Pros and cons of campus dorms

Concordia offers 11 dorm options for students. On-campus housing applications for Fall 2026 are open on March 4.

Photo design by Nora Betts

By Michaela Gibbs and Elizabeth Salo

This article is featured in the February print edition of the Sower newspaper. 

Concordia students choose their housing for the upcoming academic year each spring, and this year, the 11 options each come with pros and cons.

Senior Hannah Ethridge has lived in the David dorm each year she has been at Concordia and really likes the atmosphere of a secluded community.

The lounge connecting the Boaz and Obed dorms has a wide selection of chairs, a piano, and a fireplace. It also has an outside deck with a grill. Photo: Elizabeth Salo.

“One of the main reasons I have stayed in David so long is just because I like how everything’s close together, so if I need to go to the kitchen to make something, I have a big space to do that,” said Ethridge. “I also like that the halls are connected so you can go see other people that you know without going outside.”

Ethridge added that “it lets you self-isolate when you need to, where you can get some alone time, and the rooms are really big.”
David is on the east edge of campus, and while Ethridge does not consider it a problem, she said other students might not like the distance between the dorm and the rest of campus.

“The distance [from the rest of campus] is something that a lot of people note, but I enjoy longer walks,” said Ethridge. “It also allows me to get away from some of the noise on the center of campus… and it wakes me up more when I go for a morning walk.”

Freshman Tim Pester lives in Esther, and he likes its close proximity to the heart of campus and its newly renovated facilities.

One of Philip’s main floor lounges, with chairs and a TV, plus a kitchenette (not pictured). Photo: Elizabeth Salo.

“Esther is really close to everything,” said Pester. “Walking to Janzow is like 40 feet from the front door of Esther, which is super nice. It’s pretty well centered on campus, so it’s close to other buildings as well.”

Pester said since the building was recently renovated, it is really nice. “The bathrooms are like 2 years old. The furniture is fairly new, so it’s not really broken in very much.”

Pester added, though, he does not like the way the dorm rooms are set up, particularly the closets.

Freshman Matthew Hoops said that he likes the size and the creativity that the set-up of rooms in Ruth Hall allows.

“I think it’s a little bit larger rooms, more spacious and customizable,” Hoops said. “Nothing’s really set in stone so you can really get creative with how you want to design your room.”

The David kitchen allows residents to make their own food with a stovetop and two ovens. Photo: Elizabeth Salo.

Ruth offers roommate-style housing for freshman men. The dorm has communal bathrooms, which Hoops said was a bit of a downside if you don’t know everyone on your hall very well.

Sophomore Caylen McCoy chose to live in Timothy this year, and he prefers it to Ruth, where he lived his freshman year, emphasizing its quiet atmosphere and high level of maintenance.

“It’s a little bit farther away from everything,” said McCoy. “The older architecture makes it a little more homey, and it’s generally pretty quiet. I also like being in an upperclassmen dorm.

McCoy said the dorm is quiet, well-maintained and has good RAs. While there are some sanitation issues at the beginning of the year, they were handled well by Concordia’s staff.

“There was mold in our room when we moved in, but they cleaned it within a week, and it hasn’t come back,” he said.

McCoy did mention, however, that the guest bathroom on the first floor could use some updating.

“The guest bathroom is not the greatest,” he said. “It’s cramped and kind of dingy. My girlfriend had to use it [when she visited] and I was a little embarrassed.”

Junior Samantha Herrmann lives in Philip and likes the setup of the building.

A large lounge in the Schuelke basement, with lots of seating and a TV. Photo: Elizabeth Salo.

“I like having two lounges right off the hall,” she said. “They’re still a little secluded, but still open enough that it’s welcoming. I also like having [laundry] more accessible instead of in the basement like in David.”

As far as disadvantages, Herrmann cited the lack of a kitchen and issues with the upstairs bathroom plumbing.

“The biggest disadvantage is that it doesn’t have any stove/oven sort of combo,” said Herrmann. “If I want to cook, I either have to pack up all my stuff and go over to David or cross the tunnel to get into [Timothy] and hope that no one is using the kitchen in [Timothy]. [Also], two of the showers in Philip Top don’t have very good water pressure, so most of the girls only use two of the showers.”

Concordia offers two single-room style dorms – Schuelke and Strieter.

Senior Hunter Remington has lived in Strieter for three years and appreciates the quiet that living in a single-style dorm offers to residents.

“You can kind of keep to yourself as much as you want to,” he said. “You don’t hear people a whole lot, which is nice.”
Remington said that the dorm is outdated and has no kitchen space, which he listed as a downside to living there.

“It clearly hasn’t been remodeled in a long time. Maybe a new coat of paint or changed the carpet, but, like, there’s no water bottle fillers in the dorm,” he said.

Sophomore Haley Winkelman lives in Schuelke this year and likes the public spaces.

“There’s a kitchen downstairs and a ping pong table downstairs, and the lounge down there is really nice,” she said.

She did note that the bathrooms are outdated.

“The bathrooms are pretty old, and dark in there,” Winkelman said.

Junior Grace Drews lives in Jonathan dorm this year and has enjoyed it very much.

“It’s very nice to live on campus while also trying to live on your own,” said Drews. “I get a kitchen and a bathroom that I only have to share with three other people, which is really nice.”

Drews said that the biggest drawbacks of living in Jonathan are the price and the upkeep.

“You have to either buy your own food or pay for the full meal plan on top of the already [more] expensive housing, and you have to maintain your own dorm kitchen and bathroom,” said Drews. “If those aspects don’t bother you, then it would be great, especially if you are a more independent student that still needs community.”

Other on-campus housing options for students are Boaz Hall, Obed Hall and Dorcas Hall.

Off-campus housing is available to students who are over age 21, married or their family are residents of Seward. While there are a variety of off-campus housing options for students within Seward, including rental houses, apartments and basements in residential homes, they fill up very quickly at the start of each term.

“It [finding housing] was quite a struggle to figure out because it fills up very quickly,” said senior Matthew Feusse. “If you think that you have a place, make sure that you have a backup place. Because that can fall through and you’ll be stuck with nothing.”

For next year’s housing forms, the Student Life Office is premiering a new online system, eRezLife, aimed at streamlining the housing process and help students find roommates.

“We have a new housing software,” said Housing Coordinator and Campus Director of Christian Education Rebekah Freed. “Hopefully, that will make the process a lot easier for students. The really cool feature that I’m really excited about for students is that both for current students, if they don’t know who they want to room with, as well as freshman, who maybe don’t know their roommates, there’s an opportunity, after you fill out your housing application, you can create a roommate profile and actually search for a roommate based on what’s most important to you.”

There are no major dorm renovations planned for this summer, but there will be some minor maintenance and repairs where necessary.

“[As far as I know], there’s not any huge renovations happening [this summer],” said Freed. “Obed is next on line, but it won’t happen this summer, but we’re in the process of working towards it.”

Freed said each year small things get done, such as new mattresses for a dorm.

“Just some of these things that students probably don’t see,” she said.” We have little projects that happen throughout the summer each year.”

Freed said students should watch for information regarding the housing process.

“I would encourage students to be watching for emails, and social media, and our posters around just because the process is a little bit different,” said Freed. “[And students should] let us know if they have questions or problems with the new platform.”