The campus is spread over 887 acres (3.6 km²) along the Susquehanna River. It features a 190 acre (0.8 km²) Nature Preserve, a forest and wetland area that includes a six acre (24,000 m²) pond that adjoins the campus.

The school's sports teams are called the Bearcats (formerly the Colonials). They participate in NCAA Division I athletics through the America East Conference.

The school features five undergraduate and two graduate residential communities. The undergraduate dorm communities, in order of completion, are:

• Dickinson Community (ostensibly named for the city of Dickinson)
  • Opened in 1959
  • Individual dorms: Champlain, Digman, Johnson, O'Connor, Rafuse, Whitney
  • Dorms named for local residents of importance when the community was constructed
  • Dorms are made up of double-occupancy rooms
• Newing College
  • Opened in 1962
  • Individual dorms: Bingham, Broome, Chenango, Delaware, Endicott
  • Dorms named for Counties surrounding the college
  • Dorms are made up of double-occupancy rooms
• Hinman College (named for Senator Harvey D. Hinman)
  • Opened in 1967
  • Individual dorms: Cleveland, Hughes, Lehman, Roosevelt, Smith
  • Dorms named for New York State governors
  • Dorms are a mix of singles, doubles, and suites
• College in the Woods (aka "CIW")
  • Opened in 1991
  • Individual dorms: Cayuga, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Seneca
  • Dorms are named for the five regional Native American tribes that made up the Iroquois nation.
  • Dorms are a mix of doubles, triples, quads, and five or six-person suites
• Mountainview College
  • Opened in 2004

The graduate halls, also made available to upperclassmen, are:

• Susquehanna Community
  • Opened in 1984
  • Individual buildings: Brandywine, Choconut, Nanticoke, and Glenwood
  • Buildings named for local creeks
• Hillside Community
  • Opened in 1990
  • Individual buildings: Adirondack, Belmont, Catskill, Darien, Evangola, Fillmore, Glimmerglass, Hempstead, Jones, Keuka, Lakeside, Minnewaska, Nyack, Palisades, Rockland and Saratoga
  • Buildings named for cities in New York State
  • Each building consists of a set of apartments, each of which house four to eight students

The school also operates one of the few remaining free-format college and community FM radio stations left in the United States, WHRW .