residential colleges may have multiple residential buildings, which may be referred to as accommodation blocks<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-61569755|work=BBC News|title=Cambridge University student digs voted regional building of the year|date=25 May 2022}}</ref> or halls of residence.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.st-annes.ox.ac.uk/life-here/accommodation-meals/|title=Accommodation & Meals|at=Graduate|website=At Anne's College, Oxford|access-date=31 August 2025}}</ref>
Accommodation in halls is often in traditional single or multiple occupancy study-bedrooms, which may be catered or self-catered (with a shared kitchen) and have either a shared bathroom or an ''en suite'' bathroom. [[Studio apartment]]s are uncommon in university-owned halls and are mainly found in private halls.<ref name="US News">{{cite news|url=https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/living-on-campus-a-guide-to-college-housing|title=Living on Campus: A Guide to College Housing| author=Sarah Wood |date= 24 April 2023|work=US News}}</ref><ref name="HEPI types">{{cite report|url=https://www.hepi.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/HEPI-Student-Accommodation-Report-FINAL.pdf|pages=23–24|title=Student Accommodation: The Facts| author1=Sarah Jones |author2=Martin Blakey|publisher=Higher Education Policy Institute|date=August 2020}}</ref>
===Residential colleges=== {{main|Residential college}} {{excerpt|Residential college}}
=== Skyscraper dormitories === [[File:Sky Plaza, Clay Pit Lane, Leeds (20th June 2012).JPG|thumb|right|upright|The [[Sky Plaza]] in [[Leeds]], England, one of the world's tallest student accommodation blocks]]
[[Skyscraper]] dormitories, termed dormitowers, have included the {{convert|93|m|ft|adj=on}} [[Fenwick Tower (Halifax, Nova Scotia)|Fenwick Tower]] at [[Dalhousie University]] in Halifax, Canada, built in 1971, the {{convert|103|m|ft|adj=on}} [[Sky Plaza]] in Leeds, UK, built in 2009, and the {{convert|112|m|ft|adj=on}} [[Chapter Spitalfields]] in London, built in 2010, all of which held the title of the world's tallest purely student accommodation building when built. Some taller buildings include student accommodation among other uses, including the {{convert|132|m|ft|adj=on}} [[Het Strijkijzer]] in The Hague, Netherlands, the {{convert|143|m|ft|adj=on}} Roosevelt Tower at [[Roosevelt University]] in Chicago, and the {{convert|144|m|ft|adj=on}} Capri at [[Marymount Manhattan College]] in New York.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://global.ctbuh.org/resources/papers/57-Journal2010_IssueIV_Dormitowers.pdf|title=Talking Tall: Dormitowers|journal=CTBUH Journal|issue=IV|year=2010|pages=46–49|volume=57|publisher=[[Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat]]}}</ref> The 33 Beekman Street tower at [[Pace University]] in New York, completed in 2015, was also claimed to be the world's tallest student residence, at {{convert|340|ft|m|0|order=flip}}.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/freshman-year/33-beekman-take-peek-inside-worlds-tallest-college-dorm-n449116|title=33 Beekman: Take a Peek Inside the World's Tallest College Dorm|work=NBC News|date=22 October 2015|author=Amy DiLuna}}</ref> [[Altus House]] in Leeds, UK, built in 2021, was described as the tallest student accommodation building in northern Europe at {{convert|116|m|ft}}.<ref name=BusinessDesk>{{cite news|url=https://www.thebusinessdesk.com/yorkshire/news/2080271-tallest-student-accommodation-building-in-northern-europe-is-completed|title=Tallest student accommodation building in northern Europe is completed|work=The Business Desk|date=19 August 2021|author=Miran Rahman}}</ref> The 50-storey, {{convert|485|ft|m|order=flip|adj=on}} 99 Washington Street tower in Manhattan, New York, originally built as a 492-room hotel, was re-opened in 2025 as the world's tallest student accommodation tower, housing 650 students.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.multihousingnews.com/found-study-debuts-hotel-to-student-housing-conversion/|title= FOUND Study Debuts Hotel-to-Student Housing Conversion|author= Vicentiu Fusea|date=13 November 2025|work=Multi-Housing News}}</ref> A 48-storey, {{convert|156|m|ft}} tall building housing 1,068 students is planned for 30 Marsh Wall in London's [[Canary Wharf]] district, and is expected to be the tallest student accommodation building in the world when completed (planned for 2028 {{as of|2025|lc=y}}).<ref>{{cite web |title=Marsh Wall |url=https://tideconstruction.co.uk/projects/marsh-wall/ |website=Tide Construction |access-date=1 September 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Gardiner |first1=Joey |title=Tide wins full permission for 48-storey modular tower |url=https://www.housingtoday.co.uk/news/tide-wins-full-permission-for-48-storey-modular-tower/5118686.article |access-date=1 September 2025 |work=Housing Today |date=5 August 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.constructionenquirer.com/2025/02/27/funding-deal-for-237m-tide-construction-student-tower-scheme/|title=Funding deal for £237m Tide Construction student tower|author=Aaron Morby|date=27 February 2025|work=Construction Enquirer}}</ref>
