<p>DS has been assigned a double in St. Edwards Hall. After looking around the dorm web site, I have a number of concerns. My biggest issue is the apparently Spartan accommodations: bed, desk, chair and half of a tiny closet. The room does have a sink in it, but bare tile floors and no dressers or other storage space. It sounds a bit too similar to a prison cell.</p>
<p>This leads to my next area of concern, which is the significant expenses that we will have when we arrive on campus: hall tax ($100), football tickets ($300), and the long list of strongly encouraged items for the room loft ($200), carpet ($100), dresser drawers ($200), refrigerator ($100), sofa/futon ($200), plus fans and stereo and more.</p>
<p>I was under the impression that $6,500 for eight months rent of half a room would get something that is move-in/ready condition. Am I missing something? Maybe no one spends any time in their room unless they are asleep so all the money goes into the common areas?</p>
<p>I am just a worried parent hoping that someone can provide an encouraging voice of experience.</p>
<p>My S did his undergrad at another school and his grad school at ND so I can’t talk to the ND dorms in particular. But that is typical of college dorms. There is always some cost involved in setting up a dorm room (even just sheets/towels etc). Most things can be had at significantly less than you quoted AND future roommates typically get in touch through email and facebook and split up the cost of some items you only want one of (ex. rug, refrig.) For example, we got a rug for around $40 at Bed Bath and Beyond and it lasted for my son’s 4 years of undergrad and is still going strong in my D’s second year (I just shampoo it every year). I cleaned up an old fan I had lying around the house and it worked fine for both kids. Nobody brings stereos – just an ipod/iphone for music. You can buy lofts for a bed inexpensively again at a place like Bed Bath and Beyond and it provides extra underbed storage space which is nice, but is not imperative. Not sure about dresser drawers (my kids had dressers in the domrs) but you can get a plastic set of drawers for pretty cheap. A futon is far from a necessity in a double room (just put some extra pillows on the bed and friends can sit there) and neither one of my kids had a futon/sofa in the room until were upperclassmen in a suite. And a refrig. is nice but people can make do without one – find out if that dorm has a kitchen and then decide. So my takeaways is that 1) you can find a lot of the stuff pretty reasonably priced 2) many items can be split between roommates and 3) you can get many years of use out of what you buy.</p>
<p>At ND I would say you really should get the football tickets (hockey and basketball season tickets are much cheaper).</p>
<p>Anyway, hope this helps a little. And hopefully some students/parents with a more intimate knowledge of ND undergrad will chime in with more information.</p>
<p>Our oldest was in Dillon, in a room we all agreed resembled a prison cell. The first response was right on target regarding dorm items. Our experience with two sons was that much of the “recommended” stuff was completely unnecessary and unused, especially in guys’ rooms. Anything they really need can be stolen from home (towels) or procured pretty cheaply from places like Wal-mart, and roommates typically each contribute some of the more expensive items. There is not much space for clothing in the units provided in older dorms, but if your DS isn’t bringing lots of clothing it may not be an issue. If he needs more storage space, plastic drawers or stackable crates are very cheap. </p>
<p>I would hold off on even thinking about a futon until you see how much space there really is. A tower fan (about $50 at Sam’s Club) will be extremely nice for the first month or so, and doesn’t take up much space. A refrigerator is also nice for drinks – the tap water in South Bend is very hard and many people don’t like drinking it. We did buy new, cheap rugs each year because they were just too filthy even to touch. He will need XL twin sheets, so you will probably not be able to bring a mattress pad and sheets from home, but blankets or comforters from regular twin beds work fine on the XL twin beds in the dorms. The Frosh-O guys lofted the beds with materials in the dorm and I don’t recall a charge for that. St. Ed’s may be different in that regard, but lofting is essential for getting any floor space at all, and almost everyone in a double ends up lofting. When they ask you, “Do you want us to loft the beds?” just say yes. DS did not have a TV freshman year, but almost everyone else seemed to have quite a large one. </p>
