<p>In my opinion, this is over the top and inappropriate. </p>
<p><a href="http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14836425/?GT1=8506%5B/url%5D">http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14836425/?GT1=8506</a></p>
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<p>Not your father's college dorm, or even yours
Posh dorms, amenities becoming the norm on college campuses
The Associated Press</p>
<p>Updated: 7:17 p.m. ET Sept 14, 2006
CHICAGO - Somewhere along the way, college life has gotten a whole lot more posh.</p>
<p>On a number of campuses, students are able to hire personal maids to clean and do their laundry. They pay moving crews to pack and transport their stuff plasma TVs and other high-end electronics included. And theyre living large in housing that looks like anything but a dorm.</p>
<p>You know its good when your parents walk in the room and say Can I live here? says Niki Pochopien, a 21-year-old senior who just moved into swanky new living quarters for students at DePaul University in Chicago.</p>
<p>Known as Loft-Right, the mod-looking structure has all the amenities: expansive city views, granite countertops in the kitchen and bathrooms, modern designer furniture and satellite TV hookups. The lobby lounge like something out of a hip hotel has a pool table and fireplace, and soon will have a Starbucks and tanning and hair salons next door.</p>
<p>Living at a place like this isnt cheap.</p>
<p>Students at Loft-Right each pay more than $1,000 a month for a private bedroom in a two- or four-bedroom unit, with bathrooms shared by no more than two people.</p>
<p>Grown-up vision
It dovetails with their vision of what it is to be a grown-up, says Robert Bronstein, a student housing consultant and president of the Scion Group, which manages the building and university-affiliated residences in other states.</p>
<p>Upscale housing and other perks also fit with some parents expectations, especially those whose children attend the priciest private schools.</p>
<p>It makes the $40,000 tuition worth it, says Brian Altomare, the 25-year-old president and founder of Madpackers, a Manhattan-based moving company for students.</p>
<p>This fall, his company added one-off limousine rides so student customers can arrive at school like a rock star. The company also plans to offer grocery delivery and cleaning and laundry services something other companies, such as Valet Today and DormAid, already do.</p>
<p>At East Coast schools, DormAid charges $60 for a two-hour room clean and about $40 to wash and fold three bags of laundry. Madpackers rates start at $289 for an in-state move, with extra charges for packing services and supplies and the limo trips.</p>
<p>A different world
Students who take advantage of the perks tend to shrug off comments from college alumni who scoff at the pampering they never had.</p>
<p>Going to school today and living as a young adult in this world is completely different than when they grew up. What could be looked at as spoiled for them, is not necessarily spoiled for us, says Josh Hoffman, a 19-year-old sophomore in New York Universitys jazz performance program. He took a Madpackers limousine to school this semester.</p>
<p>I just feel like we have so much, with technology and computers. We have everything at our hands, he says. Its just a matter of choosing.</p>
<p>Many students say housing amenities, in particular, play a big role when deciding which school to attend.</p>
<p>That worries some education watchdogs, who believe the focus on living the good life is driving up the already burdensome cost of college and causing some students to ask for more grants and rack up more debt than they normally would.</p>
<p>What's wrong with communal life?
Students and school employees are living in increasing luxury while taxpayers are getting soaked, says Neal McCluskey, a policy analyst for the Center for Educational Freedom at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank.</p>
<p>Still others think theres something to be said for basic communal living, especially for underclassmen.</p>
<p>The traditional college dormitory with two students to a room and a bathroom and common room down the hall is a pretty good way of getting students out of their rooms and away from their computers, says Tom Kepple, president of Juniata College, a liberal arts school in Huntingdon, Pa. In this environment, its pretty hard to avoid getting to know your fellow students and how to live in a community.</p>
<p>Some students agree. Its a crash course in conflict resolution, says Renita Young, a 20-year-old senior at DePaul who started off in a cramped dorm and only recently moved to Loft-Right. She feels shes earned the perk.</p>
<p>Next: Club Med for students
That said, many residents in her building are freshmen and sophomores which Bronstein, the developer, takes as a sign of increasing demand. Now hes ready to move on to his next project: a Club Med for students at Illinois State University that will have outdoor volleyball and hot tubs, as well as plasma TVs in every unit.</p>
<p>The cats out of the bag, he says. Nobodys going to build a new building with community bathrooms. It just wont happen.</p>
<p>Sarah English, director of housing and residential life at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., also believes universities have no choice but to upgrade housing. Her school recently added upscale townhouses for students.</p>
<p>But even she drew the line when she heard officials at some colleges were replacing standard-issue twin mattresses long a rite of passage in dorm life with full-sized beds.</p>
<p>Her thought on that: Are you kidding me?</p>