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<p>If that doesn’t inspire you to go out and make those A’s in class so you can live like that once again at some point after college, I don’t know what does lol.</p>
<p>ViolaDad - I think you’re right – the old name was North Campus Residence Halls. But if you go back today (to see a ball game or get a cone at the Dairy Bar) the plaque in front of the building identifies it as “The Jungle.” There has been some renovation apparently, as I had to try three doors before I found one with a busted lock. Rooms still look the same!</p>
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<p>What, <em>renting</em> is spoiled now? Guess I’m just an irresponsible spoiled brat then.</p>
<p>Here is a new one for me. This coming year Pitzer is going to allow M/F to share a room in their newest dorms. Two rooms share one bathroom. The parents do have the right to opt their kids out. </p>
<p>So you child could be put randomly with someone of the opposite sex in the same room.</p>
<p>By the sound of things if you/your roommate has a BF or GF this might be happening anyway …?</p>
<p>My daughter thought it was an awful idea.</p>
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<p>Only if they want to. From the Pitzer website:</p>
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<p>So it’s not exactly random.</p>
<p>jessiehl: I don’t think you got his point. In order to be able to afford to move out on his own on a starting salary, he had to be willing to make do with a fixer upper tiny house so he could afford the down payment and the mortgage. But his friends, who are not willing to live in something smaller, or without granite countertops, won’t live frugally for awhile. They would rather pay more in rent, or even live with their parents than not have a finished basement, a large screen tv, and new furniture.</p>
<p>I never said paying rent is being spoiled. But he can’t understand why someone who can barely afford to be living on his own would have to have all the luxuries that their parents have at this stage of their lives. And I can’t understand why college kids demand luxuries that their parents have to pay for.</p>
<p>The worst of it is when the students don’t have a choice about: forced to pay fees for activities they don’t care about, for meals they won’t eat, for rooms with far more amenities than they would want… Not all colleges allow choice. That’s when it becomes easy to feel victimized by a “Keep up with the Jones” move toward luxury and flash in which a lot of colleges have engaged recently.</p>
<p>S2 will be moving into his dorm at a state u. in a few weeks. It was built in 1962 and remains largely the same with the exception of air conditioning added in recent years. He is so happy for the AC since H and I have regaled him with stories of our unA/Ced dorms during hot humid southern Aug/Sept. months. A family at our church has a kid at High Point. Hope S2 doesn’t talk to him about dorm life!</p>
<p>PackMom, Do you know anything about High Point besides their marketing these student frills. In your opinion, how are the academics?</p>
<p>Garland ..</p>
<p>THX for the quote. I understand but it is a new direction and interesting one at that. They say it is ideal for … etc. So if you opt in or in other words, self select, there still is a randomness to who you might be rooming with.</p>
<p>I doubt they give you a check list of the options mentioned. </p>
<p>I think it will be fascinating to find out how it all works out by the end of the year from the folks who participated. I have a feeling the end result will surprise us all. Everyone has pre-conceived notions going in … I can’t wait to know the reality. It feels like a great topic for a thesis.</p>
<p>You can always opt out</p>
<p>WOOPS … to<strong>whom</strong></p>
<p>3bm103: Okay, that’s fair. I guess I’m largely unfamiliar with very luxurious apartments - I’m aware of their existence, but I don’t think I know anybody who rents one, so I don’t associate “renting” with “wanting to live in luxury”.</p>
<p>Perhaps part of the problem is not college dorm accommodations, but the fact that the kids were raised in their parents’ households, which were often a lot more luxurious than a college grad’s first home, and got used to the idea that that was the normal standard of living.</p>
<p>Grace: Yep. A lot of students, in my experience, would rather have more control over their lives and less supposed luxury forced on them.</p>
<p>MQD–it’s actually not a unique situation. Wesleyan and other colleges have been doing this for the past few years. I haven’t heard of any particular fallout.</p>
<p>From looking at the High Point website, it appears that they have managed to rake in a tremendous amount of contributions. Perhaps they are trying to cultivate the kind of students that will continue that.</p>
<p>My S read the article the OP references, and he asked, “Where do I sign up?” Looks like an effective marketing tool!</p>
<p>Aside from the extremes at some places I have noticed changes in the dorms of my alma mater. We used to get one clean sheet (you moved the top sheet to the bottom…) and pilowcase each week and were provided with a bedspread. Now everyone provides and cleans all of their bedding. This is the first year they will no longer provide landline phones with local service (too many cell phones, saves money and no more need I guess). They now pay for the a la carte open dining hall/snack bar food with the money on their student ID’s-no minimums, we had to buy one of 3 different numbers of cardboard $10 tickets- there was always a market for selling/buying them among students near the end of each semester. Now parents can add money to the account as needed, and leftover money is refunded (to the general ID account). Students can get pizza and sub delivery to their dorm ($1.50 delivery charge per order) instead of trudging to the snack bar at night. They pulled apart the '60’s built in furniture (anyone remember those slide out/bolster beds?) and provide loftable beds. The bathrooms now have private shower stalls with nice shower heads and a private dressing space, but they removed any bathtubs (there was always one on the floor- but even if cleaned once a week, who wanted to be the second one to use it?). The washers are now front loaders, cost $, but the dryers are still free. Every double room is wired with 2 cable and 2 internet access outlets (free cable and highspeed, of course) and each room has a refrigerator. There are also some new dorms with better amenities (at a cost). </p>
<p>This is all a big change from my generation, the basic standards for public U’s have changed a lot without the extreme luxury some places offer. More fuel for the “in my day…” monolog.</p>
<p>Garland … aha …I am behind the times. Great to hear that it is working out. I didn’t mean “fall out” as much as unexpected twists. Human nature is so complex that we often defy expectations … such as the ones I had in my head when I first heard of the practice! </p>
<p>Of course I was thinking about “straight” kids … for lack of another term … because of my inexperience with kids that follow other sexual orientation/preference paths. I guess my first reaction was thinking about me in the situation vs for whom the policy was put in place for … a form of provincialism I giess.</p>
<p>MQD–it’s a different world out there in many ways, for sure. My D actually did attend Wes, just slightly overlapping with the introduction of this residential option. From what I gather from her (and by all accounts), it tends to be the kind of school that attracts students who fall outside the defined “norm,” and for some people she knew, that option was a godsend.</p>
<p>Garland …
I hear great things about Wes … I think a good place for my D though a reach for her. It seems to be one of the “hot” schools at this time … though I am sure it has great for many years.</p>
<p>Is she happy about her time at Wes?</p>
<p>My D is blissfully happy about Wes. She graduated four years ago. In two weeks, she is getting together (at my house down the shore)with her lifelong friends from there, for “girls weekend”. She transfered there, and it was like finding Nirvana for her.</p>
<p>My S applied desultorily but then went to an extremely high ranked ED school which he subsequently dropped out of (senior year). My H and I were just today talking about how we wish he’d gone to Wes, instead, and that he probably, definitely, would have graduated this spring (and got to have Obama as his grad speaker in the process.) Oh well–can’t change history.</p>
<p>I have nothing but the best impressions of Wes, and absolutely recommend it.</p>