Residence Life and Housing

A Residential Learning Community

From its founding, Hampshire College has been designed as a residential learning community. To that end, staff strive to create residential environments which meet the needs of students while promoting a vibrant campus life.

Residence life staff strive to foster relationships and community among residents. We support students as they learn to balance their individual rights and needs with the responsibility of being part of the community and make our practices and policies as transparent and plainly reasonable as possible.

Housing for new fall 2023 first-year and transfer students:

All Hampshire College students will be assigned single rooms (no direct roommate). New first-year students will be assigned to either Dakin or Merrill residence halls. New transfer students will be assigned to Merrill residence hall (with some mod or apartment-style spaces available for non-traditional transfer students). Below are important housing dates. Students admitted after the June 15 housing form deadline will still be able to submit their housing form and be assigned housing.

Important Housing Information and Dates for New Students:

Tuesday, May 16 - Residence Life’s new student housing form available to new first-year and new transfer students. Residence Life staff will email this information to these students by the end of this day (due June 15).
Monday, May 29 - Priority deadline for new students' housing accommodation requests through the Office of Accessibility Resources and Services (OARS) portal.
Wednesday, June 15 - Residence Life's new student housing form due.
Monday, July 3 - New students' housing assignments will be emailed by the end of this day.
Thursday, August 31 - New student move-in (times and more information will later be emailed to these students). Orientation begins and lasts until classes begin.

Please visit this page for a detailed list of suggested items to bring (and not bring) to campus.

Students needing a housing accommodation (including a service animal or emotional support animal) must submit a request to The Office of Accessibility Resources and Services (OARS). Note: Hampshire College housing does not have elevators; students with mobility issues must submit a housing accommodation request. OARS staff will review the request documentation, follow up if additional information or a meeting is necessary, decide whether the request is approved, and communicate the decision to the student. Housing accommodation submitted requests approved by OARS by the above deadline will be communicated to Residence Life staff to prioritize when assigning housing for all incoming new students. Note: You may request a housing accommodation and submit documentation at any time; however, due to space availability, documents received after the above deadline, Residence Life staff are unable to guarantee space availability, and you would potentially need to wait until the accommodation may possibly be met.

Campus Living

Learn about our campus housing options.

Staff in the residence life office include the assistant director of housing operations, three residence life coordinators, the senior director, and the student engagement staff. If you are locked out of your room during business hours (Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.) or have lost your keys, please come to the second floor of Dakin Student Life Center, to sign out a back-up key. Outside of these hours, please call campus safety and wellbeing at 413.559.5424.

Residence Life Coordinators

The living areas are overseen by live-in professional staff members called residence life coordinators, supported by student paraprofessional staff called resident advisors.

Our Vision

With compassion, we meet students where they are and guide them to be community-centered.

Our Mission

We strive to enrich the educational experience by fostering a dynamic campus community where personal development is encouraged and all students feel welcomed and supported. Residence Life aims to provide an inclusive environment for all students to learn and connect within their community, while emphasizing personal growth. Student Engagement fosters learning by providing leadership training, administrative guidance, and opportunities for involvement, while creating social activities and supporting student-led programs.

Our Core Values

Centering Students: We keep students' needs and interests as the basis for our practice as we exercise pride in contributing to the mission of the College and mission of Division of Student Affairs.
Inclusive Communities: We support opportunities for students to build connections and be involved in diverse, socially just, and inclusive communities.
Self-Advocacy: We encourage everyone to respectfully and directly communicate in the spirit of problem-solving and articulating boundaries, with consideration to the overall community.
Well-being: We are committed to supporting the well-being of our community through programming and resource referral.
Growth: We encourage personal development through experiential learning.