Community Colleges With Dorms

Traditionally, if you’re attending community college, your first thought isn’t about their nice, luxurious dorms. You’ll likely have living arrangements that are separate from your college. But what about students who like all the benefits of community college, yet don’t have a place to live? In this article, we’ll talk about various community colleges that offer both an affordable education and housing to their students. Let’s get started! 

Why do some community colleges offer housing?

Community college can be beneficial for anyone, including recent high school graduates, parents of young children, and working adults. While all of these people represent various groups, there is one common denominator that can drastically impact them all, and that issue is housing.

A proper living arrangement can make a serious impact on whether or not someone decides to stay in school. Therefore, it’s important to look at what community housing can provide and what some of the drawbacks are for some people. 

Pros of community college housing 

Community 

There’s no doubt that the best part of living in college housing is knowing that you live with people who understand what you’re going through! Having support right next door for times when you feel like you’re struggling, whether it’s with life or school, is a priceless commodity during college. 

Experience

The experience of moving to college and living in a dorm can be expensive. For some students without financial means, it might seem like that’s just a dream. However, with the growth of dorms at community colleges, students are able to get the “on campus” experience at a substantially lower cost. 

Accessibility

Time management can be a difficult skill to master in college. You have to get to classes on time, complete your coursework in a timely fashion, and factor in how long your commute will take. Being able to live on campus helps give you back a bit of that time. Instead of having to drive, park and then walk to class, you now are only a short walk from everywhere you need to be. 

Also see: How to pay for housing

Cons of community college housing

Roommate Issues

Roommate issues are not exclusive to community college. It’s no surprise that roommates, especially random roommates, are sometimes challenging to live with. If you are living on campus, there’s no guarantee that you’ll get along with the people around you. This might be your first time living away from home, so you’ll be experiencing a lot of new emotions during this transition period. This reminder is not meant to deter you, but is something you might need to deal with. 

Moving

This may be a bigger hurdle for some than others. Moving in and out of college housing can be tedious, especially when hundreds of other people are also doing so on the same day. In addition to moving dates, there are also dates that you may be required to leave the dorms, such as on holiday breaks. For some people, this is a huge inconvenience. Again, this shouldn’t be something that deters you from choosing to live on campus, but it is something to keep in mind. 

Shared living space

Similar to roommate issues is the issue of sharing a living space. If you’re in a dorm, it’s likely you’ll share a bathroom, kitchen, and communal living space with anywhere from three to a dozen people. Some students adapt easily to this situation, but others have difficulty depending on their personalities and personal preferences. 

Related: Top 23 community college scholarships

List of community college with dorms

The number of community colleges that offer housing to their students has been steadily growing over the past decade. The National Center for Education Statistics offers a searchable database to check community college housing offerings. Some of the community colleges listed do not offer dorms on campus, but will help students find housing in close proximity. 

Below is a sampling of various community colleges from across the country that offer housing for their students. At times, we shortened “community college” to “CC” for conciseness.

California

Reedley Community College

Reedley Community College will definitely be one of the community colleges with the most traditional college living opportunities. Reedley CC offers on campus residence halls equipped with resident assistants (RAs), front desk assistants, and a schedule of weekly events to keep everyone involved. 

Students in California luck out when it comes to community college who offer housing. California makes searching easy with a designated website for CCs with housing. 

Orange Coast Community College

Located in Costa Mesa, California, Orange Coast Community College offers a newly built apartment complex for students. These apartments were built in 2020 and offer modern units that can house multiple students to give you the classic college experience. 

Colorado

Colorado Mountain College

Colorado Mountain College offers several campuses, three of which offer residential housing for students. All students who attend Colorado Community College are required to live on campus for at least the first year, which means this community college doesn’t just offer housing, but highly encourages it! 

Lamar Community College

Lamar Community College is another one that doesn’t just provide housing, but requires students to live on campus. There are some exceptions to their housing rules, but we won’t go over those, since you are reading an article specifically about trying to live on campus.

New York 

Dutchess Community College

First up on the list for New York is Dutchess Community College located in Poughkeepsie, New York. With more than 8,000 students, Dutchess CC has a vision of providing an affordable, quality college experience for every person. In addition to their residence halls, they also offer campus dining options. 

Tompkins Cortland Community College 

Tompkins Cortland Community College, located in Dryden, New York, has everything you would find at a typical university. Their campus includes seven residence halls, a campus recreation center, and a dining hall. Tompkins Cortland CC wants to give you the college experience without the university price tag. 

Texas

Cisco College 

At Cisco college, students can get the college experience for a third of the cost that it would be elsewhere. While they do not offer four year degrees, this may be a great chance for you to discover what it is you really want to study, or if college is the right move for you at all!

Northeast Texas Community College

Northeast Texas Community College, (NTCC) is located in Mt. Pleasant, Texas. NTCC opened up in the 1980’s with the goal of providing an affordable form of education to the surrounding communities. Flash forward to today, and they now offer associate degrees, specialized workforce training, and on campus housing for their students!

Key Takeaways

• Community colleges, like traditional four year colleges, can have dorms, dining halls and other student facilities 
• Living on campus at a community college will have all the same pros and cons that you may find at any other college, take some time to explore that pros and cons for yourself
• While we have only listed a handful of schools, there are plenty more community colleges with dorms all across the United States

Frequently asked questions about community colleges with dorms