The proposed [[Munger Hall]] dormitory at the [[University of California, Santa Barbara]] would have been the largest university dormitory in the world with 4,500 students over 12 floors. The building, nicknamed "Dormzilla", was cancelled in 2023 after controversy over the design, including that 94% of the rooms would be windowless and that there were only two exits.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/29/business/ucsb-munger-hall/index.html|title=Warren Buffett's billionaire partner bankrolls windowless dorm. An architect quit|author= Ramishah Maruf|work= CNN Business |date=1 November 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.archpaper.com/2023/08/university-california-abandons-windowless-dorm-munger-hall/|title=University of California abandons plans to build "windowless dorm" Munger Hall|author= Daniel Jonas Roche |date=9 August 2023 |work= The Architect's Paper}}</ref>
===Student villages=== [[File:Thomond Student Village, University of Limerick - geograph.org.uk - 2038186.jpg|thumb|Thomond Student Village at the [[University of Limerick]]]] A student village refers to an area of student accommodation, normally consisting of multiple halls, which may be at a distance from the campus.<ref>{{cite report|url=https://www.hepi.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/HEPI-Student-Accommodation-Report-FINAL.pdf|page=16|title=Student Accommodation: The Facts| author1=Sarah Jones |author2=Martin Blakey|publisher=Higher Education Policy Institute|date=August 2020}}</ref> Notable student villages include [[Turku Student Village]] in Finland, [[Cheney Student Village]] in the UK and [[Studentendorf Schlachtensee]] in Germany.
===Townhouses=== [[File:King's University College - Residence.jpg|thumb|Townhouses at [[King's University College, University of Western Ontario]]]] University-built [[townhouse]]s, normally either on campus or in student villages, typically have the ground floor given over to shared facilities, such as a lounge and kitchen, with the upper two or three floors housing eight to twelve students.<ref name="US News"/><ref name="HEPI types"/>
==By country== ===France=== In [[France]], student accommodation is provided by the state in "university residences" managed by the ''[[centre régional des œuvres universitaires et scolaires|centres régional des œuvres universitaires et scolaires]]'' (regional centres for university and school works) for holders of government scholarships. For other students, accommodation is provided through private "student residences" or through private rental. In Paris, the ''[[Cité Internationale Universitaire de Paris]]'' provides accommodation for around 6,000 postgraduate students from around the world.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.campusfrance.org/en/student-housing-france|title=Where to live during your stay|date=19 June 2024|access-date=31 August 2025|website=Campus France}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://immobilier.lefigaro.fr/article/le-marche-des-residences-etudiantes-marque-le-pas_c354bf24-ceea-11e9-85a0-7845e8a82377/|work=[[Le Figaro]]|title=Le marché des résidences étudiantes marque le pas|language=French|author=Emma Ruffenach|date=9 September 2001}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/1988/02/25/malaise-dans-les-cites-universitaires_4070207_1819218.html|title=Malaise dans les cités universitaires|date=25 February 1988|work=[[Le Monde]]|author=Gérard Courtois|language=French}}</ref>
===Germany=== [[File:Karlsruhe, Studentenwohnheim -- 2013 -- 5245.jpg|thumb|''Studentenwohnheim'' in [[Karlsruhe]]]] In Germany, student accommodation is called ''Studentenwohnheim'' (plural: ''Studentenwohnheime''). Many of these are run by ''[[Studentenwerk]]e'' (student services organisations), which have around 195,000 spaces across the country in over 1,700 halls,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.studierendenwerke.de/en/topics/accomodation|title= Accommodation|website=Deutsches Studentenwerk (German National Association for Student Affairs)|access-date =14 August 2024}}</ref> or by ''Studierendenwerke'' (students' unions).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.tum.de/en/studies/during-your-studies/living-and-working/accommodations/student-halls-of-residence|title=Student halls of residence|website=Technical University of Munich|access-date=31 August 2025}}</ref> Some ''Studentenwohnheime'' are run by social organisations or by Catholic or Protestant churches; many of these take students of any denomination or religion. These facilities are sometimes single-sex. At either church or social organisation residences students may be required to participate in service activities. Private halls normally cost more than church or social organisation halls, or students' union halls.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.tum.de/en/studies/during-your-studies/living-and-working/accommodations/student-halls-of-residence/religious-and-social-organizations|title=Privately run student halls of residence|website=Technical University of Munich|access-date=31 August 2025}}</ref>
