University of Waterloo - Housing and Residence

Housing and Residence

There are 9 primary residence communities for the University which include; Ron Eydt Village(REV), Village 1 (V1), University of Waterloo Place (UWP), Mackenzie King Village (MKV), Columbia Lake Village(CLV), St. Jerome's University (SJU), St Paul's University (STP), Renison University College (REN), and Conrad Grebel University College. These 9 residences are divided into 2 categories : Waterloo residences and University College residences. Of these 9 residence communities, 6 are more traditional style and the other 3 are suite-style residences.

The traditional style residences resemble dormitories while the suite-style residences are like an apartment. Students living in the traditional style residences typically pay for a room for either themselves or to be shared while sharing a communal shower, kitchen/cafeteria and lounge with the entire floor or the entire residence. Suite-style residents share a suite that contains its own kitchen, bathroom, living area and bedrooms that are separated from other residents not paying and living in the particular suite.

The University College residences are separated into a different category from the rest of the residences because these residences are independent, founded by religious institutions and have smaller occupancy capacities. All of the 4 University College residences are traditional style yet the number of occupants per room varies and all of them come with a pre-paid meal-plan. St Jerome's, St Paul's and Renison have religious associations that are not mandatory to follow for residents while Conrad Grebel is a little more faith-driven.

The Waterloo residences have both traditional and suite-style residences. The 2 traditional style residences are Village 1, and Ron Eydt Village. REV composes of only one type of room format which is the double room, where there are 2 students sharing a large single room which are split into 2 sides. V1 however has 3 different housing formats which include the double room with 2 students sharing the same room, the interconnected room where there are 2 separate rooms connected by a door which each have 1 student living in them however both rooms have only 1 entrance door, and finally the single room which has 1 student living inside and 1 entrance door. Both these residences have a cafeteria, a community center with athletic facilities such as a gym, table tennis, and pool and finally a laundry room. Each room in the residences have a work desk with a light, a closet for clothes and accessories, and a single bed, even though a bathroom is not provided for each room these is a common bathroom system for each floor.

The 3 suite-style residences are University of Waterloo Place, Mackenzie King Village, and Columbia Lake Village. UWP has a range of suite formats including 3 room suites, 2 room suits, 4 room suites, and finally a combination of double room and single room suites. There is only one housing format within the MKV residence, which are the 4 room suites. And finally Columbia Lake Village has a townhouse suite format where the residences look like houses with 2 floors with the upper floor for rooms and the lower floor allocated to the living room and kitchen. CLV is primarily for upper year and graduate students, while the other 4 residences are for first year students. Each suite in all 3 residences have a living room, a dining table, a kitchen with a stove, oven, and refrigerator, a cleaning closet which include a mop, broom, and a vacuum cleaner, and finally either 1 or two bathrooms. Each room has a work desk with a light, a closet for clothes and accessories, and finally again a single bed. The residence is made up into separate buildings with each building composing of a lounge with a large screen television, and a laundry room. All of these suite-style residences have community centers with public computers, table tennis and billiards tables available for residents.

Each floor within all residences on campus has a figure called a Don. Dons are responsible for the safety of their respective floor as well as making the floor a friendly and social environment. Dons are also responsible for organizing and executing events for the residents on the floor. And sometimes Dons across all residences collaborate to organize campus wide events.

ResCouncil is a council composing of residents that live on campus. Approximately every 2 buildings within residence have a ResCouncil whose primary goal is to set up and organize residence wide events. They must organize 1 building event, and 1 all residence event. Each ResCouncil consists of 1 president, 1 communications representative, and 1 treasurer, floor representatives from each floor within the residences, and finally general council members. In order to have an executive position such as president, communications rep, or treasurer one must apply with their resume and cover letter. After which the board will read these applications and the applications they see worthy they will call the students for an interview from which point they will decide to appoint them the position or not. And almost all residents can become floor representatives or general members by approaching their respective dons.