‘A Home Away from Home’: Cardinals flock to residence halls, ranked No. 3 in state
As the fall semester approaches, students will be flocking back to the nest to have a unique college experience of living on campus in Cardinal Village, which of the top college dorms by among four-year public universities in Texas. The No. 3 ranking comes on the heels of a two-year, multi-million-dollar renovation project in Cardinal Village that began in the summer of 2021.
Niche calculates the ranking based on a set of percentages, with 70% accounted for by student surveys on campus housing and average housing cost, housing capacity and student housing crime accounting for 10% each. 
According to Peter Gatto, director of Housing and Residence Life, the designation speaks to the residence halls and operations at 17³Ô¹Ï.
“I believe the students truly appreciate the physical layout of our suites in all of our residence halls,” Gatto said, adding that students are offered a private bedroom within their own two-person suite, which also includes their own bathroom. “We are fortunate to offer students a high level of privacy that allows them to focus on their academics.”
Christopher Hazelton, assistant director of Housing and Residence Life, said that students have the opportunity to choose who they would like to live with or they can complete an online questionnaire in our housing portal that will pair them with a compatible suitemate.
An inventory or questionnaire asks questions about students that they use to compare students with similar interests like wakeup times, he said, adding that there are two important things students need to know about living in the residence halls.
The first is that it’s a big adjustment for some students.
“You are going to have to take care of your own space,” Hazelton said. “Be ready to take some accountability and responsibility for your own space.”
The second thing to know about living in the residence halls is simple — you get what you put into it.
“Our RAs have programs that are not mandatory, but the more you engage, the more you interact, the more you’re going to get out of that experience, where you’re going to feel like you’re part of the community,” he said.
One of the main reasons students are attracted to the residence halls of Cardinal Village, Gatto noted, is convenience.
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