I believe Duke had a more tiered pricing approach in the 90s/00s and then realized many students of color were clustered in the low-end housing – NOT a good look and they changed direction. My D has two friends who are first-years there now – one got this brand new amazing dorm (with a movie theater room and a water feature in the lobby – ugh!!) and the other one is in a dorm that has window units for A/C and is the worst on campus, but I’m pretty sure there’s no price difference. I see no problem with that – luck of the draw and life’s not always fair. It’s nine months and college is much more than where you live.
At my D’s LAC where almost everyone lives on campus there are some slightly more expensive apartments that mostly seniors live in. Otherwise it’s all the same even though some dorms are better than others, though I’d say overall the disparity is not that great. My D’s dorm is ‘historic’ (read: old!) but the rooms are bigger than in the newer dorms, and it’s got a great location, for example.