Don't get me started.

Interesting. A few random additional thoughts: 1) the "upscaling" of your standard middle-class home has undoubtedly changed what acceptable is. It seems like everyone feels that a basic kitchen now has quartz or granite countertops, stainless steel appliances, etc. 2) another big issue for older schools (particularly public ones, where money for infrastructure improvements is lacking) is the basic fact that some of the older dorms are not to code--asbestos, lack of sprinkler systems, lack of ADA compliant access, etc. In many cases, the choice is to spend a bunch of money to retrofit older dorms, v building new dorms. Often it's easier to finance a new dorm than improve the infrastructure in an older dorm.

Liam’s new dorm is beautiful. The college didn’t have a dorm at all until a couple years ago. It was, as the article mentions, a commuter campus. So they built the dorm to house athletes during the 2016 Pan Am games, and then turned it into a dorm. He has a private bedroom and shares a kitchenette and common area with one other student. There are full kitchens on each floor that are shared. They also have a patio with BBQs and they hold free cooking classes (there is no meal plan option).

All that said, when I went to university the dorm for Ryerson was similar. The main dorm had twin beds (Liam has a double XL) but the smaller residence that was available to 2nd year and above students had double beds too (it was previously a hotel).

My dorm room was spartan.

So were Lara's and Rebecca's.

At Rebecca's university, there is a nicer set of dorms, but they're farther away from the center of campus. (Tradeoffs.) At Lara's, they just built a brand-spanking-new freshman dorm (which finally, finally eliminated the need for forced triples, just in time for her freshman year), but she was in the older freshman dorm, and now she's in literally the oldest dorm on campus (which, again, is majorly convenient, essentially being across a wide walkway from the student union).

Some years ago, our local state school had a dorm shortage. They were putting kids up in a hotel across the state line and busing them to campus.

The chancellor then came up with a creative solution. The U bought a struggling hotel downtown and turned about 1/3 of it into dorms and the rest is a conference center with hotel rooms, often used by parents on visits. They included a separate entrance for students so they do no disturb the guests.

Earlier this year I took a series of classes for a certificate, all held there (and catered!). The conference center is pretty busy and generates revenue for the U.

Middle had a room there one year. Queen sized beds and a private bath!

quote:

Originally posted by BeeLady:
Some years ago, our local state school had a dorm shortage. They were putting kids up in a hotel across the state line and busing them to campus.

The chancellor then came up with a creative solution. The U bought a struggling hotel downtown and turned about 1/3 of it into dorms and the rest is a conference center with hotel rooms, often used by parents on visits. They included a separate entrance for students so they do no disturb the guests.

Earlier this year I took a series of classes for a certificate, all held there (and catered!). The conference center is pretty busy and generates revenue for the U.

Middle had a room there one year. Queen sized beds and a private bath!

They had to do that at Virginia Tech this year, because of an unanticipated level of acceptances.