Colleges With Single Rooms for Freshmen

College should be the time of your life. But a bad freshman roommate can turn it into a veritable nightmare. You can avoid that problem — and ensure yourself peace and privacy — by getting a single room. The problem is that most colleges have very few available and usually reserve them for upperclassmen and students with special needs.

Fortunately, there’s a growing list of colleges where you have the option to room solo right out of the gate. Here is our list of top colleges with single rooms for freshmen.

A single dorm room.
A single dorm room.

Table of Contents

Colleges With Single Rooms for Freshmen

Living with a roommate has long been part of the college freshman experience. For some roommate pairs, it works out perfectly. They become fast friends, support each other through those frenetic early weeks of adjustment, and remain close for life.

For others, however, things don’t go so well. Whether it’s a personality conflict, mismatched sleep schedules, or a more serious issue like bullying or drug abuse, thousands of college students every year have their freshman experience ruined by a roommate from hell.

Colleges are starting to wise up to the damage a bad roommate situation can wreak on a new student. Or perhaps they’re simply tired of fielding complaints and dealing with drama. Whatever the reason, more and more schools are adding single room options, including for freshmen.

In compiling this list, we tried to focus on colleges with single rooms for freshmen that still provide a true college experience. Many commuter schools where 90-plus percent of freshmen live at home provide nice housing to the handful of students who stay on campus. But the college experience at those schools often leaves something to be desired.

We therefore decided to focus on colleges that meet the following metrics:

  • At least 50% of freshmen live on campus.
  • At least 75% of freshmen return for their sophomore year (we bent the rules a little on this one and included two schools with rates between 74 and 75 percent — rounding error!).
  • At least 20% of freshman dorm rooms are singles.

Here are our top 10 colleges with single rooms for freshmen.

University of Texas at Dallas

  • Location: Dallas, TX
  • Percent of freshman rooms that are singles: 100%
  • Percent of freshmen who live on campus: 50%
  • Percent of freshmen who return as sophomores: 87.6%
  • Cost of a single room per semester: $3,682
  • Graduation rate: 71%
  • U.S. News ranking: #136 in National Universities

The University of Texas at Dallas is first on our list because 100% of its freshman dorm rooms are singles. Not only are they singles, but they’re set up in suites of three private bedrooms with a living room and bathroom shared only by you and your two suitemates. No community style at this school.

Basically, the freshman dorms are like apartments minus the kitchen. And UTD has come a long way from the commuter school vibe it had in the 1990s. Half of all freshmen now live on campus (no doubt in large part because of the amazing dorm setup), and the school has become selective and prestigious, particularly for STEM majors.

University of Alabama

  • Location: Tuscaloosa, AL
  • Percent of freshman rooms that are singles: 20%
  • Percent of freshmen who live on campus: 92.8%
  • Percent of freshmen who return as sophomores: 88.6%
  • Cost of a single room per semester: $5,050
  • Graduation rate: 71%
  • U.S. News ranking: #148 in National Universities
A private bedroom in the Ridgecrest community at the University of Alabama.
A private bedroom in the Ridgecrest community at the University of Alabama.

The University of Alabama has standard dorms for most freshmen, much like those at rival SEC schools such as LSU, but if you have high stats and can snag a spot in the honors college, you can live in one of the nicest freshman dorms in America.

The Ridgecrest Community, where UA honor students live, consists of two and four-bedroom suites with private rooms, common areas, and kitchenettes (basically everything but the stove and oven).

Not only do you get a single room in the Alabama Honors College, but you get a quintessential college experience with Greek life, tailgating, and big-time football — the team has won literally half of the national championships since 2010!

Auburn University

  • Location: Auburn, AL
  • Percent of freshman rooms that are singles: 20%
  • Percent of freshmen who live on campus: 62%
  • Percent of freshmen who return as sophomores: 92.8%
  • Cost of a single room per semester: $5,210
  • Graduation rate: 78%
  • U.S. News ranking: #99 in National Universities

Auburn University, the archrival of above-listed Alabama, also has incredible housing for its honors college students. They live in Matthews Hall, part of the Village Community.

Matthews has four-bedroom and a limited number of three-bedroom suites that are set up like apartments with a living room and kitchen. Whether you live in a three or four-bedroom unit, you’ll have a private room and only share a bathroom with your suitemates.

You’ll also enjoy a true college experience with parties and big-time football (though if recent trends hold up, expect to lose to Alabama most years you’re there!).

Even though only 62% of freshmen live on campus, it feels like a lot more, as many live in apartments just off campus. Auburn doesn’t have an on-campus housing requirement for first-year students.

University of Pennsylvania

  • Location: Philadelphia, PA
  • Percent of freshman rooms that are singles: 20%
  • Percent of freshmen who live on campus: 100%
  • Percent of freshmen who return as sophomores: 97.7%
  • Cost of a single room per semester: $5,877
  • Graduation rate: 96%
  • U.S. News ranking: #8 in National Universities
A row of dorms at the University of Pennsylvania.
A row of dorms at the University of Pennsylvania.

The University of Pennsylvania is the highest-ranked school and the only Ivy League college on our list. About 20% of its dorm rooms for freshmen are singles, but you’ll pay a price premium to live in them. You’ll also need to get your housing deposit in early, as they go quickly. Applying early decision will boost your chances.

If you can’t snag a single your freshman year at Penn, it’s pretty easy to get one as a sophomore. Or, you can move off campus like many upperclassman Penn students do.

Penn offers not only a healthy number of single rooms but a robust college experience in a world-class city. We listed it as the #2 party school in the Ivy League.

