 Undergraduates are guaranteed four @-@ year housing in one of MIT 's 12 undergraduate dormitories . Those living on campus can receive support and mentoring from live @-@ in graduate student tutors , resident advisors , and faculty housemasters . Because housing assignments are made based on the preferences of the students themselves , diverse social atmospheres can be sustained in different living groups ; for example , according to the Yale Daily News staff 's The Insider 's Guide to the Colleges , 2010 , " The split between East Campus and West Campus is a significant characteristic of MIT . East Campus has gained a reputation as a thriving counterculture . " MIT also has 5 dormitories for single graduate students and 2 apartment buildings on campus for married student families . 
