Any suggests for colleges that a Freshman would have a good chance of getting single dorm room, either single room in a suite or traditional dorm room with bathroom down the hallway? Thanks.
Lots of colleges have singles for freshman. You might get better advice if you provide more specific information
about the student’s qualifications and what the student is looking for besides a single.
lehigh…my S has had a single freshman and sophomore year.
I had one as a freshman at La Salle University, after 2 bad roommate experiences. I think it was about $2000 more than a double (per year).
One daughter lived in a double in a traditional dorm, but could have lived in the same room as a single by paying more.
Other daughter lived in a 4 (single) bedroom suite, with a double bathroom in the suite. Almost all freshmen at her school lived in the freshman village (95%).
As mentioned in reply #1, many colleges offer single rooms.
Perhaps the availability tends to be greater at expensive, selective, private schools …
but I’d suggest not making this one of your initial list-building criteria.
The process is complicated enough already.
Build an initial list based on other factors (cost, selectivity, location, etc.)
When they are down to a manageable number (15 or so) look up the room and board plans.
Eliminate any that don’t offer single rooms as an affordable option.
@tk21769 My experience has not been that singles are more available at expensive, selective private schools. Obviously this is anecdotal but I have a student at Pomona and getting a single there is possible but not guaranteed. Everyone pays the same for their room regardless of whether you end up in a spacious single or tiny crowded double and you have only limited influence on where you end up. By contrast my younger student is looking at some state schools like ASU where there are a lot of small singles that share a bath with one other single. It’s much more first come, first served, you get what you pay for. https://housing.asu.edu/housing-communities/residential-colleges/barrett-residential-complex
I would start by searching for colleges that are good academic/financial/social fits. Once you have that list you can look on the ResLife page for each school (or even call ResLife) to see if singles are available for freshmen.
more info: new to this board was this a good place to post a housing. single room very important in college selection.
DD is a HS junior, vegan interested in Environmental Engineering/ Environmental Science, and math/science. 3.975 unweighted GPA. will graduate with 4 PLTW Engineering classes, 4 AP Classes, 3 college classes from 4 yr. university. PSAT score was 1150. Is studying and learning some testing tips for SAT. Location is open nationwide.
@twoinanddone
Is Freshman Village at Emory? Could you tell me name of other university ?
I don’t mean to get too personal, but does your daughter just really prefer a single or is there some sort of diagnosis that means a single is important to her physical or mental health?
Regardless of the answer, I’d still urge you to take the advice you’ve been given to start with a more traditional college search and then check on singles for freshmen. Trying to start with a list of schools with singles for freshman is just too unwieldy. You’d literally have to look at every single school’s website individually and dig deep enough in their residence life pages to figure out what is available to freshmen. And even then, there’s no guarantee.
But you should know that if there is a legitimate reason and appropriate documentation, a single is available as an accommodation at schools that have them.
Off the top of my head, I know for a fact that Haverford, Wesleyan, Rochester and McGill all have singles available for freshmen, but I don’t know that any of them have the major your daughter is looking for.
I’d also urge you to be clear about what you can afford and, if your daughter can’t be full pay (as much as $70K per year all in at many private colleges) to be clear about your situation regarding merit or need based financial aid.
The freshman village is at Florida Tech. Close to 1000 freshmen (and the RAs) live in the freshman village. There are 7 buildings (3 stories each) with the suites, 4 to a suite.
The other school where daughter could have had a single was Wyoming. Typical double dorm rooms, but you could pay to have a single.
I don’t think either school is unique, but it is lot harder to get singles in schools with housing shortages like UCLA. Some schools require a medical statement with a need for a single. A friend had medical conditions that required a single, but that meant she couldn’t live on the same floor as her LLC. That was a big negative as she was never fully included in the LLC.
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Outside of oversubscribed highly competitive schools which are probably unlikely for your DD, many schools offer singles and all you do is pay for them. This is far and way the least of your worries in a primary search of colleges for your kid. Nationwide might mean you will pay $60 000 a year? Or not so much? Do you have a budget? Do you have a 4 yr commutable option? Can you just pay for off campus if there are no on campus offerings? I am with your kid though, the idea of sharing a room is awful. I think that all rooms should be single. Tiny as you like.
I agree, having one’s own room is an important consideration. It might not be a deal-breaker, but could easily be a tie-breaker. The OP doesn’t owe anybody any explanation. Two colleges that immediately come to mind as having single rooms (as part of a suite) are the University of Alabama-Huntsville and Millersville University of Pennsylvania. These are the normal style rooms at these two universities, with no need to jump through hoops to get one.
UT Dallas
George Washington-meal plan is good for vegans because there is no cafeteria (except at the Mt. Vernon campus) and plenty of options for food.
I know some of the new private style dorms st state schools often have singles as part of a group of 3-4 bedrooms. Your student would rent one bedroom.
I don’t think finding singles is that hard; although, you might have to pay a bit more.There will be some schools that just don’t have singles for freshmen, but, given the circumstance, a single might be made available.
Schools with ample private dorms near campus.
I know this is an old topic, but for people like me googling for answers - the University of Kentucky has suites for all students including freshmen with individual bedrooms sharing a bathroom and small living area with 1-3 other students.
Thanks @peachky for this tip!