<p>One thing we found very helpful was to ask one of the Frosh-O staff members – who are upperclassmen already moved in – to let you see how they organized their rooms. You may get some good ideas, and almost anything that you want to buy for a dorm room is available at Wal-Mart, Target, or BBB. You will have plenty of time to hit the stores while your DS is busy with orientation activities. There is also a Salvation Army and St. Vincent de Paul thrift shop within a mile of campus.</p>
<p>rmldad, this is very typical of college dorms at all schools. Most dorm rooms are only furnished with a bed, desk & chair, dresser and small closet. Some of the newer buildings, with newer furniture, may look nicer, but it’s still the same thing: a bed, a desk and a dresser. If you look at the dorm supply checklists online and at stores like Target and Bed Bath & Beyond, they all include items such as rugs, refrigerators, storage containers, etc… not because they’re trying to sell us unnecessary stuff, but because most college students do indeed want/need many of these items.</p>
<p>Having a daughter, I don’t know much about the men’s dorms at ND, but most of the girls in my D’s dorm did bring futons. They aren’t a necessity, but they’re definitely nice to have as they provide a place for friends to sit and for overnight guests to sleep on. We brought the futon and her roommate brought the refrigerator, which also got a lot of use.</p>
<p>St. Ed’s is the oldest dorm on campus. My daughter is also in one of the older dorms; and while she’d initially hoped to get into one of the newer, more posh-looking ones, she quickly came to love her dorm. What the older buildings lack in feelings of luxury, they make up for in tradition and dorm spirit, and most students feel that their dorm is the “best” no matter which one they live in. </p>
<p>And the way I look at it, the more Spartan your accommodations in college, the more you’ll appreciate even the smallest apartment when you finally move off campus. :)</p>
<p>Thanks everyone for your replies - I am starting to feel slightly better. However, in St. Ed’s, there are no dressers. In the picture that I saw, the only (shared) closet in the room appeared to be about three feet wide and lacked doors. The comments that I have read indicate that lofts are needed to make limited floor space manageable, but that means that the only two places to sit are the desk chairs.</p>
<p>I have heard that everyone at ND believes their dorm is the best - hopefully DS will share this opinion in a couple months.</p>
<p>Hi! My son too has been assigned to St. Ed’s. He is in a quad. Our older daughter graduated in 2011, so we have been through this before! It does seem like a lot at first, but everyone above is correct, you don’t need all of that! The roommates should share a lot of items. Being in St. Ed’s they will most likely want to loft their beds. If there was a loft in the room last year, they can buy it from the owner. I have heard that the owners will sometimes even assemble them! There are a lot of “for sale” things near by too! At this point, I wouldn’t panic or shop for too much~ Plan on the hall tax (mandatory anyway) and the football tickets (more fun than you can imagine!). Get some bedding (twin XL) and a couple towels (a friend of mine says, “give them the old towels and get yourself some new ones!”). Then wait and see what the roommate has and what you need. EVERYTHING can be bought locally, especially while the kids are off doing their Frosh-O stuff! You will run into ND parents in all the big name stores!</p>
<p>Also, if you want to PM me, we can talk more about our sons and St. Ed’s! I hear it’s the best dorm on campus! ;)</p>
