Trent's signature collegiate model provides undergraduate and graduate students, staff, and faculty members with diverse opportunities to engage in university life, connect with others, and feel at home on campus.
The Colleges of Trent and their teams of dedicated staff offer three main streams of service: academic support provided by skilled professionals, programming and events designed to help you connect and thrive, and beautiful spaces to live, eat and study.
Academic Supports
- 1:1 Academic Advising to help students clarify goals, choose courses, understand requirements, access supports, and confidently navigate their academic journey
- Academic Skills instructors offer personal support and robust resources to help students develop effective learning habits and tools
- Workshops, webinars, retreats, and events, such as the Three Minute Thesis and Three Minute Paper competition, to build and refine skills through hands-on learning and practice
- Professional mentorship through a community of fellows (staff and faculty affiliates), alumni, and College principals whom all have doctorates and are active professors
Social Programming
- Year-round activities tailored to community interests and values, including creative arts, leadership programs, social mixers, and outdoor adventures
- All-Colleges events and traditions, like Orientation Week and the East vs. West Hockey Game, build belonging, spirit, and friendly rivalry
- Annual celebrations such as Fall College Weekends and grad/award ceremonies offer meaningful moments to connect with peers and celebrate accomplishments
- Did we mention that most activities include food?!
Spaces
- A range of residence options for every preference and lifestyle
- Dining halls featuring a mix of global flavours, home-style favourites, and convenient grab-and-go options, each with a unique atmosphere and setting
- Purpose-built classrooms and gathering spaces that support focused learning, collaboration, and connection
How to Join a College
Affiliating with a college formalizes your connection to it, ensuring you receive key communications from your college principal and access to the people and programming that will help you build the skills and networks that last long after graduation.
It doesn’t matter whether you live in residence or commute to campus. As an undergraduate student, graduate student, faculty member or staff, you are part of one of Trent’s five dynamic Colleges: Traill, Champlain, Lady Eaton, Otonabee, and Gzowski.
Residence Students
Students that will be living on-campus in their first year are automatically assigned to the college that they will be residing in.
Off-Campus Students
For off-campus students, the choice is yours. To choose your College, log in to your MyTrent portal and navigate to the Choose Your College icon found under the College Life section in the Support menu. Details and deadlines for affiliation will be communicated through your Trent email.
Graduate Students
All new graduate students are automatically affiliated with Traill. Returning students maintain their current college affiliation. You can change your college affiliation at any time – just log in to your MyTrent portal and navigate to the Choose Your College icon found under the College Life section in the Support menu.
Faculty & Staff
Faculty and staff are encouraged to join as fellows, and can affiliate via the MyTrent portal as well.
Explore the Colleges of Trent
Every college offers opportunities to live, learn, belong, and celebrate, but each community is distinct and has something unique to offer.
While each student affiliates with a single college, you can still take part in many of the programs, events, and supports offered by all colleges.
Take some time to explore each of the Colleges of Trent before deciding which one is right for you.
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Catharine Parr Traill College (Traill)
TraillWow! One of Trent’s original colleges and the only college located in downtown Peterborough, Traill is a community of forward-thinking and creative “Traillblazers.” Named after nineteenth-century author and naturalist Catharine Parr Traill, our College is a student oasis situated five minutes away from the centre of Peterborough. The College feels like a small university within the larger university and that’s the point. Here, students may lose themselves in their books, but they will never be lost in the crowd. A downtown hub, Traill is a place where students of all years of study congregate together to create an environment where diversity and blending of ideas thrive.
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Champlain College (Champlain)
At Champlain, the oldest college on the Symons Campus, we balance academic excellence with proud spirit. Champlainers are known for an abundance of tradition and heart, together with values emphasizing inclusivity, active living and global perspectives. Here we welcome Discovery, Adventure, Reflection, and Engagement in all aspects of university life. DARE to be Champlain!
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Lady Eaton College (LEC)
At Lady Eaton College, tradition meets youthful passion in a welcoming energetic community that bursts with “LEC” pride and the spirit of Gemütlich (feeling comfortably at home, welcomed by friends). Our namesake is a brilliant and inspiring Canadian, Lady Flora McCrea Eaton, who challenged us to “Have an open mind, trust, learn every day, and keep doing it as long as you live.” Creative, curious, warm – members of Lady Eaton College are known for their welcoming nature, their dedication to their studies, and their artistic flair.
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Otonabee College (OC)
At Otonabee College, we agree with the timeless saying that you cannot step into the same river twice – because it is always changing. OC students are known to lead change with heart. Their passion exemplifies the name of our river and our college – “the Otonabee” – an Ojibwe word meaning “the river that beats like a heart.” We honour the steady beat of the river and its impact on surrounding life with our vision for developing a strong sense of belonging and innovation.
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Peter Gzowski College (Gzowski)
Gzowski College is named after the distinguished Canadian broadcaster and former Trent Chancellor, Peter Gzowski. Adored by Canadians, he listened and welcomed conversation and diverse opinions. That makes it fitting that Gzowski College is housed within Trent's Enwayaang building, an Anishinaabek word meaning "the way we speak together." Indigenous knowledge is central to our spirit and influences our programming. Home to young and vibrant change makers, the college balances traditional knowledge with modern ideas: we take intellectual risks for great rewards.