10 Public universities with insanely luxurious dorms

[TheMightyFavog]

http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Media/Slideshow/2012/08/28/10-Public-Colleges-With-the-Most-Luxurious-Dorms.aspx?index=1

Couldn't this money had been better spent on professors, equipment, computers, etc? What's wrong with the good old 10'x12' concrete block room with a shared bathroom down the hall with internet in every room and free basic plus tier cable like I had?

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. Wow! We didn't even have cable and internet in the rooms when I went to college. Man,

my kids are hopefully going to go to the school in town and live here at home, at least for their first 2 years of core classes. (And even then, it will still cost as much as it did for me to go away to a state school back in the 90s.)

[hifiguy]

2. I spent my first year in law school

living in a Gropius designed 8 x 10 nightmare that had a freestanding closet, three painted cinderblock walls and all the charm of a mental institution. No air conditioning and occasional heat. At least I was across the hall from the bathroom.

No cable and this was well before the internet era.

BTW, this was at Harvard.

[enlightenment]

7. My dorm was built on a scorpion nest.

The first thing they taught us was how to shake out our clothes, shoes, and bedding . . . we got so used to them that we'd catch them in Dixie cups and stage races down the long (linoleum) hallway. We did have a common kitchen on each floor and shared bathrooms for every four girls (it was the upscale dorm . . .). No phones, but there was a pay phone in the common area and the floor 'mother' had a private phone in her room that we could use in an emergency.

[hifiguy]

9. Scorpions!!

Holy crap. That would have sent me screaming into the night. I don't like creepy-crawlies.

[enlightenment]

11. Lost my first roommate after

2 weeks. She had very long hair and would braid it into a single plait each night. One night we were lying in our beds (which were on opposite sides of the very small room), discussing the day. Her plait had fallen over the edge of the bed. As I watched, a scorpion started a slow crawl up it. I got up (not saying anything to her) and grabbed a towel . . . then dropped it over her plait and the scorpion.

Her shrieking woke up the entire floor and she was on the phone to her parents' five minutes after that. They arrived the next day and that was that.

I don't like them and wasn't thrilled with being the responsible one in that situation, but she was absolutely pathologically frightened of them. I felt bad for her.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

3. I doubt that any of those schools

are lacking plenty of equipment, computers or professors. Universities want to compete for the best students, and this most likley helps.

And I can't speak to these schools, but at the university my oldest attends, the dorms have to be self supporting, by law, so the nicer dorms cost commensurately more to live in. I have no issue with that.

[hollysmom]

4. Not impresssed

A couple were fancy, but a common kitchen is not unusual a well a a study area on the floor. When I was a kid, we had party line phones, I think bath rooms are becoming like that, every one wants a private one.

In my school, we lived in dorms built to look like houses - they were built to look like houses so that if the school failed, they could resell the buildings, It was a requirement of the investors. So we had living rooms and kitchens and the basement doubled as a quiet area to study. 7 double bed rooms and one single and 3 shared bathrooms.

[cynatnite]

5. Why is it insanely?

I thought I was going to see hot tubs, luxurious suites with mints on pillows.

Housing is usually included in the tuition.

I don't have a problem with students being comfortable. Why should they have it as tough as their parents?

[SickOfTheOnePct]

6. Housing is normally separate from tuition

But it's still paid by the student (absent a full ride).

I have no problem with it at all...my daughter's dorm isn't luxurious, but it's certainly nicer than I had, and I'm happy about that.

[cynatnite]

8. Thanks for the correction. I thought it was included. n/t

[WillowTree]

13. That's kind of what I thought.

They're certainly nicer than our dorm rooms all those years ago, but none of them were as over-the-top as I was expecting. As long as the kids, or more likely their parents, are willing to pay for the amenities, I have no problem with any of these at all.

[TeamPooka]

10. it's college, not prison.

[Johonny]

14. +1

[former9thward]

17. I'm sure you are happy at the huge tuition bills they are paying.

Do you think these luxury 'dorms' are free? The students will be paying for them for the next 30 years.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

18. No one is being forced to go to a college with luxury dorms

If they're worried about their tuition paying for it, they can go somewhere else.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

19. Penn State housing is self-supporting

http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/2012/02/01/Housing_rates_to_rise_.aspx

[former9thward]

20. Yes, self-supporting because the students are paying for it.

Through long term student loans which have created a drag on our economy.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

21. No one is making the students live in the luxury dorms

If they don't want to live there, they can live off campus or live in cheaper dorms.

It isn't rocket science.

[former9thward]

23. Big University is never without its defenders.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

24. Yep, that's right

I defend the right of any university, big or small, public or private to offer whatever kind of dorm rooms they want to.

If students don't want to pay the price, they can attend a different school or live in a cheaper dorm.

Like I said, it isn't rocket science.

[Nikia]

12. All our dorms had a kitchen, study lounges, and high speed internet in the rooms

There was also a lounge with television and this was the only room in the dorms with cable because the college wanted students to be social rather than hide in their room. All the dorms had mail service, although now they have it centrally located and students keep their same mailbox their entire time at the college.
Two of the upper class dorms have suites with a shared bathroom. Although it would nice not to share a bathroom with the rest of the floor, it meant that the students had to clean their own bathroom if they wanted it cleaned while they were living there rather than being cleaned by the custodial staff.
As for the other stuff, I don't know how many students the fitness center, dining hall, and other amenities are serving. We had under 1500 students on campus so most of those things were located elsewhere on campus for use for all the students. If there are 10,000+ students on campus though, I guess I could see why some of those things might be specific to a dorm or group of dorms.

[Earth_First]

15. How many of these facilities are privately-owned buildings?

Here at the U of R in Rochester, New York, there are quite a few facilities that were built on property acquired by the University that are privately managed...

[Earth_First]

16. Same goes with RIT

Wilmorite owns beaucoup student housing off and on campus.

[muriel_volestrangler]

22. My old university has upgraded many student rooms to attract the conference trade

If you want organisations to hire the university facilities for conferences during vacations, then the accommodation has to be up to the standard expected - which means private bathrooms, for instance, and reasonable furniture in the rooms. Those conferences make profits which help pay for the student rooms.