Unable to establish upstream connection

> Hi there, I recently moved into a college dorm and purchased a CM500
> modem and a nighthawk R7000 router in the hopes of having a wifi
> connection. [...]

   Have you tried asking the people who run the "a college dorm"?  Does
that place really use cable TV connections for Internet access?

> When I went to establish a connection with the CM500 it continuously
> searched for an upstream connection, unable to find one.

   To me, that sounds as if you don't have cable-TV Internet.