Editing Dormitory (section)

=== United States ===
[[File:Air view of Bancroft Hall and high power radio towers at left, U. S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Md (60661).jpg|right|thumb|Aerial view of Bancroft Hall at the US Naval academy, said to be the largest dormitory building in the US]]

[[File:Joan chadwick and friends common history.jpg|thumb|left|Jefferson Medical College Hospital School of Nursing students in their dorm room c.1951]]

[[File:Student suites at Cal Poly Pomona.png|right|thumb|Residential suites at [[California State Polytechnic University, Pomona|Cal Poly Pomona]]]]

In the early [[colonial colleges]], residence was often provided for students within the main college building, such as the [[Wren Building]] at the [[College of William & Mary|William & Mary]] (1705) and [[Nassau Hall]] at [[Princeton University|Princeton]] (1756); these went on to inspire other "[[List of Old Main buildings|Old Main]]" buildings, combining academic functions with accommodation. The first primarily residential building was the [[Harvard Indian College]] (1650), which also contained a printing press, while the first exclusively residential building was Stoughton Hall (1698), also at [[Harvard University|Harvard]].<ref>{{cite journal|author=Mary R. Springer|title= Review of Living on Campus: An Architectural History of the American Dormitory, by Carla Yanni|journal= Panorama: Journal of the Association of Historians of American Art|volume= 6|issue= 1 |date=Spring 2020|doi= 10.24926/24716839.10010|doi-access= free}}</ref>

Most colleges and universities provide single or multiple occupancy rooms for their students, usually at a cost. These buildings consist of many such rooms, like an apartment building. The largest dormitory building in the US is said to be [[Bancroft Hall]] at the [[United States Naval Academy]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/md0916/|title=U.S. Naval Academy, Bancroft Hall, Annapolis, Anne Arundel County, MD|website=[[Library of Congress]]|access-date=12 December 2023}}</ref> housing 4,400 [[midshipman|midshipmen]] in 1,700 multiple occupancy rooms.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://navylacrossecamp.com/bancroft-hall-dorms|title=Bancroft Hall (Dorms)|website=Navy Lacrosse Camp|access-date=29 December 2023}}</ref>

Many colleges and universities no longer use the word "dormitory" and staff are now using the term '''residence hall''' (analogous to the United Kingdom "hall of residence") or simply "hall" instead. Outside academia however, the word "dorm" or "dormitory" is commonly used without negative connotations.  Indeed, the words are used regularly in the marketplace as well as routinely in advertising.

Typically, a United States residence hall room holds two students with no toilet. This is usually referred to as a "double". Often, residence halls have communal bathroom facilities.
In the United States, residence halls are sometimes [[sex segregation|segregated by sex]], with men living in one group of rooms, and women in another. Some dormitory complexes are single-sex with varying limits on visits by persons of each sex. For example, the [[University of Notre Dame]] in [[Indiana]] has a long history of ''parietals'', or mixed visiting hours. Most colleges and universities offer coeducational dorms, where either men or women reside on separate floors but in the same building or where both sexes share a floor but with individual rooms being single-[[sex]]. In the early 2000s, dorms that allowed people of opposite sexes to share a room became available in some public universities.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.post-gazette.com/lifestyle/20020226dorms26P9.asp|title=In student housing, is the coed room the wave of the future? | work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | date=2002-02-26}}</ref> Some colleges and university coeducational dormitories also feature coeducational bathrooms.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/18/education/edlife/18coed-t.html?_r=0|title=Considering Unisex Bathrooms in College Decision | work=The New York Times | date=2010-04-18}}</ref> Many newer residence halls offer single rooms as well as private bathrooms, or suite-style rooms.

Most residence halls are much closer to campus than comparable private housing such as apartment buildings. This convenience is a major factor in the choice of where to live since living physically closer to classrooms is often preferred, particularly for first-year students who may not be permitted to park vehicles on campus. Universities may therefore provide priority to first-year students when allocating this accommodation.