@doschicos Trinity U in San Antonio -It’s not like maid service. They vacuum the floors and clean the bathrooms bi-weekly. The students must pick up anything on the floor or they do not vacuum. I have visions of clothes, books etc … piled on DD’s bed every other week. The reason the Tour Guide gave for cleaning the bathrooms and rooms is that they find it helps maintain the dorms and they have to replace items less often.
I lived in a dorm room that was cleaned once a week. They did not pick up clothing (other than to toss it off the floor onto a chair) but vacuumed the floor, would take out trash the was obviously trash (pizza box in a trash can). That wasn’t much of a problem as there was a trash shoot on every hall. We were a clean and tidy group.
We could also trade our sheets for new clean ones every Monday night (if you used the provided sheets; many used their own fitted sheets and had to wash them ourselves).
They cleaned the hallways almost every day (vacuumed, washed off the doors and handles) and cleaned the bathrooms every day. It was all incredibly clean. If we had a party in that clean hallway, we had to sign up for it, sign out the plastic floor coverings, tape them up around the walls. Kegs were usually place in the stairways or bathrooms for easy clean up. All trash picked up by noon the next day.
Cleaning services for inside their dorm rooms? Oh my gosh what has happened in our world?! Common spaces? Yes, have someone clean those. Someone cleaning my kid’s dorm room or private bathroom? No no no! It’s what makes them learn to pick up their rooms and clean the bathroom without my annoying noodging.
If they had a cleaning service where I did my undergrad, there’d be a risk of finding drug paraphernalia, mostly bongs.
^In the late eighties/early nineties, when I went to college, if I am remembering correctly, the custodian would come in regularly to dump my garbage can, and he cleaned the bathrooms and common areas. He was really nice, too; I remember he walked in one day with a mini-fridge for my room, saying, “I noticed you didn’t have a refrigerator. This was my son’s.”
There was also a sheet service. If you were willing to use the college’s linens, they would pick up your old ones and drop off new ones. I think it was weekly, but it might have been biweekly. My freshman roommate used this service. I think there might have been a charge, but I don’t recall.
@Muad_dib Maybe there is an ulterior motive to cleaning dorm rooms 
@sahmkc We toured Trinity recently and were told that they are renegotiating their food service contract. I think they have Aramark and they want to change, so the food quality will hopefully improve. We also really like their beautiful new science building.
@stardustmom That’s excellent news! My DH & I will be moving from the Midwest to Houston after DD graduates, so that is why I’m pushing Trinity so hard. I think three hours away by car is perfect for DD. DS wants to go to DC, so I won’t be seeing him too often. I think he will be fine, but I worry that DD won’t fare as well if she chooses to go somewhere a plane ride away.
Room cleaning is not such a new thing. In the mid-80s, we had 1/week (or every 2 weeks–don’t recall) cleaning of our dorm bathroom plus vacuuming and wastebasket emptying. And that was at Texas A&M, not some fancy school.
At DS’s college, they say they clean dorm rooms once per quarter, which sounds more like an excuse to check for issues.
When we toured Trinity San Antonio a few years ago, they made a really, really big deal of the fact that they have a huge endowment, so they can add on the little touches like serious cleaning in the dorms.
(Weren’t all that impressed by the dorms themselves, but part of that may have just been general irritation at having to walk to them on what was an unreasonably—for San Antonio—humid day.)
@gatormomma I had a student just graduate WVU and never heard of dorm cleaning
Maybe I misspoke. It’s not the whole dorm room, just the bathrooms:
From the WVU housing page:
How many people share my bathroom?
There are different bathroom arrangements depending on which hall that you live in.
Community Style Bathrooms- This is a large bathroom on the floor that multiple students share. These bathrooms are cleaned and maintained daily by custodial staff.
Suite Style Bathrooms- One bathroom is connected to two or more bedrooms. Typically four residents share this space. Residents are expected to maintain the cleanliness of their bathroom, but custodian staff will clean and check them once every three weeks. The university does provide toilet paper to students.
Last year, my niece had to make an excruciating decision between Purdue and Trinity. She had excellent merit scholarships at both schools. Trinity won over, and she seems happy there now. She once told me she liked that the kids at Trinity were motivated.
My son attends DePauw and loves it. We live a college town with a huge, top-tier university so he welcomed a change. DePauw has incredible opportunities. I am not sure why the rep was pushing the arts, but it is a small part of the school’s life. The town is small, but that means less trouble to get into I say.
My kid at Nebraska lived in a dorm with suites…each suite had two 2-person bedrooms. There was one bathroom. For no extra fee, the bathroom was cleaned every 2 weeks. Each suite was also supplied with a decent vacuum cleaner.
I wish I could get housekeeping service for my DS17! He can be a mess & I worry about 4 legged pests.
Crossed off Vandy, Georgetown, U Penn and Wake. Schools she added, Cornell and Harvard.
If you don’t mind explaining, why? I have a few of those schools on my list! @mayblvymama
@boydikoy - Trinity College (CT) or Trinity U (TX)?
St Olaf-down on list-This was kind of baffling. I loved this school. Exceptional campus, polite and helpful students literally everywhere, class visit-students and professor sought her out afterwards and included her in discussion, excellent music facilities. Not sure why this wasn’t a fit. D is still going to apply and thinks an overnight visit might be helpful. I think rural location and lack of diversity were factors. Frankly I would have loved to go to this school. I’m somewhat hopeful because it stayed on the list. Cute little downtown nearby.
Carleton-off list. No merit opportunities but otherwise it just wasn’t a fit. Maybe too sporty, preppy? Not sure. Nice campus, great academics. Same town at St Olaf.
Macalester-Up-Liked the campus location, great info session and tour (dorms though were really ugly and a bit rundown), liked International focus and diversity. The surrounding neighborhood is lovely and great shops and restaurants a quick walk from campus. Good transportation to both St Paul and Minneapolis downtown areas. This was a surprise as it was added in at last minute.
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