=== India === In India, student accommodation is called "student [[hostel]]s". Many colleges and universities have hostels on-campus, but this is frequently insufficient for the number of students enrolled.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newindianexpress.com/thesundaystandard/2017/may/28/is-delhi-university-ready-for-2017-18-1609830.html|title=Is Delhi University ready for 2017-18?|work=The New Indian Express|date=28 May 2017|access-date=20 July 2017}}</ref> Most students prefer to stay off-campus in private "paying guest" (PG) accommodation and private hostels as these usually have better amenities and services.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/more-lifestyle/hostels-with-ac-rooms-free-wi-fi-housekeeping-student-housing-has-arrived/story-KF2iHPlMzrQ43vIE7zDCVN.html|title=Hostels with AC rooms, free wi-fi, housekeeping: Student housing has arrived|date=14 April 2017|work=Hindustan Times|access-date=20 July 2017|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.deccanherald.com/opinion/recognising-pgs-as-homes-may-solve-bengalurus-rental-housing-crisis-3678027|title=Recognising PGs as homes may solve Bengaluru’s rental housing crisis|work=Deccan Herald|author=Sai Rama Raju Marella|date=12 August 2025}}</ref> For example, in 2015 an estimated 180,000 students enrolled with [[University of Delhi|Delhi University]], there are only about 9,000 beds available in its hostels for both undergraduate and postgraduate students. The university admits an average of 54,000 students every year.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.ndtv.com/delhi-news/not-enough-hostel-seats-in-delhi-university-students-clamour-for-rent-act-771460|date=14 June 2015|title=With Hostel Shortage in Delhi University, Students Demand Implementation of Rent Act|work=NDTV.com|access-date=20 July 2017}}</ref> This leaves a majority of students having to find accommodation off-campus.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-newdelhi/hostel-crunch-has-delhi-university-students-clamouring-for-living-space/article6116017.ece|title=Hostel crunch has Delhi University students clamouring for living space|work=The Hindu|access-date=20 July 2017|date=15 June 2015|language=en}}</ref> This has led to a lot of student hostel or student PG chains being established near Delhi University.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://dubeat.com/2016/05/coho-dorms-offer-alternatives-to-hostel-and-pg-accommodations-in-du/|title=CoHo Dorms offer alternatives to Hostels and PGs in DU|work=DU Beat|access-date=20 July 2017|date=26 May 2016|language=en-US}}</ref>
===United Kingdom=== ====Historical development==== [[File:Aberdare Hall, Cardiff University.JPG|thumb|right|[[Aberdare Hall]] at [[Cardiff University]], built in 1895, one of the few remaining single-sex halls of residence in the UK]] [[File:Norfolk Terrace.JPG|thumb|right|[[Denys Lasdun]]'s 'ziggurats' (1968), [[University of East Anglia]]]]
Until the mid 19th century, students at residential universities in England lived in [[residential college|colleges]], where they rented a set of unfurnished rooms, paid their own servants, and bought their own meals. The first change from this came with the foundation of Bishop Hatfield's Hall (now [[Hatfield College]]) by [[David Melville (priest)|David Melville]] at [[Durham University]] in 1846. This introduced three key concepts: rooms would be let furnished, all meals would be taken communally, and all expenses would be reasonable and fixed in advance, which combined to make the cost of accommodation in the hall much lower than in colleges. Melville also introduced single room study-bedrooms and, in 1849, opened the first purpose-built hall of residence in the country at Hatfield.<ref name="Hatfield history"/><ref name="Northern Echo"/><ref name=WHS/> The Oxford University Commission of 1852 found that "The success that has attended Mr. Melville's labours in Hatfield Hall at Durham is regarded as a conclusive argument for imitating that institution in Oxford";<ref name="Ox RC 1852"/> this report led to a requirement in the [[Oxford University Act 1854]] that Oxford allow the establishment of [[Private halls of the University of Oxford|private halls]], although these halls were never very successful.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rI8DDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA353|title=The University of Oxford: A History|author=L. W. B. Brockliss|publisher= Oxford University Press|date=15 April 2016|pages=353, 369, 370|isbn=978-0-19-101730-8 }}</ref>
