Dormitory – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A dormitory (often shortened to dorm) in the United States is a residence hall consisting of sleeping quarters or entire buildings primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people, often boarding school, college or university students. In the UK, the word has an earlier, different but related meaning: it refers specifically to an individual room in which many people sleep, typically at a boarding school. The UK equivalent of the American word as applied to university buildings is hall of residence, often shortened to halls. At some institutes, each residence hall has its own hall council. Where they exist, such individual councils are usually part of a larger organization called, variously, Residence Hall Association, Resident Students Association, or Junior Common Room Committee which typically provides funds and oversees the individual building council. These student led organizations are often connected at a national level by the National Association of College and University Residence Halls (NACURH). Collectively, these hall councils plan social and educational events, and voice student needs to their respective administration.

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, and the number of rooms varies quite widely from just a few to hundreds. The largest dormitory building is Bancroft Hall at the United States Naval Academy.

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. College and university residential rooms vary in size, shape, facilities and number of occupants. Typically, a United States residence hall room holds two students with no toilet. This is usually referred to as a "double". Often, residence halls have communal bathroom facilities.

In the United States, residence halls are sometimes 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.[1] Some colleges and university coeducational dormitories also feature coeducational bathrooms.[citation needed]

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.

Halls located away from university facilities sometimes have extra amenities such as a recreation room or bar. As with campus located residence halls, these off-campus halls commonly also have Internet facilities, either through a network connection in each student room, a central computer cluster room, or Wi-Fi. Catered halls may charge for food by the meal or through a termly subscription. They may also contain basic kitchen facilities for student use outside catering hours. Most halls contain a laundry room. As of 2013 there was an expanding market for private luxury off-campus student residences which offered substantial amenities.[2]

In UK universities these buildings are usually called "halls of residence" (commonly referred to as "halls"), except at Oxford, Cambridge, Durham, St Andrews, York, Lancaster and Kent where the residential accommodation is incorporated in each college's complex of buildings, and simply known as "rooms". (Members of the college who live in its own buildings are usually said to be "living in", or "living in college"), although "halls of residence" is still used at times.

The majority of bedrooms in UK halls are now single occupancy - offering the first chance at privacy for some young people who shared bedrooms with siblings at home. Kitchen facilities are usually shared, as are bathrooms in some halls, though more expensive en suite rooms are available in some universities.

Since around 2010 UK universities have been hit by considerable funding cuts as part of government austerity measures. This, in part, has led to an increase in the rental of student accommodation during the winter, spring, and summer vacation periods to house conference delegates and tourists, often at rates similar to those charged by upmarket hotels. Unfortunately, this often means that students are forced to vacate their rooms up to three times per year. As a result, several student-focussed personal storage and shipping companies such as http://www.studentstoragebox.co.uk and http://www.onestopworldwide.com have come into existence that cater to this need.

In Germany there are dormitories called "Studentenwohnheim" (plural: Studentenwohnheime). Most Studentenwohnheime are run by the Studentenwerk ("student union", an organisation providing social, financial and cultural support services to students in Germany). Some are run by a Catholic or Protestant church. Church-run facilities are sometimes single-sex. Studentenwohnheime may be on Campus or outside of Campus. They are usually low cost and serve poorer students.

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Dormitory - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia