FAQs

If you’ve lost something or find something that is apparently lost, turn the item in to Public Safety.

Yes! Even outside, your dogs need to be leashed at all times at Lawrence.

The code is 5827 — but you can also just use your H1 key to unlock all the computer rooms at Lawrence!

In short, smoking — including e-cigarette usage — is banned in all indoor spaces on campus, including private rooms. Smoking is permitted outside as long as the smoker is more than 25 feet from the nearest building.

In the event that you’re being bothered by someone who’s smoking, please try to approach them directly. Another solution is to contact EHS at: 609-258-5294.

For more detailed information, see Princeton EHS’s smoking FAQ.

Emergency contact information for students is entered through TigerHub. First, please ensure that your contact info, as well as the contact info of anyone else who you’d like to receive messages, is up-to-date in TigerHub.

TigerAlert is the system the university uses to send emergency alerts. You should be able to manage your TigerAlert preferences through the links here, indicating what sorts of alerts you want and who they should be delivered to.

The building one laundry room at Lawrence has “Helpsy bins” that can be used for clothing donations. You can additionally reach out to any of the thrift and consignment stores in town — including Greene Street, Princeton Consignment, and the Nearly New Shop on Olden.

Space in University housing is made available to regularly enrolled graduate students of Princeton for their personal use, and use of such space cannot be transferred to any other individual.  Visitors are allowed in housing throughout the 24-hour day, yet the presence of guests or visitors must not interfere with other residents’ normal activities.  Roommates are expected to be sensitive to each other’s need for privacy as well as reasonable about the need for occasional guests or visitors to the unit.  The University strongly encourages that residents get 48-hours advance consent from and give advance notice to all other roommates before having guests or visitors.  In the case of overnight guests or visitors, 48 hour advance consent from all roommates is required.  Extended visits of more than three days and two nights are not permitted.

Parking is for resident use and only those guests with a valid visitors parking permit may park at or in housing unit lots or parking areas.  Overnight sleeping in common areas of the building is prohibited.  Disputes or concerns surrounding guests should be brought to the attention of the Manager for Graduate Housing for resolution.  The University may deny guest privileges and impose disciplinary action if this policy is abused.

Princeton unfortunately has no grocery stores within a walking distance of campus. There are a handful of grocery stores within a short driving distance of campus, many of them along route 1:

• Whole Foods (South on Route 1, Windsor Green Shopping Center)
• Wegman’s (South on Route 1, Nassau Park Pavilion)
• Target (South on Route 1, Nassau Park Pavilion)
• McCaffrey’s (North of Campus, Princeton Shopping Center)
• ShopRite (South on Route 1, exit Province Line)
• Trader Joe’s (South on Route 1, exit Meadow road)
• Asian Food Market (North on Route 1, exit Scudder’s Mill, in Plainsboro)

Residents with cars will find that while these aren’t walkable places, they are very easily drivable (and in some cases bikeable). Residents without cars have a couple options:

• Use a delivery service like Instacart or Amazon Prime to get groceries delivered
• Utilize the Weekend Shopper shuttle provided by the university. This stops at Whole Foods, Wegman’s, Target, and Trader Joe’s.

The university operates several free shuttle lines, including lines from Lawrence to the academic portions of campus, other graduate housing complexes, and even some local shopping centers. For more information, consult the Tiger Transit website.

Walking to the Dinky Station on campus takes between 10 and 20 minutes for most people. Walking to the academic portion of campus takes between 20 and 45 minutes, depending on where you are going. Be sure to study a map first — cutting diagonally across campus can save a lot of time and is much prettier than walking along the major streets! During the week, students going to campus use the Lawrence-Lakeside shuttle, which operates at least every half hour and every 10-20 minutes during peak times (the morning and evening).

Many people in Lawrence have a bike. There are several cycling stores in town where you can get a decent bike for around $300. (Most services in Princeton are expensive, and bike repairs are no exception. Consider this before getting a flimsy bike from Wal-Mart for $100.) You can also purchase used bikes on TigerTrade. Every fall and spring, the university has a bike giveaway. The bikes are those found abandoned on the racks around campus, so they are of varying quality–if you want a decent bike, make sure to get there early!

Whether you should buy a car depends on your habits and budget. Single students with little grocery shopping to do usually manage to get by without a car (with occasional help from others, e.g. when transporting furniture). If you are from outside the US, make sure that you want to pay the cost of insurance and repairs before buying a car. If you have a driver’s license, you can also rent a car for occasional trips.

NJTransit is another option for students to get around. Students who would like to get to NYC or Newark often take the Dinky to Princeton Junction and then the NEC North to Penn Station. For those with cars, it can be much more efficient to drive directly to Princeton Junction, park there (the cost is a bit over $6), and take the trains from there. To get to Philadelphia, students take the NEC south to Trenton, where they can transfer to SEPTA.

Please note that while trains to NYC and sometimes to Trenton are synced with the Dinky, transportation from Trenton to Philadelphia is usually not synced up. Keep this in mind, as this will usually add a significant bit of transit time.

Students can also take NJ Transit buses to get around. The 605 runs along Alexander Road, and is one of the only options to get to Quaker Bridge Mall without a car.

If you’re coming back to campus late at night, the Dinky runs less frequently. Keep this in mind — you may need to Uber back if you get to Princeton Junction sufficiently late at night.

If you want to buy new furniture, there are few options immediately in Princeton other than Skillman’s on Alexander Road, which tends to be outside of the typical graduate student budget. If you have access to a car, there are three IKEA stores about an hour away in Philadelphia, PA, Conshohocken, PA, and Elizabeth, NJ. (New Jersey has lower sales tax than Pennsylvania.) IKEA should also deliver, although there have lately been supply chain issues with many retailers. There are a few options for furniture and houseware nearby in Marketfair and other strip malls on Route 1 (e.g. Homegoods, Home Sense, Target). Buying from Amazon, Wayfair, and other online retailers is another popular option.

Many graduate students choose to purchase these things used. Unfortunately most students sell their furniture at the beginning of the summer, so students arriving in August or September won’t always have the best selection. The best options for finding used items are the GSG slack, Facebook marketplace, Craigslist, and Princeton’s TigerTrade. Sellers on Buy Nothing groups on Facebook often give away things for free (there are a couple groups for the Princeton area).

Of course! The community room and kitchen are unlocked and available for all residents. If you would like to host an activity or event in either community room (building 1 or building 14), please contact your Community Programs Coordinator, Kevin Fleming for room availability, information, and room policies & procedures.

If you have a larger event planned, you must contact Kevin and fill out an Events Registration Form.