Dorms for played sims only

One thing I always did was to place a fridge in the main living area. This way when the roommates brought in food, I would grab the plates and put them in the fridge, never had to worry about meal issues. Living in a dorm would allow my students to eat for free at the commons. Also by having roommates that you don't control, there were things going on from time to time that would allow your sim(s) to meet different people that would stop by. This does not happen in private homes.

I can't recall if dorms would allow grills or microwaves.

Microwaves are allowed but I don't think you are allowed grills.

Is the question whether to use University Housing vs Residential? I think Uni Housing is cheaper and you won’t be charged for a maid or repair service. Without NPC roommates, you’ll miss out on free food and some autonomous behaviors (most of which can be annoying).

I don’t enjoy playing more than 3 or 4 sims at uni, so 8 would be a drag, IMO. If you really want to do that, you’re much better off living off campus because then they will actually get to their classes on time without you having to be vigilant. I don’t know if you usually play with 8 sims in a house but it’s even harder at uni with all the homework, papers and presentations to juggle. You’re going to have a bad time if you do that. I’d split them up into two groups of 4, and that’s what I’ve got going on in my game right now.

I don't think there are any advantages to dorms, except for free repairs. I had to pay for maid service when I used it in a dorm. Meals at the commons are free for all students who attend that university, whether they live in the dorm or not.

Bills for a large house should be considerably cheaper than paying for 8 students to live in a dorm and your sims won't get kicked out when they graduate. You can make changes to the house whenever you want without needing cheats or mods. You can access things from your household inventory, such as date rewards and holiday gifts. All in all, I think Residential will be a better choice for you than University Housing.

"babajayne;c-17609475" wrote:
Is the question whether to use University Housing vs Residential?

Yes, that was the question (and, yes, I have experience playing with large households, no worries, unapologetic micromanager here ;) Specifically for university gameplay my largest household so far was only five sims, though. I'm going to start with two credits, one main course + one elective, as "orientation week" and see how it goes from there.)

Seems from the answers that for my playstyle there are no upsides to dorms. Thank you everyone for giving your opinions!

I thought I'd post a follow-up about the housing I have decided on.

I found this beautifully dreary dorm on MTS, Ferris State Hall or, repurposed for my game, the Lansing Police Academy:

https://abload.de/img/21.08.20_21-07-16a5j21.png

In its default state the lot was lagging whenever I used the teleport cheat (what I tend to do a lot on multi-story builds), so I deleted everything except for four living units on the groundfloor and two more on the first floor:

https://abload.de/img/21.08.20_21-53-35pbjz5.png

There is a laundry room on the ground floor and the third floor, and a small kitchen on the first floor:

https://abload.de/img/22.08.20_21-56-337mksx.png

Each unit houses two students:

https://abload.de/img/22.08.20_20-18-28zhk0e.png

At the moment I have six students and one captured spy (long story) living on this lot.

I've added a bench and a bookcase to the groundfloor, and also bought a soccer ball, but nothing else yet. The cadets have 3,000 simoleons in scholarships and have to be careful with what they spend it on. But with their classes and my custom training sessions, I'll definitely need to add one or maybe two coffee machines tomorrow.

My sims are now facing all the downsides of a real dorm, but without the added complication of free ranging townies :)

Looks fun :) I send my sims to a residential dorm, but they also allow a couple roommates. Roommates are often quite helpful, because (if traits are good) they repair broken stuff quickly. With just 2 roommates it doesn't feel overwhelming if one of them bring in food either. I alsop appreciate that my students build skills like cooking, handiness and gardening aside of their studies. Most of my students have plenty cash though, so the higher bills are no problem.

Looks like you focus a bit more on the tougher sides of being a student away from home, will be more of a challenge and probably more fun than the way I do it ;)

"Simmerville;c-17623885" wrote:

Looks like you focus a bit more on the tougher sides of being a student away from home, will be more of a challenge and probably more fun than the way I do it ;)

Oh, that depends. When I first played uni, the Villareal provided a nicely furnished house for their future crime bosses. But this current batch of students all come from priviledged families and I find it fun to confront them with a harsher lifestyle. The green haired one even receives 900 simoleons in royalties every day that I always cheat away, lol.

I've found that the roommates do come in handy; most of them bring food in from somewhere (didn't think about dragging the food into the fridge, thanks @LaBlue0314 :) ), and they will repair and clean up after a while (I was going to fix the shower to get some more Handiness skill but one of the roommates beat me to it). Good way to make friends and even find that special someone; my Sim's current boyfriend lives in her dorm (Wyvern Hall). A lot easier than going out and looking for friends in the rest of the world.

Even if I did step out of comfort zone and allowed roommates, the poor things would only suffer. Sims in my game cannot use showers, bathtubs, coffee makers, beds, couches and most toilets on autonomously. I took autonomy off all those actions because my played sims would do them on their own whenever their needs dropped into the red, what disrupted my play. Especially in large households constantly having to cancel unwanted actions was annoying.

On a sidenote, the rooms are rather small, so my kiddos took their presentation boards into the floor...
https://64.media.tumblr.com/784ba49771e0c7c8cfcc0c3fac7ea353/60062df4b0e58d8f-44/s540x810/a10207450a07e49077133574846b216721519630.png
...and to their traffic control training.
https://64.media.tumblr.com/182c493840cbcdf2d70bd1f2c8586dd2/d659aebd1cfc5ecc-f2/s540x810/8c439c0f4d1f8dedf6f68bab2cb5acd9b91a074f.png
One sim is taking photos of passing cars, the others are working on their presentations.