First-Year Student Housing

Bard College Arrival Day Picnic.
Photo by Pete Mauney '93 MFA '00

In early August, our first-year class moves in for Language and Thinking; pictured above is the Arrival Day picnic. In their first year on campus, students live in halls that predominantly house other first-year students. This page goes over our housing application, roommate matching and housing assignment process, and what you need to know before you arrive on campus.

First-Year Housing

All first-year unmoderated students are required to live on campus and are assigned to live with at least one roommate. First-year students are assigned housing based on the timely submission of a Housing Profile and Facility Use Agreement form, found on MyAnnandale. Although it is often difficult to fulfill specific requests, every effort is made by the Office of Residence Life and Housing to do so. Students are typically notified of their placement by mid-July via their Bard email, which is assigned in June. Students are housed for Language and Thinking and Citizen Science in their permanent room assignments.

What makes first-year housing at Bard unique?

Small Community Living

The largest first-year residence houses only 99 students, but many first-year students are in residences of less that 30 students. This leads many first-year students to engage in the residential community and build lifelong connections to their peers. Our residences feature community kitchens where students can share recipes from home or just bake some cookies for their neighbors.
Learn more about our residences!
Peer Counselors

Since their introduction to the Bard community in 1976, peer counselors have been building social connections between neighbors with a focus on stress reduction and community development. Peer counselors are Upper-College students who live within the residences and are trained to respond to conflict, support student transitions to and through college, and make unlikely peer connections.
Meet the Peer Counselors!
Intentional Housing Assignments

Incoming Students are assigned housing through a manual process in which the Residence Life and Housing team reviews each housing profile to best match an incoming student with a roommate or two. From here, the team actively curates the residence hall communities by both balancing personalities and working to ensure all residents will be able to connect to their peers in the residence.
Meet the ResLife Team
What's in your room?
Check out our residences!
Residence Hall Accessibility

First-Year Housing Amenities List

All residences where first-year students are assigned are alcohol free. All residences at Bard are smoke free. Each resident receives a mattress (commonly referred to as twin XL or extra long), a bed frame, desk, desk chair, and two storage options. Students have access to kitchen and laundry facilities as well as WiFi.

Download the first-year amenities sheet below for more details, including approximate room size information.

First-Year Housing Amenities List