<p>All good points. Bottom line is it is my daughter's education, my daughter's adventure in life, my daughter's choice. </p>
<p>I will (anonymously) call the school and express my concerns - then hear what they have to say, and then just pay the bills when they come in :-)</p>
<p>One final note, no school is a complete commitment, if the school does not work out for some reason (I'm quite sure the reason would not be due to rooms needing new paint or carpet - but something far more important) , the student can transfer.</p>
<p>I would be worried that the lack of basic maintenance is just a symptom of a larger problem that will show up in other areas. Maybe the purchaser of the cleaning services is not aware of the lack of service from the cleaning company.</p>
<p>I would be put off by shabby maintenance as well. When looking at colleges for my son, we visited a small school in Maryland and could not get past the lack of maintenance--it left a very bad impression. I would let the school know, although I don't think you are telling them something they don't already know. I would have a hard time spending $40,000 to send my child to a college that wasn't well-maintained. I would wonder about the bathrooms in the dorms, the food in the dining hall, etc.</p>
<p>A lot of expensive schools aren't well maintained. You should hear the complaints at Yale! (school newspapers are notorious for this)I must say on most of our visits, the buildings we visited off the tour all had some cosmetic problems. My son didn't mention dirt,etc.on his trip to Drew, but again, he's a boy and the decor wasn't a big deal. I would ask about carpet or paint with the maintaince dept. if you had concerns or even a student who's been there a while about how long they take to repair things. The ones my son met didn't think anything beyond normal things needed replacement. They said the students, especiallyfreshman can be hard on the dorms. I will have to look closer when we visit again. I remember my son saying they were always fixing something, especially outside. We are more concerned about what the school offers (and we also thought it was a good school) but safety would be a concern if certain things weren't up to snuff. I remember a girl saying what a gorgeous dorm she had at Salve Regina in R. Island, a mansion with water views, etc. The school maintains it very well but the quality of her education was lacking and she transfered after a year. She realized she let the aesthetics blind her to the areas lacking elsewhere.
PS. Thanks Carolyn for the link, seems like they are doing quite a bit short and long term.</p>
<p>Curious, I don't know if there is a "right" time to bring this up. Undoubtedly, the administration is aware of this issue and has set priorities that don't emphasize interior updating.</p>
<p>Your daughter probably won't notice this as a major problem if she attends the school. I've seen kids live in grim, stark dorms and have a great community, while kids in posher dorms didn't. Her satisfaction will be influenced far more by her fellow students, classes, activities, etc.</p>
<p>If your daughter decides to attend another school, she might include a note if there's any kind of "what did you like or dislike" survey.</p>
<p>If your daughter attends the school, I'd keep a low profile on the issue unless surveyed - since you observed the conditions prior to enrollment, IMO it wouldn't do to turn into a squeaky wheel on the topic.</p>
<p>Personally, I'm comfortable with shabbiness if safety and security aren't compromised. There's something about the patina of wear in a long-established institution that gives it character.</p>
<p>It's great if the school has the financial ability to keep everything freshly painted, but I'd prefer they sink their funds into profs, advisors, labs, etc.</p>
<p>You know, I just stumbled upon a Drew website for current students and had read some of their posts about maintenance. They'd talked about varjious problems in the dorms that were actually quickly addressed! That makes me feel better - since DD is very certain about wanting to go there!</p>
<p>Chocolate, was the "small school in Maryland" Washington College by any chance? That was the worst of the worst in our 20 college visits. The dorms even gave my daughter the willies.</p>