The 19th century London colleges were originally non-residential. [[King's College London]] established a hall for theological students in a house adjacent to the college in 1847, although this only lasted until 1858.<ref>{{cite book|chapter-url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/middx/vol1/pp345-359#h3-0005|pages=345–349|chapter=The University of London: The Constituent Colleges|title=A History of the County of Middlesex|via=British History Online|date=1969|author1=J S Cockburn|author2= H P F King |author3=K G T McDonnell| publisher=[[Victoria County History]]}}</ref> [[University Hall, Gordon Square|University Hall]] was opened in 1849 by a group of mainly [[Unitarianism|Unitarian]] Dissenters for students at [[University College London]]. This also struggled until taken over by [[Manchester New College]] in 1881, after which it flourished for a period but was subsequently closed when that college moved to Oxford in 1890.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bloomsbury-project/institutions/university_hall.htm|title=University Hall|access-date=18 December 2023|website=UCL Bloomsbury Project}}</ref> [[Bedford College, London]], at the time the only women's college in Britain, opened a residence in 1860.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/search/archives/ea72edbf-ccfd-3a04-8a64-021e9779134f|title= Bedford College Papers|website=Archives Hub|access-date=19 December 2023}}</ref> [[College Hall, London]] was established in 1882 for women students at University College London (which had become mixed a few years earlier) and the [[London School of Medicine for Women]]. Like the other London halls (with the exception of the Bedford College residence) this was initially private, but was taken over by the [[University of London]] in 1910.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bloomsbury-project/institutions/college_hall.htm|title=College Hall| access-date=19 December 2023|website=UCL Bloomsbury Project}}</ref>
The provincial university colleges that became the [[redbrick universities]] were established as non-residential institutions in the 19th century, but later became the universities most closely associated with the development of halls of residence (as distinct from the residential colleges of the older universities). [[William Whyte (historian)|William Whyte]] identifies four main drivers for the building of halls of residence in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. These were: firstly, for philanthropic reasons (often linked to religion), such as the Anglican [[St Anselm Hall]] (1872/1907) and the Quaker [[Dalton-Ellis Hall|Dalton Hall]] (1881), both at [[Owens College]] (now the [[University of Manchester]]); secondly, to provide safe accommodation for female undergraduates, who it was felt at that time could not live in lodgings; thirdly, to attract students from more distant parts of the country, particularly for university colleges in smaller urban areas such as [[Reading, Berkshire|Reading]], [[Exeter]] and [[Leicester]]; and fourthly, because residential provision was becoming seen as an essential element of university life, allowing for the development of community.<ref name="Whyte 2015"/>
In 1925, the [[University Grants Committee (United Kingdom)|University Grants Committee]] identified the need for more halls of residence as the most urgent of its priorities.<ref name=HEPI>{{cite report|url=https://www.hepi.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/HEPI_Somewhere-to-live_Report-121-FINAL.pdf|title=Somewhere to live: Why British students study away from home – and why it matters|author= William Whyte |publisher=HEPI|number=121|date=November 2019}}</ref> A report for the [[Universities UK|Committee of Vice Chancellors and Principals]] in 1948 found that, in 1937–38, the highest percentages of students in colleges and halls of residence (outside of Oxford and Cambridge) were at Exeter (79 per cent), Reading (76 per ent), Southampton (65 per cent), Nottingham (42 per cent), Bristol (36 per cent) and Durham (32 per cent across both Durham and Newcastle divisions); all other universities were below 25 per cent.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Planning of University Halls of Residence|date=1948|page=2|publisher=Clarendon Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LPBBAAAAIAAJ}}</ref> Funding in the post-war period led to the construction of many new halls, with 67 built between 1944 and 1957. Yet the expansion of higher education in this same period meant that the proportion of students in halls hardly increased: while between 1943 and 1963 the number of students living at home fell from 42 per cent to 20 per cent, the number in private lodgings increased from 33 per cent to 52 per cent, leading to the [[Robbins Report]] identifying a need for "a very great increase in the housing provided by universities".<ref name=HEPI/>
