Residential Life

Your intellectual, social, and cultural lives will intersect in Stanford's vibrant residential communities. All freshmen are required to live on Stanford campus, and all students are guaranteed four years of campus housing. Because most students live on campus (94% at Stanford and 5% at an overseas campus) and the emphasis placed on residential education, the dorm community becomes one of if not the most exciting and stimulating places on campus.

Residential Education
The Residential Education program provides Stanford undergraduates a small community experience within a large research university. The essential conviction of Residential Education is that living and learning should be integrated, not separate; that formal teaching, informal learning, and personal support in residences is integral to a Stanford education. Residential Education programs extend the classroom into the residences and complement the academic curriculum with activities and experiences essential to students' preparation for a life of leadership, intellectual engagement, citizenship and service.

Residential Education begins with the Resident Fellows, members of the faculty or senior staff who live in residence halls and help provide a warm and intellectually stimulating environment. A residence staff, comprised of juniors and seniors, together offer personal and academic counseling. These staff roles include Residence Assistants (RAs), Peer Academic Advisors (PAAs), Peer Health Educators (PHEs), Residence Computer Coordinators, and others depending on the type of house.

Residential education in all its forms is one of the reasons that, despite the university’s size and breadth, Stanford is an intimate community.

Dorm Programming
Resident Fellows and student Resident Assistants in each residence help residents plan educational, social, and recreational activities. Students are encouraged to initiate programs on their own and to participate in programs planned by other house residents. Wherever you live during your first year, you can expect a San Francisco scavenger hunt in the Fall, a trip to Lake Tahoe in the Winter, and an end-of-year celebration in the Spring that will no doubt arrive too soon. Other popular in-house activities organized by students include faculty dinners, special speakers, house seminars, poetry readings, dorm intramural competitions as well as trips to Yosemite and elsewhere

Photo: L.A. Cicero

Related information:

Residential Education Website

Residential and Dining Enterprises

Web Pages for Stanford Residence Halls