Skip to main content Skip to secondary navigation

Taking Care of Ourselves & Each Other

Health & Well-Being

4/30/2013 Gardening at Columbae, a vegetarian cooperative house. Freshman Leopold Wambersie helps Junior Kyle Moore sift dirt to create new planting beds in the Columbae Garden. Credit: Linda A. Cicero / Stanford News Service

Special Interest: Co-op

Main content start

Cooperative living has thrived at Stanford for more than forty years, offering a diverse range of living environments as each co-op community holds distinct values. For example, many offer gender-neutral housing; some feature vegetarian kitchens and meals; and others make house decisions through a consensus process. Co-ops can focus on alternative lifestyles, intentional communities, LGBT friendliness, international awareness, or social change through nonviolent action.

Decorative accent featuring eight dots representing the eight Neighborhood colors.
Top view healthy food for immunity boosting composition. Credit: @freepik

One common feature for all the co-ops is that you become part of a job system of shared responsibility.

You share in cooking dinners and cleaning up, shoulder-to-shoulder with your fellow co-opers, which is a great opportunity to bond with your community. But you also take pride in your contributions and learn important real-world and life-long skills--and these jobs can save you thousands of dollars a year on rent and board bills!

 Alumnae Brenda Mutuma, '13, left, Mireille Vargas. and Makshya Tolbert, '15, make an egg pasta from scratch in the Liberation Through Land: Organic Gardening and Racial Justice class. Credit:  Linda A. Cicero / Stanford News Service

Special Interest: Co-op Criteria

Find the criteria for all University Theme House - Special Interest: Co-ops.

Woman gardening. Credit: Freepik