The post-war expansion in halls of residence meant universities looked for relatively cheap and quick construction, turning to functional [[modern architecture]] rather than the more traditional designs of earlier halls.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/archive/collections/photographs/modernist-student-accommodation/|title=Back to School in the Mid-20th Century: Modernist Student Accommodation|website=[[Historic England]]|access-date=10 August 2024}}</ref> Notable architects involved in designing halls of residence in this period included [[Basil Spence]], who designed the University of Southampton's [[Highfield Campus]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ribapix.com/chamberlain-hall-of-residence-highfield-campus-university-of-southampton-the-junior-common-room_riba49571 |title=Chamberlain Hall of Residence, Highfield Campus, University of Southampton: the Junior Common Room|website=[[RIBA]]|access-date=10 August 2024}}</ref> and the [[University of Sussex]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ribapix.com/Halls-of-Residence-University-of-Sussex-Falmer_RIBA74578|title=Halls of Residence, University of Sussex, Falmer|website=[[RIBA]]|access-date=10 August 2024}}</ref> [[Denys Lasdun]]'s "five minute university" at the [[University of East Anglia]], including its 'ziggurat' halls of residence,<ref>{{National Heritage List for England| num= 1390647 |desc= Norfolk Terrace and attached walkways, at the University of East Anglia |grade=II* |accessdate=10 August 2024}}</ref> and [[James Stirling (architect)|James Stirling]]'s [[Andrew Melville Hall]] at the [[University of St Andrews]], "one of the most significant post-war buildings in Scotland" according to [[Historic Environment Scotland]].<ref>{{Historic Environment Scotland|num=LB51846|desc=North Haugh, University of St Andrews, Andrew Melville Hall|access-date=10 August 2024}}</ref>
====Current halls of residence==== [[File:Nido 100 Middlesex Street.jpg|thumb|right|[[Chapter Spitalfields]], a private hall of residence in [[London]], England, was the tallest student accommodation building in the world when completed in 2010]]
Most UK universities provide accommodation in halls for first year students who make a firm acceptance of their offer, although this may not extend to students who enter via [[UCAS#Confirmation and clearing|clearing]]. Halls accommodation most commonly consists of shared flats, but rooms may also be arranged 'dorm-style' along corridors. Rooms may be en suite or there may be a shared bathroom for the flat or corridor. Halls may be catered, part-catered or self-catered. Most universities offer single-sex flats within halls and there are a few halls (such as [[Aberdare Hall]] at [[Cardiff University]]) that are entirely single-sex, but others (such as University College London) offer only mixed accommodation.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/student-advice/before-you-start/student-halls-and-houses|title= Student halls and houses|website=Complete University Guide|access-date=20 December 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/study/accommodation/residences/aberdare-hall|title=Aberdare Hall|website=Cardiff University|access-date=20 December 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ucl.ac.uk/accommodation/frequently-asked-questions|title=Frequently asked questions|website=UCL Accommodation|date=30 October 2018 |at= Can I apply for single-gender halls? |access-date=20 December 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.lse.ac.uk/student-life/accommodation/apply/types-of-contracts-halls-and-rooms|title=Types of contracts, halls and rooms|website=LSE|at=Hall layouts|access-date=20 December 2023}}</ref> Most university or college-managed halls of residence are covered by [[Universities UK]] and [[Guild HE]]'s accommodation code of practice.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thesac.org.uk/|website=The Student Accommodation Code|title=Your right to a quality home|access-date=28 December 2023|publisher=Universities UK and Guild HE}}</ref>
[[File:Connaught-Hall-24.jpg|thumb|right|[[Connaught Hall, London]], a [[University of London]] hall of residence]]
Private halls of residence, also known as purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA), are available in many university towns and cities. Many are covered by the Accreditation Network UK Code of Standards for Larger Developments,{{efn|The code defines a larger development as "a development where more than 15 students live in one building in rooms off a central corridor, in cluster flats, or in self-contained flats"}} and housing services at some universities (such as the University of London) will only list accredited PBSAs.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://housing.london.ac.uk/find-accommodation/registered-independent-halls-residence|title=Registered Independent Halls of Residence|website=University of London Housing Services|access-date=28 December 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nationalcode.org/|title=National Code|access-date=28 December 2023}}</ref> Many halls are delivered in partnership between educational establishments and private developers, and both codes include the same methodology for defining whether a hall counts as "managed and controlled by an educational establishment", making it a university hall, or is a private hall.