“It’s a unique experience, being able to live with 60 plus of your best friends.” 

According to Cade Dinsmore, president of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, this is the highlight of living in greek life housing at Oregon State University.

Dinsmore describes the normal process for fraternity members living in to begin after their first year where members then live in for two years, typically their sophomore and junior years of school. Although in some cases when space allows new members are allowed to move in within their first year. 

“If you need to talk to someone, you go, you walk right down the hall,” Dinsmore said. “It’s so easy to find people and there’s always something going on.” 

The social benefit of meeting new people and always having a friend around is an experience shared by OSU sororities as well according to Devyn Halvorson, the 2022 panhellenic president and member of Alpha Omicron Pi.

“Once [members] moved in, they became best friends with people they would have never expected to be friends with,” Halvorson said. “Another great thing about living in is the proximity to campus, all chapter houses are a short walk to campus and there is most likely someone else that has a class at the same time as you that can also walk with you to campus.”

Aside from the friends and proximity, the amenities and finances also appear to be a perk of living in Greek life housing according to Halvorson.

“You are paying for your place to live, what would normally be utilities, and you are also paying for two cooked meals a day with snacks,” Halvorson said. “All of our chapter facilities have a chef who cooks two meals a day Monday through Friday every week.”

According to Dinsmore, for SAE specifically this works out to be about $3,000 per term. 

In addition to dining, each house typically includes communal sleeping areas as well as day rooms and living rooms. 

According to Alpha Delta Gamma sorority member and third year business management and supply chain logistics student Kelli Nekomoto, these common areas were where she became more comfortable with striking up conversations and was able to bond with other girls. 

“I love how everybody’s super into the beaver community and like Corvallis  in general is already such a good community of like supporters,” Nekomoto said.  

However there are other aspects to consider when living with upwards of 30 other people. According to Nekomoto, the shift from campus residence halls to greek life housing was an adjustment. 

“By winter or spring term I finally kind of got it down and like I found out how to get quiet time within a lot of people,” Nekomoto said. “Because you kind of have to find your free time away from the house, then it kinda nudges you in the right direction of finding other places on campus or off campus to study.”

The other aspect of Greek life housing that drew Nekomoto to living out after her standard time is the difficulty in finding housing during breaks as many sorority houses close for winter, spring and summer breaks. 

“For spring break I had to find another place to crash for the week.” Nekomoto said. “So it is a little bit hard in terms of you have to move a bunch of stuff and I didn’t have a car last year or so it was pretty much whatever I can do in walking distance.”

Nekomoto mentioned that to help with these break times many of the older members of the sorority are typically welcoming for those who need a place to stay, tying back to the community aspect of Greek life. 

“I mean, we’re gonna have the rest of our lives to live in a more private setting,” Dinsmore said. “This is a very unique time in our lives, and it’s a very, very, very cool experience.”