University of Central Florida

  • Location: Orlando, FL
  • Percent of freshman rooms that are singles: 25%
  • Percent of freshmen who live on campus: 60%
  • Percent of freshmen who return as sophomores: 90%
  • Cost of a single room per semester: $3,000-$3,200
  • Graduation rate: 72%
  • U.S. News ranking: #148 in National Universities

The University of Central Florida is yet another school that offers world-class housing for its honor students.

The Burnett Honors College at UCF houses students in the Towers at Knights Plaza, where you’ll live in a four-bedroom suite with private rooms, a large living area, a full kitchen, and not just one but two bathrooms, meaning you’ll share yours with only one of your suitemates. Not a bad deal for an 18-year-old freshman!

UCF also has a smattering of single rooms available in its other dorms for non-honors students.

University of Toledo

  • Location: Toledo, OH
  • Percent of freshman rooms that are singles: 20%
  • Percent of freshmen who live on campus: 52%
  • Percent of freshmen who return as sophomores: 74.5%
  • Cost of a single room per semester: $6,833 (includes meal plan)
  • Graduation rate: 48%
  • U.S. News ranking: #299-391 in National Universities

The University of Toledo squeaks in on our list even though it barely meets the 50% of freshman live on campus requirement and actually comes in just below the 75% of freshman return as sophomores requirement.

We included it anyway because most of the single rooms available on campus are reserved for honors college students, and these students have much higher live-on-campus and return-as-sophomores rates than the general student body.

If you can get into Toledo’s honors college, it’s a great deal and the housing is plush. No, the school doesn’t offer quite the same college experience or football stadium atmosphere as Ohio State, but it also doesn’t force you to live on campus with roommates (sometimes more than one) for two full years like Ohio State does!

University of Kentucky

  • Location: Lexington, KY
  • Percent of freshman rooms that are singles: 20%
  • Percent of freshmen who live on campus: 84%
  • Percent of freshmen who return as sophomores: 85.7%
  • Cost of a single room per semester: $4,982
  • Graduation rate: 66%
  • U.S. News ranking: #127 in National Universities
Layout of a two-person dorm suite with private bedrooms at the University of Kentucky.
Layout of a two-person dorm suite with private bedrooms at the University of Kentucky.

The University of Kentucky recently built nice new dorms and renovated some of their older ones. The result is that the most luxurious dorms on campus offer two single bedrooms per suite with a small common area shared by the two suitemates.

Interestingly, the dorm set aside for honors college freshmen does not have this setup but instead is more of a traditional dorm room with two people in it. To snag one of the nicer, more private dorms, you’ll have to get your housing deposit in early and also pay a bit of a premium — they’re nearly $1,000 per semester more expensive than a traditional double room.

St. John’s College (NM)

  • Location: Santa Fe, NM
  • Percent of freshman rooms that are singles: 90%
  • Percent of freshmen who live on campus: 100%
  • Percent of freshmen who return as sophomores: 74%
  • Cost of a single room per semester: $5,555
  • Graduation rate: 64%
  • U.S. News ranking: #75 in National Liberal Arts Colleges

St. John’s College in Santa Fe, New Mexico, is the smallest school on our list. It has fewer than 600 students. It also has a unique curriculum based on the Great Books, and as a result it attracts a lot of intellectual, life-of-the-mind type students.

Almost all of its freshman dorm rooms are singles, but there’s a bit of a catch. Many of those single rooms are actually two-room doubles, meaning two students share a pair of connecting rooms.

The problem is that only one of those two rooms has an entrance an exit, so you’ll either be walking through your roommate’s room to get to your room, or your roommate will be walking through yours to get to theirs.

That said, it’s still a better setup than a typical shoebox double room with bunked beds. And once you get to be a sophomore at St. John’s, you can live in an actual single room with your own private entrance and exit.

Wofford College

  • Location: Spartanburg, SC
  • Percent of freshman rooms that are singles: 20%
  • Percent of freshmen who live on campus: 100%
  • Percent of freshmen who return as sophomores: 90%
  • Cost of a single room per semester: $8,210 (fall), $6,710 (spring) — includes meal plan
  • Graduation rate: 82%
  • U.S. News ranking: #67 in National Liberal Arts Colleges

Wofford College, a small liberal arts college in Spartanburg, South Carolina, is the second-smallest school on our list. It has mostly double rooms for freshmen, but a lucky few get placed in a dorm that has two-person suites with a small living area and two tiny private bedrooms students call “cubes.”

Wofford dorm cubes are literally so small that there’s barely room for a bed and a desk and a little strip to walk between them, but they have a door that closes and give you privacy. In addition to those lucky freshmen, all sophomores and juniors live in cube dorms at Wofford. Seniors get insanely nice Charlestonian-style apartments.

It should be noted that Wofford recently opened a new freshman dorm on campus, the first it’s built in a few decades, featuring all double rooms. They did this to alleviate a housing shortage. So it’s possible that going forward they won’t need to house any freshmen in the cube dorms.

Oklahoma State University

  • Location: Stillwater, OK
  • Percent of freshman rooms that are singles: 20%
  • Percent of freshmen who live on campus: 91%
  • Percent of freshmen who return as sophomores: 83%
  • Cost of a single room per semester: $2,664-$3,258
  • Graduation rate: 63%
  • U.S. News ranking: #187 in National Universities

Oklahoma State has nice dorms across the board, but if you’re fortunate enough to land in one of the school’s plusher options, you might end up not only in a single room but in one that has a private bathroom!

Certain LLCs, such as the journalism community, tend to get placed in these dorms. Best of all, the price for a single dorm at Oklahoma State is crazy low. In many cases it’s less than $3,000 per semester.

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