<p>We got something similar for D at Home Depot that’s about 6 feet tall with 5 shelves. At 18" wide it takes up very little horizontal space but holds a LOT and is perfect for stacking folded clothes. She and her roommate shared it. </p>
<p>Check at IKEA, too. They have a lot of great storage options at pretty good prices, such as this one:</p>
<p>On the issue of the shared closet, I understand what you mean. I was a little concerned last year when I found out that the only place we had in our room to put clothes was a small closet for each girl (I know that’s twice the space you have, but a lot of girls have TONS of clothes, so this can be scary to a girl). I found that I quickly became very good at making good use of the closet space I had (buying hangers that hold multiple garments, organizing drawers on the bottom of the closet to maximize the number of items that could be placed in them) and finding other places to put clothes (a great place for this is storage bins under the beds). Generally, there will be things that will scare you a little at the beginning about the dorm situation, but within a few weeks most students find that they’ve adapted and they don’t really have any lasting issues.</p>
<p>As far as hall tax, it seems kind of weird to have to pay room and board and then show up in your dorm and get asked for money, but there is a reason for this. Room and board is paid to the university for the basics of your dorm (building staff, utilities, upkeep) and your meals. Hall tax is a cost that is specific to each dorm and is used to fund events specifically for that dorm. There were many times last year when my dorm had a social event at which they provided food, beverages, etc. and the dorm had to pay for those things. I think they prefer hall taxes as a means of paying for these events because if they charged a fee for each event, a lot of students probably wouldn’t go.</p>
<p>I can totally sympathize with your feelings. I know last fall I felt like they asked for all sorts of money up front, but once the school year started, I felt like I was pretty much never asked for money. In fact, I always had a rude awakening when I came home on breaks and realized that I actually needed cash to pay for things.</p>
<p>Upperclassmen moving all of your belongings in without you lifting a finger: Priceless.</p>
<p>Enjoy Frosh-O. It is a once in a lifetime experience for students AND parents.
Bring plenty of tissue to Mass @ the Joyce Center. Your son is in good hands and a few trips to Target are just par for the course at any school.</p>
<p>I could have sworn my friends in St. Ed’s had dressers, but I could be wrong. Are you basing this off of one picture? Because people often hide the dressers in the closet or put them in a dorm storage room to save on space. Closet doors often go into storage as well. If they really don’t have them, either Craigslist a cheap dresser or get some plastic drawers. </p>
<p>While football tickets are a necessity, you don’t need to spend tons of money on a dorm room. Freshman year I think I bought a fan ($30), a futon ($100) and a loft ($75 I think) and my roommate brought a loft and a fridge. You can do without rugs. If your son decides he must have them, go to a carpet store and get some remnants for cheap (my roommates and I did this sophomore year and got essentially wall to wall carpet for a 3 room quint for less than $150 and got 3 years of use out of it). And for everything else, Craigslist is your friend! Being a poor med student, that’s how I furnished my whole house. :)</p>
<p>Also, I know it may sound like a prison cell on paper, but the dorms at ND are awesome! As nice as it is to have a more grown up living arrangement now, I still sometimes miss that little 150 square foot room I shared with a roommate freshman year at ND. :)</p>
<p>And because there is confusion among new students and parents at this time every year, just a reminder:
Some dorms have loftable furniture (desk, closet and bed combinations designed so the bed can be lofted on top with the desk and closet supporting both ends of the lofted bed). Other dorms (or sections of dorms) do not have this kind of modular furniture and lofts are instead constructed by students and parents with 2 x 4’s.
