My son is considering CSU and was just accepted and looking for a scholarship. We are looking at dorms for Freshmen. Which do you recommend and why? We’ll visit in Jan.
Any advice, anyone?
I am currently in the Living Substance Free residential learning community (RLC) in Westfall Hall, which is in the extreme northwest corner of campus. I’m not plugging the RLC, but I’m plugging the dorm. Westfall: Best Hall. You’re on a floor (one of 12) with about 30-40 other students. Same thing applies in Durward hall, which also has 12 floors. Durward, though, has had more of a reputation of being a party dorm. Westfall’s quieter, but there are still incidents.
There are some smaller community-style dorms, like Allison near the College of Business on the north side, Ingersoll (southwest). Unless you live locally, you have to live on-campus your first year. The amount of scholarships will vary based on availability, GPA, what you’re studying, residency, among other factors. Glad that you’re considering CSU, and we’d love to have you join us in Ram Country!
@joshmancos98 Thank you SO MUCH (I asked the community a month ago–good on ya!) for the thorough run down and kind welcome. My S2 is leaning heavily toward CSU and we will visit during the last week of January. S2 is also very athletic and will surely want to participate in intramural sports. Does Westfall also active in intramural teams? What do you recommend?
Hi EngPll. My son is a freshman at CSU. I’m not on CC very often anymore, and I just saw your inquiry today. You guys should study the housing link on the CSU website – it has a thorough description of the dorms (including some videos) and the various living-learning type communities (so you can weed out dorms that will not even be available to your son). The “best” dorms are probably the newest ones in Laurel Village (Alpine and Pinion). They are air conditioned (which is helpful, even in Colorado) and are the suite-style dorms, which most students tend to prefer (share a bathroom with only a roommate, or perhaps suite-mates as well, depending on the particular room). Laurel Village is on the North side of campus, so it is not subject to having to move your cars on football weekends. (And it is not as far away from classes as the towers of Westfall and Durward, which are high-rises and communal baths on the farthest corner of campus). The Academic Village is similar to (and preceded) Laurel Village, and is located across the intramural fields on the South side of campus, nearer to the new stadium. Most of Laurel Village and Academic Village are held for honors students, engineering students, and various living-learning communities, and have little to no room for the “general freshmen student population.” The quickest filling dorms for the general population tend to be Parmelee and Corbett, which are also on the North side of campus in a very good location, and are also suite-style dorms (but no air-conditioning, except on the 4th floor of Parmelee, which is not open to freshmen). CSU recently opened the reservation system for current students who are interested in living on campus next year, and my son was able to reserve a single room with private bathroom (no roommate and no shared bathroom) in Alpine at Laurel Village, although we have already placed a deposit on an apartment right across the street from campus for next year. So he will hopefully have a choice, and likely will move off campus – but the “best” dorm he was going after for his sophomore year was a single room with a private bathroom in the newest dorms at Laurel Village. Hope this helps.
@lakeviking, terrific information and roadmap to navigating the on-campus options. Thank you, very helpful. Some of the Key Communities, for which my son applied, are also dedicated to dorms it seems. Quite helpful. Cheers.
Son is enjoying Braiden. Key service community on top of a dining hall and close to most of his classes!