Where to Live on Campus
November 16, 2023
Open gallery
As a student at Purchase, on-campus housing is available for all four years. This is currently my third year living on campus, so I am very familiar with what it is like to be a campus resident. Although I have only lived in two places throughout my time at Purchase, I do have some insight into what it is like to live in other places through friends and by being a college tour guide.
The freshman housing, dubbed “the Big Three,” includes Farside, Crossroads, and Central. The interiors of all three resemble each other fairly closely. Freshman can choose to live in a double, with standard furniture like a chair, desk, drawer, as well as closet space and communal bathrooms, or they can choose to live in a four, six, or eight-person suite with a shared bathroom among suitemates. Free laundry is also available for all residents in a shared basement among the three buildings.
For sophomores and juniors, the options begin to expand. Outback, Wayback, and Fort Awesome, together dubbed the “Bigger Three,” are where a majority of sophomores and some juniors live. Transfer students can also live here. I actually lived in an Outback double my freshman year due to most of the typical freshman housing being allocated as COVID quarantine spaces at the time. In Outback, residents can live in a double with typical furniture as well as an in-house bathroom, or they can choose to live in a four-person suite with or without a kitchenette. In Wayback, students can live in a four-person suite with two singles, one double, and an in-house bathroom. There is also a community kitchen located on the first floor of Wayback. In Fort Awesome, students can live in a double or triple-person room, also with an in-house bathroom. All three options also have free laundry located in their respective buildings.
Once you become a senior, all options become available for you, including the apartments. However, apartments are not exclusive to seniors; juniors, sophomores, and in some cases freshman, can opt to live in them. For apartments, students can choose from the Commons, the Olde, and Alumni Village. In the Commons, students can live in a two, four, or six-person suite with a kitchen, common area, and bathroom (two bathrooms for a six-person suite). In the Olde, students can live in a four or six-person suite, with two singles and a double for the former, and two singles and two doubles for the latter. In Alumni Village, where I currently live as a senior, students live in a four-person apartment, with four singles, an in-house washer and dryer, a kitchen, and a bathroom.
Whenever I talk about residence hall life during my tours, I always like to say that as freshmen, you start off with the basics; as you become an upperclassman, you essentially “work your way up” to more options and eventually become eligible for a variety of apartment housing styles. Whether you choose to enjoy your privacy in a single room or branch out by rooming with other students in a double or triple, Purchase has those options. It really comes down to what you make of the space you choose to live in!
– Christine Seifen