In Student Housing, Luxuries Overshadow Studying

[pstokely]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/15/us/in-luxury-student-housing-gym-tan-and-study.html

"As private housing developers try harder than ever to outdo the amenities that their competitors offer in college towns, concern is growing about the academic and social consequences of upscale off-campus student housing.

The spas, tanning salons and sprawling pools offered by these complexes, which often require their tenants to be students, are a far cry from the traditional on-campus residence halls that may house classrooms and faculty and host lectures and academic discussions.

“These are sort of more social environments,” said Arthur J. Lidsky, the president of Dober Lidsky Mathey, a campus planning consultancy. “It takes away from sort of a community of learners, and it creates more of a separate living environment that doesn’t support that mission.”

Even through the recession and the housing crisis, student housing development has remained robust, outperforming other sectors in part because the rising college student population increased the demand for accommodations. Construction of student housing, though down from its peak five years ago, continues to boom, and analysts predict growth in the coming years."

[nebenaube]

1. this could have been in the Eau Claire, Wisconsin paper today... oh wait it was!

[MADem]

2. I am stunned at the "amenities" that go along with a college education these days.

I don't think these kids could relate to sharing a phone booth with fifty others, going to a cafeteria with one choice of meal (maybe two if the place was really fancy) and set meal hours--miss the time, you don't eat unless you go somewhere off campus or get a delivery; never mind no computers, being kept awake by people banging typewriters, only the rich kids being able to afford a tv in their room, a communal kitchen (no microwave, of course)....

Just a very different life! Of course, the costs for college have gone way, WAY up--they're stratospheric compared to my day. Maybe kids would like a little more learning and a little less luxury at a more affordable price...? Hard to know...

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

3. How is this a problem and how is this new?

I lasted one semester before moving back home, the place I was kept after being quarantined in the Philippines was luxurious by comparison. That lifestyle isn't for everyone. I'm sure students have been opting out of dorms for less austere accommodations for centuries.