Don’t assume you have to construct a loft. You may be in a room with modular furniture. And generally, I believe, if you have the modular furniture, you can not instead construct your own loft. Also, although the majority probably loft their beds one way or the other, some students choose not to loft and are happy.</p>
<p>To add to Greta above, I believe that almost ALL the dorms now have the modular furniture set up where, as said above you have a “closet”, a desk/shelf and then a bed that can be clicked of top of both. That said, I think there are only a couple of dorms that still allow traditional lofting. St. Ed’s won some kind of ruling last year to keep traditional lofts and I THINK that Sorin is in there too. Though, I know it is the University’s plan to have all modular eventually. Maybe it’s this year…anyone know for sure?</p>
<p>I know it’s not this year because the only rooms in my dorm that have modular furniture are the study rooms that have been converted into triples.</p>
<p>My son is in St. Edward’s in a quad as well - 4th floor (yay stairs). He’s really interested in finding some pictures of an actual quad so he can get a feel for it, so any ideas are welcome.</p>
<p>There’s a story from 2012 that says St. Edward’s is not going to modular furniture “yet” but I don’t know if that’s still true (Irishcali mentioned this).</p>
<p>When I went to college I was in the worst, crappiest dorm (a semi-converted YMCA hotel off campus) and let me tell you, we were all REALLY MAD when we moved in and REALLY MAD 5 years later when they started renovating it - but the second time it was because we didn’t want it to change. College memories are funny that way.</p>
<p>rmldad - thanks for the note on the hall tax. Where did you hear about that and the dresser drawers? {nervous mom wondering if she missed a letter/email/phone call}</p>
<p>Thanks again to everyone for your encouragement. I am excited about moving DS in to St. Ed’s and now I even have a couple new friends to look for in the dorm- maybe you can wear nametags that identify you as IrishCali and confetti247 (LOL!).</p>
<p>I found great information about the dorm at its website - each dorm has its own site. St Ed’s is [St</a>. Edward’s Hall](<a href=“http://www3.nd.edu/~steds/]St”>http://www3.nd.edu/~steds/) OR you can use steds.nd.edu . They have a cute video tour and a freshman handbook, in addition to other great information.</p>
<p>Fortunately DS is far more laid back about the whole situation. He would probably be embarrassed if he knew I started this thread.</p>
<p>Funny! My son too, would probably die to think I would be posting on this site! He’s pretty laid back about it all too! lol… BUT! Since we have started-confetti, what room is your son in? And, yes, we should wear some kind of cc name tag! </p>
<p>We’ll all get through it and it’s truly going to be great!</p>
<p>ROFL - I was so relieved to find this thread because my son doesn’t even want me to talk to him about it yet, let alone anyone else! Thanks for the website - it’s great.</p>
<p>My S is in 418, I believe. I saw it over his shoulder but he has yet to email me so it might be 419. We’ll have to have secret nametag codes so that our children (and spouses) don’t suspect that we’re arranging to meet people we met on the Internet!</p>
<p>lol…I agree! Well, I know that my son is in 408-which sounds dangerously close to 418! ha ha! Maybe your son is in 408? Wouldn’t that be really funny! It’s okay~I won’t give you up! If you find out that your son is in 408, let me know and we’ll “go public” when we officially meet! Hang in there! See you soon!</p>
<p>DS is in a first floor double, so we have the later move-in period (and doesn’t need to worry about the apparently rickety elevator). Maybe confetti and IrishCali can stop by after you finish your early move in with helpful hints - your secret is safe with me!</p>
<p>Stumbled upon this thread and thought I would give my 2 cents. I am a recent graduate and former resident of St. Ed’s. Let me assuage your fears. First off, Fr. Ralph, is one of the best rectors. He is very approachable and loves to get to know all the residents on an individual basis. Some of my fondest memories freshman year are gathering in his or the Assistant Rector’s room with other students and playing Halo on weekday nights.</p>
<p>While the rooms aren’t large by any means, they do have the luxuriously (especially the 2nd floor because of the chapel). Almost everybody lofts, and most of the time the lofts are passed from the residents of the previous room usually around $100 for a double, a little more for a quad. The lofts really open up the room with no problem fitting a couch or a futon.</p>
<p>The residents are pretty tight knit, my brother is a rising junior. Several other former classmates of mine have chosen to have their younger brothers be "pulled’ into St. Ed’s, proving just how good of a dorm it is.</p>
<p>Not to mention, the Yacht Dance is the highlight of the end of the year. We are the envy of the campus, as all the girls hope to get asked, and other guys’ dorms have tried to replicate it and failed (Duncan with the dance in the John Hancock building in Chicago).</p>
<p>We are steps from NDH, making it very convenient during the winter when it is freezing outside.</p>
<p>St. Ed’s also has it’s own basketball court, a sand volleyball net, as well as a small weightroom and snackbar aptly dubbed “Ed’s”, the latter two which have been recently opened in the last couple of years.</p>
<p>I admit that I am very jealous to be in your sons’ shoes as they eagerly await to begin their time at ND. I’m sure my brother has been counting the days til he returns to the Dome, can’t be more than a month now!</p>