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College Marketplace is the student-only buy and sell app for Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in Edwardsville, Illinois. Every account is verified with a @siue.edu email address, so you're only ever trading with other Cougars — not strangers from Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist.

SIUE requires first-time, full-time students who finished high school within the last twelve months to live on campus unless they commute from inside a 60-mile radius, and the exemption for time served doesn't apply until two semesters are done, so the same buildings turn over students year after year. First-year residents land in Bluff Hall, Prairie Hall or Woodland Hall — three suite-style halls where two students share a room and four share a bathroom. Upperclass students move on to Evergreen Hall, which mixes apartment and suite layouts and hosts the Honors Living Learning Community, or to the Cougar Village Apartments, 496 apartments across 62 buildings a short walk or free shuttle ride from the core of campus. Wherever you land, everything you need is already on campus. SIUE students post mini fridges, futons, storage bins, desk lamps, monitors, bikes and gently used textbooks every semester, usually for a fraction of retail.

All SIUE housing is air conditioned and fully furnished, which makes the shopping list short but specific. Rooms in the first-year halls come with two extra-long twin beds, desks, chairs and dressers, so XL twin sheets are the one thing you cannot substitute — a standard twin set will not fit. Beds arrive set at their highest position, about three feet off the ground, and lowering or bunking them is handled through a housing work order rather than a purchased loft kit, which is why under-bed storage bins move faster here than risers do. Housing caps mini fridges at 5.0 cubic feet and microwaves at 800 watts, and there's a fridge rental program if you'd rather not own one. Compact air fryers, one-cup coffee makers and electric hot pots are allowed; LED light strips, halogen lamps, space heaters, candles, humidifiers, ceiling fans, personal wireless routers and anything with an open heating element are not — worth checking before you pay for someone's old appliance.

Meet up somewhere public and busy. The Morris University Center is the default, with Goshen Lounge, Center Court and The Cougar Store all under one roof, and Lovejoy Library or the Student Fitness Center work just as well for a quick handoff — no shipping labels, no delivery fees, no meeting someone off campus.

Popular categories at SIUE: textbooks and course materials · dorm and apartment furniture · mini fridges and microwaves · bikes and scooters · SIUE apparel and game day gear · electronics and monitors · event tickets · lofting kits and bed risers · storage bins and organizers