Provides advice on how to best meet the furniture needs of student residents now and in the future to ensure their privacy and value from the residence hall experience. Twenty tips are highlighted that include considering fire safety, upholstering, lifecycle costs, input from stakeholders, the Americans with Disabilities Act, comfort, lighting,…

Asserts that proper planning is a prerequisite for creating satisfactory laundry rooms in school residences. Identifies and explores the features that make a laundry room successful, and discusses how to get started. (GR)

There is this little secret college-bound and first-year college students outwardly deny: They are scared sick about going off to college. In the authors' interviews with 175 college students throughout the United States for "Survival Secrets of College Students" (Barron's, 2007) students talked--sometimes painfully--about what they wished they…

As residential institutions summon greater resources and seek new strategies to encourage civic engagement, character building, and citizenship development among students, they too often overlook a potentially powerful asset. Residence halls, physically designed to provide students with direct access to personal differences and multiple occasions…

Elevator vandalism has increased recently. Suggestions are offered for reducing the problem. (MLF)

Explains how Stanford University custom designed its own building maintenance and administration software package: the Housing Operations Maintenance Enterprise Resource (HOMER). Describes how HOMER relieved facility maintenance staff from some archaic systems, and its development and functionality. (GR)

Describes three projects showing that originality prevails in residence hall design. One creates a European feel in an urban neighborhood, one is an apartment renovations, and one supports group learning. Photos are included. (GR)

Explores the benefits of including high-brightness Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) for emergency systems and its use in residence halls. LED emergency lighting options and their qualifications are also highlighted.(GR)

Examines the effects of floor height on the perception of room size and crowding as an important aspect of satisfaction with a dormitory building. A study is described showing residents on the highest floor perceive their rooms as larger and feel less crowded than residents of the lowest floors. (GR)

Reviews information on recent college and university dormitory fire fatalities, and highlights five examples of building features reported to be major contributing factors in residence-hall fires. Explains how public awareness and expectations are affecting school dormitory safety. (GR)

Tells how Michigan's Grand Valley State University personnel, despite major construction and administrative challenges, worked together to successfully move 4,400 students into the school's housing facilities in a unique, four-day event that was intended to be fun for all involved. Includes customer feedback about the event along with a brief…

This study examined the quality and the factors which contributed positively and negatively to the quality of some selected students residential facilities in Nigeria. A user-perspective approach was adopted. The quality of the selected facilities was examined at three levels of environmental interaction and from architectural and social…

In this article, the author explores and weighs all the options in choosing furniture for student housing. The first step in acquiring or upgrading residence hall furniture is to research. The Internet and colleagues on campus or at other institutions are options for gathering information. After researching product choices, administrators need to…