Southern Illinois is launching soon — be first to know.

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

On-campus housing splits into two neighborhoods, and both turn over hard every August. West Campus is Thompson Point, eleven three-story halls sitting between Campus Lake and Thompson Woods: Abbott Hall, Bailey Hall, Baldwin Hall, Bowyer Hall, Brown Hall, Felts Hall, Kellogg Hall, Pierce Hall, Smith Hall, Steagall Hall and Warren Hall, most grouped by major, with Smith set aside for Honors students. East Campus is the three seventeen-story towers — Mae Smith Hall, Neely Hall and Schneider Hall — where the top two floors of Schneider are reserved for junior and senior singles. Sophomores and up can apply for Wall & Grand Apartments, and Evergreen Terrace Apartments houses single undergraduates 21 and older alongside graduate and family residents. SIU runs a two-year live-on rule: if you are under 21 and graduated high school less than two years ago, you live in university housing unless you commute from a parent or guardian's home within 45 miles of Carbondale. Which means everything you need is already on campus. SIU students post mini fridges, futons, storage bins, desk lamps, monitors, bikes, and gently used textbooks every semester — usually for a fraction of retail.

Know the room before you buy. A standard double comes with two extra-long twin beds (36 by 80 inches), two desks and chairs, two dressers or cabinets, two closets or wardrobes, and air conditioning and heat, so shop XL twin sheets, not standard twin. Every residence hall bed can be lofted and every bed is bunkable, which is why risers and loft hardware move fast in August. Housing caps refrigerators at 4.2 cubic feet and two per room, allows up to two microwaves per unit with no wattage restriction, and requires UL-approved surge protectors instead of plain extension cords. Toasters, hot plates, deep fryers, halogen lamps, candles and waterbeds are prohibited, so skip those listings.

Handing something off is the easy part. Trade in the open at the Student Center, outside Morris Library, at the Student Recreation Center after a workout, in Trueblood Commons, at Lentz Hall over at Thompson Point, or near Banterra Center on a game day. No shipping labels, no delivery fees, no meeting someone off campus.

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