What to Bring

When you arrive at Cortland, your room will have an extra-long twin bed, dresser, desk, desk chair, floor lamp, recycle bin and a closet/armoire; it's what you and your roommate(s) bring that makes it feel like home. There is no storage space available, so everything needs to fit into the room.

You will receive a Room Condition Report (RCR) upon checking into your residence hall room. This is your opportunity to thoroughly inspect your room and furnishings.  It is extremely important that you indicate existing damage, marks, etc. on this report because any alterations, changes and/or damages to the room found after the RCR is agreed to may be billable to you. This electronic document is used as the base-line for future damage billing.

For your convenience, we have created a suggested shopping list (PDF) for you to print and use while you go shopping for your room.

What to bring

• birth certificate and social security card (if you plan to work while at college)
• COVID Vaccination Card/proof of COVID vaccination
• health insurance card
• Energy Star approved appliances
• desk lamp with a compact fluorescent light bulb
• hangers
• trash can
• surge protectors
• humidifier
• iron with automatic shutoff
• cellphone
• flashlight/batteries
• coffee pot with automatic shutoff
• drying rack
• laundry bags/baskets
• shower shoes
• shower caddy
• thermometer
• facial tissues
• hand sanitizer
• dish towels
• hand towel for drying hands in bathrooms
• mattress pad
• weather appropriate outerwear
• cleaning supplies
• postage stamps
• bathrobe
• slippers
• manual can opener
• TV cable cord
• Ethernet cable
• snow shovel to leave in your vehicle
• mini fan
• Refrigerator or MicroFridge (only one per room; triples are permitted two)
• variety of clothes (casual, dress, work-out)

What to bring - COVID-19

• face coverings
• personal hand sanitizer
• disinfectant wipes
• thermometer
• additional supplies for cleaning and disinfecting

Items to Share

It's a good idea to contact your roommate(s) before coming to school to coordinate who is going to bring what.

• TV
• Bluetooth speaker
• Blu-ray/DVD player
• refrigerator (5.5 cubic feet or less) with proper grounding mechanism or MicroFridge
• carpet or area rug for room
• video game consoles

Things to Leave at Home

• headboards
• cannabis and cannabis paraphernalia
• flags and/or tapestries intended to hang on wall (fabric cannot be hung on walls)
• lamps with plastic shades (only metal and glass are allowed)
• pets (other than fish in bowls with no electric filters)
• microwaves
• Foreman grills or sandwich makers
• candles or incense
• adhesive-backed lights
• contact/shelf/peel-and-sick wall paper
• extension cords
• hot plates/hot pots    
• toasters/toaster oven
• bed risers
• electric blankets
• halogen lamps
• lava lamps
• individual air conditioning units
• electric heaters/sun lamps
• recliners
• incandescent light bulbs
• wireless/computer routers
• curtains

View the Room and Board License for more specific residence hall policies and other housing related information.

Recommended TVs

For your television to work with our campus cable TV, it is required that your TV has a QAM TV tuner. We have confirmed the following brands come equipped with a QAM tuner:

• Hitachi
• Insignia
• LG (except models made prior to 2007)
• Polaroid
• Samsung (except models made prior to 2009)
• Sharp (except certain 32" Aquos models)
• Sony (except models made prior to 2007)
• TCL
• Toshiba
• Vizio

The following are not equipped with a QAM tuner and would require a separate QAM tuner purchase:

• Dynex DX-32L151A11
• Element
• Emerson
• HiSense
• Magnavox
• Proscan
• RCA
• Sceptre
• Seiki

This is not a comprehensive list. Please research your TV model to confirm that it is equipped with a QAM tuner.