<ref>Annex A of the UUK/Guild HE code; Annex 1 of the ANUK code</ref> Private halls may include facilities such as common rooms, gyms and study spaces.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://study-uk.britishcouncil.org/blog/10-things-to-consider-when-choosing-student-accommodation-in-uk|title=10 things to consider when choosing student accommodation in the UK|at=3. The different types of accommodation|website=[[British Council]]|access-date=28 December 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://accommodation.ucas.com/article/right-accommodation|title=How to find the right student accommodation for you|website=[[UCAS]]|date=16 January 2018 |access-date=28 December 2023}}</ref> Private halls are often the most expensive accommodation option available in university towns.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theuniguide.co.uk/advice/student-accommodation/student-accommodation-private-student-halls|title=Student accommodation guide #3: private halls|website=UniGuide|access-date=28 December 2023}}</ref> Some of the companies which have developed such accommodation are based [[Offshore company|offshore]], which has led to concerns about tax avoidance and evasion of sanctions on Russian owners.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2018/may/27/revealed-developers-cashing-in-privatisation-uk-student-housing|title=Revealed: the developers cashing in on privatisation of student housing|author1=Hilary Osborne|author2=Caelainn Barr|work=The Guardian|date=28 May 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.thetimes.com/business-money/article/feeble-property-rules-keep-russian-owners-identities-in-the-shadows-qvkspvr99|title=Feeble property rules keep Russian owners' identities in the shadows|author=Jim Armitage|date=27 February 2022|work=The Times}}</ref>
In the 2021/22 academic year, 347,680 (16 per cent) of the UK's 2,185,665 students were living in accommodation maintained by their higher education provider (either halls or colleges) and 200,895 (nine per cent) were in private-sector halls.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/students/table-57|title=Table 57 - Full-time and sandwich HE student enrolments by HE provider and term-time accommodation 2014/15 to 2021/22|website=[[Higher Education Statistics Agency]]|access-date=29 December 2023}}</ref>
Within London, the [[London Plan]] that was adopted in 2021 specified that PBSAs had to have a minimum of 35 per cent of rooms rented at 55 per cent or less of the maximum student loan for London. However, this has had the effect of making PBSAs not financially viable in more expensive areas of London, so development of new PBSAs has been primarily in outer London. A majority of rooms, including all of the affordable rooms, also had to be linked to a university via a contractual nomination agreement. As this puts financial risks on the institutions, particularly with uncertainties over international student recruitment, this has led to the four richest institutions ([[Imperial College London]], [[King's College London]], [[London School of Economics]] and [[University College London]]) dominating the supply of new halls. Analysis of student numbers in London has shown that, as of 2024, 111,000 students are guaranteed a place in halls (including contracted private halls) by their universities but that there were only around 100,000 beds in university halls and private PBSAs. This has led University College London to remove their housing guarantee for incoming students and replace it with a system of priority groups.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.hepi.ac.uk/2024/06/03/the-london-plan-and-purpose-built-student-accommodation-three-years-on-panacea-for-growth-or-painful-progress/|title=The London Plan and Purpose Built Student Accommodation Three Years On – Panacea for Growth or Painful Progress?|website=Higher Education Policy Institute|date=3 June 2024|author= David Tymms}}</ref>
Studies in Australia, New Zealand and the UK have shown that international students prefer to live in PBSAs while domestic students prefer [[houses in multiple occupation]], raising concerns that PBSAs drive geographies of exclusion, with international and domestic students becoming segregated.<ref>{{cite journal|journal=Housing Policy Debate|year=2024|volume= 34|issue= 5|pages=746–768|doi=10.1080/10511482.2022.2137379|title=Exploring Student Housing Demand, Supply Side and Planning Policy Responses in a Small University City: Studentification in Durham, UK|first1=Christopher|last1= Wilkinson |first2= Paul|last2= Greenhalgh|doi-access=free}}</ref>
=== United States === [[File:Air view of Bancroft Hall and high power radio towers at left, U. S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Md (60661).jpg|right|thumb|Aerial view of Bancroft Hall at the US Naval academy, said to be the largest dormitory building in the US]]
