Freshman Dorms at the College of New Jersey

Almost all TCNJ freshmen are required to live on campus. The only exception to this is if a student continues to live with their family during their freshman year. While this may save on room and board, this should be clearly thought over. Many social connections are made during a student's freshman year and most of those are made in the dorms. The College of New Jersey has students housed by class in order to make those social connections stronger. All freshmen are required to have a roommate for the same reason.

There are three dormitories for freshmen. Two of them are the Travers and Wolfe towers. These two buildings are identical and connected by a first floor link. Each tower is ten stories tall and each floor houses about fifty students. The towers are coed by room, so both guys and girls live on the same floor. There are two community advisors and one peer advisor per floor. Community advisors, or CAs, are responsible for dealing with any problems that may occur on the floor and for making sure students make the adjustment to living in the dorms. Peer advisors, or PAs, are responsible for coordinating various events throughout the freshman year. Travers and Wolfe do not have lounges on each floor. However, each floor does have a classroom which can be used for studying. There is a lounge in the first floor link. In the basement of the towers there is also a dining facility.

The rooms in Travers and Wolfe are not large, but they are decently sized. They are about 11' by 11' according to the college. Closets are built into the wall and have sliding doors. Each room has two windows, but only the bottoms of the windows can be opened and those only a crack. Because none of the dorms are air conditioned, all of them can get quite hot. This can be kept under control by keeping the door open, which is also a great way to meet new people. Each floor has a guys' and a girls' restroom which is maintained by the college's cleaning staff. Key codes are required to get into the restrooms because the floors are coed.

The other freshman dorm is Cromwell Hall. Cromwell is five stories, but the fifth floor is given to transfer students and students who, for whatever reason, wanted to be on campus but could not get a room with their classes. The lower four floors are primarily freshmen. Cromwell is also coed. However, Cromwell is comprised of suites. A suite consists of two bedrooms that are connected by a shared bathroom. Because of this situation, students are responsible for the upkeep of their own restrooms. This is usually worked on a rotating system by the suitemates and usually does not become an issue.

The bedrooms in Cromwell hall are significantly smaller than those in Travers and Wolfe. Space in the Cromwell rooms is extremely limited if the beds are not bunked. Cromwell also does not have overhead lighting in the rooms, but instead provides desk lamps. These can be dim at best and an extra lamp is always a good idea. Cromwell also does not have built-in closets, but does provide students with large armoires. Cromwell has several lounges open to students.

While none of the freshman residence halls at the College of New Jersey are particularly stunning, all three of them are adequate and can be made comfortable and homey with a little work. Be prepared to make concessions due to space, and living in the dorms can be a wonderful experience.