<p>Bear in mind that housings first priority is to keep the available housing occupied. If they can do that and please parents and students well and fine. Pleasing parents and students is sometimes difficult. A lot of students want out of the dorms as soon as they can and a lot of parents would prefer they stay on campus.</p>
<p>Pre-Katrina there was a lot of cheap off-campus housing so the dorms were definitely not a financial bargain. Since Katrina off campus housing has gotten a lot more expensive which makes the dorms look better, especially the suites with kitchens but there are not a lot of them.</p>
<p>The Tulane footprint is pretty tight so there is not a lot of room to expand on campus housing without tearing existing housing down and the neighborhoods around Tulane are notoriously full of NIMBY's. They will fight absolutely anything. There were plans to put graduate housing at Uptown Square but that entire project is on hold probably never to be ressurected.</p>
<p>The immediate aftermath of Katrina offered a once in a lifetime opportunity to gobble up some nearby properties but we didn't do it.</p>