[[File:Joan chadwick and friends common history.jpg|thumb|left|Jefferson Medical College Hospital School of Nursing students in their dormitory room c.1951]]
[[File:Student suites at Cal Poly Pomona.png|right|thumb|Residential suites at [[California State Polytechnic University, Pomona|Cal Poly Pomona]]]]
In the early [[colonial colleges]], residence was often provided for students within the main college building, such as the [[Wren Building]] at the [[College of William & Mary|William & Mary]] (1705) and [[Nassau Hall]] at [[Princeton University|Princeton]] (1756); these went on to inspire other "[[List of Old Main buildings|Old Main]]" buildings, combining academic functions with accommodation. The first primarily residential building was the [[Harvard Indian College]] (1650), which also contained a printing press, while the first exclusively residential building was Stoughton Hall (1698), also at [[Harvard University|Harvard]].<ref name=Yanni/>
Most colleges and universities provide single or multiple occupancy rooms for their students, usually at a cost. These buildings consist of many such rooms, like an apartment building. The largest dormitory building in the US is said to be [[Bancroft Hall]] at the [[United States Naval Academy]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/md0916/|title=U.S. Naval Academy, Bancroft Hall, Annapolis, Anne Arundel County, MD|website=[[Library of Congress]]|access-date=12 December 2023}}</ref> housing 4,400 [[midshipman|midshipmen]] in 1,700 multiple occupancy rooms.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://navylacrossecamp.com/bancroft-hall-dorms|title=Bancroft Hall (Dorms)|website=Navy Lacrosse Camp|access-date=29 December 2023}}</ref>
Many colleges and universities no longer use the word "dormitory" and staff are now using the term '''residence hall''' (analogous to the United Kingdom "hall of residence") or simply "hall" instead. Outside academia however, the word "dorm" or "dormitory" is commonly used without negative connotations. Indeed, the words are used regularly in the marketplace as well as routinely in advertising.
A United States residence hall room that holds two students is usually referred to as a "double". Certain residence halls have communal bathroom facilities, with no toilet facilities in the rooms themselves. In the United States, residence halls are sometimes [[sex segregation|segregated by sex]], with men living in one group of rooms, and women in another. Some dormitory complexes are single-sex with varying limits on visits by persons of each sex. For example, the [[University of Notre Dame]] in [[Indiana]] has a long history of ''parietals'', or mixed visiting hours. Most colleges and universities offer coeducational dorms, where either men or women reside on separate floors but in the same building or where both sexes share a floor but with individual rooms being single-[[sex]]. In the early 2000s, dorms that allowed people of opposite sexes to share a room became available in some public universities.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.post-gazette.com/lifestyle/20020226dorms26P9.asp|title=In student housing, is the coed room the wave of the future? | work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | date=2002-02-26}}</ref> Some colleges and university coeducational dormitories also feature coeducational bathrooms.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/18/education/edlife/18coed-t.html?_r=0|title=Considering Unisex Bathrooms in College Decision | newspaper=The New York Times | date=2010-04-18}}</ref> Many newer residence halls offer single rooms as well as private bathrooms, or suite-style rooms.
Most residence halls are much closer to campus than comparable private housing such as apartment buildings. This convenience is a major factor in the choice of where to live since living physically closer to classrooms is often preferred, particularly for first-year students who may not be permitted to park vehicles on campus. Universities may therefore provide priority to first-year students when allocating this accommodation.
==== Hall councils ==== Halls may have student representative organisations, often connected to the [[residence life]] department, known as ''hall councils'', ''area councils'' (for multiple halls in an area) or ''hall governments''. At the campus level, there may be a ''[[residence hall association]]'' or an ''inter-hall council''. These organise events and provide advocacy for resident students as opposed to the wider student body.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.roompact.com/resource-pages/advising-rha-nrhh-and-hall-council/|access-date=31 August 2025|title=Advising RHA, NRHH, & Hall Council|website=Roompact}}</ref>
==See also== * [[Hazing in fraternities and sororities]]
==Notes and references== {{notelist}} {{reflist}}
[[Category:Housing]] [[Category:Student housing| ]] [[Category:Rites of passage]] [[Category:Fraternity and sorority culture]] [[Category:Student culture]]