Swimming Pools and Granite Countertops: How College Dorms Got So Expensive

https://www.wsj.com/us-news/education/college-housing-dorms-cost-tuition-9d98c1a4

by impish9208 • 3 years ago

40 58 3 years ago

wsj.com

spicybbq• 3 years ago

https://archive.is/JK2YJ

jdksmdbtbdnmsm• 3 years ago

https://archive.fo/JK2YJ

randomdata18• 3 years ago

Housing is one of the biggest drivers of rising college costs in the U.S.

While some people might otherwise choose to live in the middle of nowhere where they have to pay you to take a house, the data suggests that most people (especially young people most likely to take an interest in college) already live in the places where the colleges are found.

For all intents and purposes, isn't the housing cost expended regardless of college enrolment? In other words, it is not a college cost.

happytiger2• 3 years ago

Here is the data. It’s interesting to see how much is varies by type, but with only 25 percent of students attending undergrad programs living at home it does seem like it’s a major part of the college expense.

https://collegeaffordability.urban.org/prices-and-expenses/r...

randomdata18• 3 years ago

The data does not answer the question of whether or not housing is reasonably considered a cost of college. Only human analysis can answer that question.

compiler-guy2• 3 years ago

The article does a fairly detailed analysis of this: Housing affiliated with universities has gotten much more expensive relative no housing unaffiliated with universities over the past twenty years. Combine that with requirements to live on campus and such, and it is more expensive.

Yes, everyone needs a place to live. But not everyone needs to live in a fancy and expensive dorm room like those that come with universities.

randomdata18• 3 years ago

What is the relevance of university affiliation with respect to the assertion? Housing cost is merely a function of what the buyer is willing to bear. They could spend the same amount on an off-campus house – the cost would be the same. But is that actually a cost of college?

wharvle• 3 years ago

All the way back in ‘03, in two college towns I’m aware of, it was significantly cheaper to get a 12-month lease on a 1-bedroom or studio apartment within a 5-minute walk from campus than to live in the dorms, even without a roomate (which you’d have in the dorm). And you’d have your own bathroom and kitchen, and more total space.

Both universities required freshmen to live in the dorms, unless they were living with family.

the-dude• 3 years ago

Student housing is a distinct class of real estate. At least, it used to be.

randomdata18• 3 years ago

But hosing for students is not limited to student housing. At least not at any legitimate institution.

jvanderbot• 3 years ago

isn't the housing cost expended regardless of college enrollment

For an article about specifically those arrangements that include dorms, this is overly general.

Dorms used to be the defacto, cheapest living arrangement.

randomdata18• 3 years ago

Dorms used to be the defacto, cheapest living arrangement.

Has that changed? The article suggests $500 per month for a basic room. There is no way I could find anywhere to live for that much around here, not even in a crack shack, and I live in a small town where housing tends to be cheap compared to the cities where colleges are found. In which cities is $500 per month for rent above market?

Sure, you can opt to spend upwards of $2,000 per month (per the article) if you want to live in what is effectively a mansion, which may be something new, but you're going to spend more than that to live in a mansion off campus too, surely?

karaterobot• 3 years ago

Why would they be building so many new dorms if most students live at home? Where do all those people in the middle of nowhere go to school?

randomdata18• 3 years ago

Why would they be building so many new dorms if most students live at home?

There is no implication that the students live at home (assuming that means a parent's place). If you mean home as in where one lives, doesn't everyone live at home?

Where do all those people in the middle of nowhere go to school?

This was already covered.

But in an effort to try and salvage something here: Never underestimate the unreasonable effectiveness of the highway. Quite often people living in the middle of nowhere can get to places in the city faster than those who live inside the city. I know it is common misconception, but living in the middle of nowhere doesn't mean you have to be permanently affixed to it.

AlbertCory• 3 years ago

Exactly. Many college towns (esp. Big Ten) are in cities well out of commuting distance for most students.

ksherlock• 3 years ago

Sure, you have to live somewhere but:

"While rental prices rose nationwide in this period, an analysis of Census data shows median rates increased at a slower pace in the areas immediately around all 12 schools than the pace for the least expensive options on those campuses."

ie, the cost of living in a dorm is rising faster than the cost of living off campus.

Some colleges require freshman to live in dorms.

randomdata18• 3 years ago

ie, the cost of living in a dorm is rising faster than the cost of living off campus.

