About Residence Life

A housing guarantee; warm and welcoming student spaces; supportive and accessible staff; options that support your success. Arcadia University strives to become your home away from home. Residence and Commuter Life seeks to provide a safe, clean, inclusive environment for all students. 

As a residential student, you can expect:

• A housing guarantee: Every full-time, undergraduate student who submits a housing deposit by the posted deadline is guaranteed a space within our housing system. 
• Supportive and accessible staff: Every residence hall is staffed with paraprofessional and professional staff members who create opportunities for fun, exciting activities, respond to concerns, and support an environment conducive to academic success.
• A safe, clean environment: From the Castle and traditional-style housing, to Knight Hall suites and fully-furnished apartments, Arcadia housing provides living environments that support students as they become more independent.

As a commuter student, you can expect:

• An inviting Commuter Lounge to mingle, rest, eat, and study.
• A dedicated professional staff member and a team of peer leaders who create engaging opportunities to meet others, learn, and have fun.
• A wide variety of common spaces throughout campus so you can stretch out between classes. 

Residence and Commuter life at Arcadia University focuses on a central theme: A Time for Exploration.  Through unique programs and engaged staff, our focus turns towards exploration in all of its iterations. You will experience varying interpretations of this central theme in the hall decor and programs crafted by the Resident and Commuter Assistants.

Within our Housing System, residential students may elect to live in one of two types of Specialty Housing: Enhanced Communities and Co-ed Living Environments.

Enhanced Communities

Residential students may select a more concentrated focus of our central theme and live with others who share similar this same interest. These Enhanced Communities are detailed on both our Online Housing Portal and our website. Throughout the year, students will partner with our Campus Life Staff to shape their residential exploration in collaboration with the campus community The Enhanced Communities are:

• Live, Learn and Lead Community
• Local Connections and Global Discoveries Community

Coed Living Environments

All Arcadia Housing is coed, in that all residence halls house both genders. Most halls are coed by floor or wing. If you indicate an interest, some floors offer a coed by room experience, where male and female rooms are located on the same floor. Additionally, Knight Hall suites and Oak Summit Apartments provide the option of coed housing by bed, where students of different genders may share the same room. Placements on coed by room floors, or in coed by bed suites and apartments will be made by request only.

Although most first-year housing offers you the opportunity to live with one roommate, many students live with two or more roommates. The Castle, with its elegant spaces, offers the opportunity for you to live with one, two, or up to five roommates.  Many students in traditional halls are placed with two roommates, and a few are placed with four roommates. Triple rooms are generally the same size as standard double rooms. Therefore, you receive a housing discount to reside in these spaces. Quints are larger spaces; however students in these rooms receive a housing discount as well. 

The Residence and Commuter Life professional staff is always willing to speak to you should help be needed to decide which housing option will provide the opportunity and experience you desire.  

• Transfer students: Given your past housing and collegiate experience, you probably know what type of experience you want to have at Arcadia. So which housing option will best suit your needs? Contact housing@arcadia.edu or call 215-572-4026 to chat with a Residence and Commuter Life staff member.
• Transgender students: Residence and Commuter Life seeks to create inclusive, welcoming environments for all students. If you identify as a transgender student, you may have some questions about what housing options we have for you. Contact donnellb@arcadia.edu or 215-572-2890 to speak with Bre Donnelly, Director of Residence and Commuter Life.
• Traditional first-year students: Nervous about having a roommate for the first time? Not sure how you will manage sharing a bathroom with 20+ people? Area Coordinators are always available to talk to new students about these and other topics. Contact a member of staff at housing@arcadia.edu  or 215-572-4026.

We are dedicated staff that works to create a safe, clean, inclusive environment that contributes to the academic success and personal development of a diverse student body. We accomplish this through a strong network of student and professional staff members who maximize learning moments and advocate for the specific needs of residential and commuter students.

To fulfill our mission and promote the vision of Student Affairs, we:

• Promote opportunities for residential and commuter students to connect to the campus community;
• Guarantee housing to all undergraduates that desire to live on campus;
• Provide a well-trained, supportive, accessible, and responsive professional and student staff;
• Create social and educational programs that engage a diverse population;
• Encourage appropriate decision making while holding students accountable for their actions;
• Educate students about the University Civility Statement and challenge them to adhere to its standards;
• Cultivate an affinity for Arcadia University.