We are proud of the different types of housing options we provide, from double rooms in residence halls to suite-style living and University-owned apartments and houses. We offer these housing options to students at the same cost so that all students can have equal access to the housing type of their preference.

At DePauw, we recognize that your education will not end at the classroom door. A vital part of your college experience will be learning to live with others as a member of a community.

According to the mission statement adopted by the Board of Trustees in 2006, DePauw is a “residential liberal arts college” which “provides a diverse learning and living community which is distinctive in its rigorous intellectual engagement and international and experiential learning opportunities.”

The Purpose and Aims of DePauw, an institutional statement approved by the faculty, states: “Ours is a residential campus with provision for a variety of student lifestyles; and because of its residential nature, students and faculty exchange ideas outside as well as within the classroom.”  

John Schuh, in his chapter in the 1996 book Student Affairs Practice in Higher Education, stated that “students benefit substantially” from living in campus housing (p. 285). Schuh also stated that “the environment created in a campus residence contributes to student learning by providing opportunities for students to experience diversity, to be challenged by their peers, and to learn from one another” (p. 286).

Ernest Pascarella and Patrick Terenzini documented in their 1991 book, How College Affects Students, that “residential living is positively…linked to increases in aesthetic, cultural, and intellectual values; a liberalizing of social, political and religious values and attitudes; increases in self-concept, intellectual orientation, autonomy, and independence; gains in tolerance, empathy, and ability to relate to others; persistence in college; and bachelor’s degree attainment” (p. 611).

Our residence policies and programs support the mission of the University through our living/learning environments, which makes DePauw the distinctive institution it is.