And the article is about how there is now more choice in dorm rentals (i.e. from basic accommodations to mansion-living). Generally there was no mansion option in the past, and now there is, and that means some students will opt to pay more for the nicer accommodations – and that is going to reflect in the numbers.

If a neighbourhood with 100 modest houses sees construction of 100 mansions, the median value of houses in the area is going to skyrocket too. That doesn't mean the modest houses suddenly cost more.

The same article indicates that a basic unit is $500 per month. I'd love to know where you can rent an off-campus place for less than that. You would never find such a thing around here – not even if you are willing to settle for a crack den.

mensetmanusman• 3 years ago

One under-discussed aspect of this is that so a few of these children have shared a bedroom due to lack of many siblings and oversized houses that they demand their own space in college.

This cultural change has doubled the square footage required in dormitories.

bb123• 3 years ago

For what it’s worth, the cultural expectation to share a room in college is not universal. In the UK, Australia and many parts of Europe are often horrified to find that American students share a bedroom.

Ekaros• 3 years ago

For Finland, private bedrooms are standard and have been for years. Other spaces might be shared between 4-10 people.

Still, even that arrangement has been losing popularity for a while. Even if there is lot of cost savings.

tialaramex2• 3 years ago

Although historically my University (in the UK) did still have some student halls with double rooms, they were already uncommon to the point of vanishing by the time I attended almost thirty years ago.

I don't see how this doubles square footage though. You can obviously provide significantly smaller study bedrooms for individuals, I'd have expected this to mean maybe the space for 1000 students (sharing, blergh) now has capacity for only 800 (single), something like that.

tedunangst• 3 years ago

Doubles in the US are barely largely than singles. Imagine your single, but with another bed in it.

xboxnolifes• 3 years ago

My US college had the opposite trend 10 years ago. Rising enrollment but no increase in housing led to single rooms becoming doubles, doubles becoming triples, and the shared lounges to become quads.

So glad I lived off-campus (5-10 minute drive) every year after freshman year. Twice the space, better amenities, no fire alarms, nobody trashing the bathrooms, and all for half the cost.

moribvndvs• 3 years ago

When I was in college two decades ago, my room was marginally better than army barracks. And that was in one of the nicer buildings.

KerrAvon• 3 years ago

It's not clear to me (the article is paywalled and I'm not giving Rupert Murdoch a fucking cent) how widespread these luxury dorms are -- I wouldn't trust WSJ to report accurately on this sort of thing -- but this kind of experience doesn't sound very common based on the experiences of recent college kids I've talked to. Some of whom went to very expensive universities.

Whoppertime• 3 years ago

https://youtu.be/-lt8lzLhVJo

WirelessGigabit2• 3 years ago

Interesting, I often wondered the opposite.

Coming from Europe, I would never EVER share a room with someone not bound by blood / romance. And for a house only in exceptional cases (vacation with friends etc).

But living in the USA I sometimes hear that people have strangers living in their house, renting out a room, or sometimes, even roommates.

And then I wonder, is it more acceptable here because they got over it when going to college?

Sidenote: I wonder if the concept of roommates pushed up the prices of 1 bd apartments, as now you can have 2 people in there, who combined pay more than a single person.

chii• 3 years ago

I wonder if the concept of roommates pushed up the prices of 1 bd apartments

I reckon no, since you'd have to pay more than half of the original rent for the price to go up, but you at most get to have just half the room. A higher cost per square footage, which doesn't seem like a good deal, if you could have already afforded the full rent intially.

daemonologist• 3 years ago

My experience was that of the Arkansas student in this article. Freshman year we were required to live in the university dorms, and they were bad - two to a room, poor ergonomics (for example, the bathroom sinks were too small to fill a glass of water - I did dishes in the bathtub), the per-room HVAC had constant issues, and all that while being far more expensive than off-campus housing. A few years later I was paying less than half as much for a private room in an apartment two miles down the street with a kitchen, much nicer furnishings, in-unit laundry, included parking, and a pool.

All of that is to say: our dorms were expensive because the university had a de jure monopoly.

drewcoo• 3 years ago

Is this the 21st century equivalent of Reagan's "welfare queens?"

Get back to be when see a sudden rise in "non-traditional" older students who just want to experience such opulence.

Student life is so fun that everyone is in a hurry to leave and, despite many misty-eyed stories to the contrary, nobody wants to return to it.

Swimming Pools and Granite Countertops: How College Dorms Got So Expensive

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