Mmm... actually Charan my place had plates and cups too. I was hooked up pretty good. Had sheets & towels & all that stuff too. It was such a treat to walk in at 11.30 pm to find the bed made, towels hanging, toilet paper on the roll, and other stuff (food + toiletries) courtesy of Cornell.

It's inevitable that you'll have to purchase a couple of things to make the place yours anyway. For instance, not everyone uses coffee pots. Or rice cookers. So they wouldn't put that stuff in the place anyway. Or I cook a lot of Japanese food, so I found the Daiso and went crazy with dishes I wanted for my meals. But at least you don't have to run out and buy something to sit on, or something to eat from.

What was cool in my case, though, was that I got a relocation allowance when I arrived. The idea is that then I could do deposits, get the appliances I needed (especially with so many American employees @ Cornell... plug size + voltage are different, so would have to rebuy a printer, a coffee pot, etc.), and have some cash to work with while getting set up on payroll.