From the iconic Old Kenyon Residence Hall to the newly-built Winkler and Thomas Halls, Kenyon offers a diverse host of room and board options, including two-person apartments, basement triple rooms and substance-free housing. For the past couple of years, the College has made a series of modifications to its housing system, eliciting varied reactions from the student body. This overhaul is set to accelerate next year, when the most significant changes to date will take effect. 

In its Nov. 20, 2025, issue, the Collegian reported that the College would significantly restructure its housing system by increasing the number of single rooms, converting many triples into doubles and reducing overall bed capacity in an effort to account for lower enrollment, rising accommodation needs and student preferences for improved living conditions. In a separate development, the College also announced that its transition to a universal housing rate, initially outlined in an email from Vice President for Student Affairs Celestino Limas in February 2023, would take full effect in the 2026-27 academic year. 

As the spring semester comes to a close, many are turning their attention to next year’s housing options. The Collegian spoke with three students about their plans and perspectives.

Gabriel Suhm ’27, who had planned to live in a seven-person house with his friends, was disheartened to find that no available housing options could accommodate a group of that size. “[The housing changes] made it really hard to work with people I would have lived with before.  … So I just figured I would live with [a different group of students],” Suhm said in an interview with the
Collegian. According to Suhm, his four-person group is still unsure about its housing situation for next year. “We are trying to decide between … Winkler, Thomas and [the Acland Apartments]. … There are drawbacks to Winkler and Thomas, just as there are to the Aclands,” Suhm said.   

Suhm has lived in a Morgan Apartment (Milk) double as a junior and is considering a similar arrangement for next year. “I think it’s really nice. … It’s really special when you have somebody that you love to live with, and I’ve been lucky to have great roommates,” he said. Suhm added that having a kitchen improved the experience.

While conducting research this past summer, Suhm stayed in a Village Apartment with three other students and found the experience isolating: “I was in a seven-person [suite], and there were only four of us. … [It was] too big for that.” As such, he expressed discontent over the College’s decision to reduce the number of available triple rooms. “I don’t agree with them, because I think having more people living with each other is actually really nice. I think it cultivates more community than having people live in a two-person New Apartment,” he said.

Dylan Ryznar ’28, a potential new member of Alpha Delta Phi (AD), has been living in the fraternity’s Old Kenyon division housing with a roommate who is a current member of AD. “I like [living in a double]. … I am fine with it,” Ryznar said in an interview with the Collegian.

Since Ryznar plans on studying abroad in the fall, he still has time to decide where he wants to live when he returns to campus after a semester in Copenhagen. But he understands that housing selection is a difficult process. “I feel like a lot of the time it’s stressful for people, like, trying to make housing groups and stuff to get some sort of apartment. A lot of my friends … live in an apartment with [a community advisor], which makes it easier,” he said. 

Ever since her former roommate moved out over winter break, Maia Church ’29 has had a dingle — a double room with a single occupant — in Lewis Residential Hall and has been enjoying the new arrangement. “I have a megabed, [which is] pushed against the windows. … I  love it so much,” Church said in an interview with the Collegian. 

Shortly after a rising senior sent out an all-student email about a double opening in their Thomas suite for next year, Church started talking to them on Instagram and decided to take them up on the offer with a first-year friend. “When the email happened, I wasn’t in a process of anything. And I just went for it. … I feel lucky,” she said.

Despite being able to claim a Thomas housing spot, Church noted that housing selection can be difficult and frustrating for other students. “I keep being told it’s awful. … I wanted to go to one of the talks about housing. … But somehow they didn’t align with my schedule. I [still] have no clue how to do the housing process,” Church said. 

Church is confident that she and her roommate-to-be will be able to make the adjustment to a double a positive experience. “We have really similar schedules, and we are both very clean. … So if I have to live in a double, I want to live with her,” she said.

She acknowledged that the diverse range of amenities a Thomas suite offers played a significant role in solidifying her decision. “The way I’m thinking about it is we could have a double in a [dorm], and when you open the door of your double, you’re in a hallway and you have to walk to a shared bathroom, and there’s no kitchen or … a big shared kitchen. Or when you open the door to your double, you have a nice living space and a not-quite-so-shared kitchen and a bathroom just for the two of you,” Church said.