<p>"-increase in tuition once you gain junior standing for engineering</p>
<p>That is a con indeed. Michigan should not distinguish and charge the same tuition for all students."</p>
<p>Although I am the parent of an OOS junior in the COE, and don’t particularly like paying $43,974 vs $41,870 (non engineering students) tuition and fees, I can understand the need (increased laboratory costs/instumentation, etc). Some majors are less costly to administer.</p>
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<p>Most people DON’T WANT to live in dorms after Freshman year. Off campus apartments are FAR cheaper than dorms. The con really should be that dorms suck and are ridiculously overpriced. </p>
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<p>Not as smart as you would think from the outside.</p>
<p>Vladenschlutte, you should check out the dorms at many universities. Michigan’s dorms far from “suck” when you compare them to other dorms. I would say they are above average. And they are not overpriced either. Most Michigan peers charge more for room and board.</p>
<p>Also student bodies at most universities are seldom as smart as they seem on paper.</p>
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<p>Why would I compare Michigan’s dorms to other schools’ dorms? No one going to Michigan will ever be picking between Michigan’s dorms and another school’s dorms. The choice to be made is whether to live in a dorm or live in an apartment near the campus. On that comparison, dorms fail miserably for housing.</p>
<p>My observation was made in the context of this thread. In the context of university dorms, Michigan is actually above average. Obviously, one can find better living options off campus, but I was addressing the pros and cons of the university, I assume relative to other universities, not to what Ann Arbor has to offer.</p>
<p>The dorms at UMich are not a con. Though they might be bad, Alexandre is correct in saying that they are a pro relative to most other universities. Pros and cons of a university should be determined relative to others.</p>
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<p>Okay, fair enough. Although, quality of dorms becomes kind of a non-issue if you don’t live in them.</p>
<p>I agree. And one of the reasons why so many students at Michigan choose not to live on campus after their Freshman year is because there are so many apartment buildings and houses within a 10 minute walk from campus that are entirely populated by fellow students that they feel like dorms.</p>
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<p>Well, no. They don’t feel like dorms. They feel like student houses and apartments in largely student-dominated neighborhoods, where you are free to make you own meals according to your own preferences, at your own times, with or without the cooperation of your roommates (as you prefer). And you also have your own space, not just private sleeping quarters, but communal space you share with some of your closest friends–generally more and better space than you get in a university residence hall, and usually at a lower cost.</p>
<p>As I said before, I think this is one of the best things about the University of Michigan, and about Ann Arbor. It means there are lively, student-dominated neighborhoods surrounding the campus in all directions. It means local politicians can’t define the university or its students as the enemy, as happens in so many college towns, because students end up being a critical, and sometimes decisive, voting bloc. It means students become a critically important market for local businesses, which in turn cater to student tastes and preferences. And as a result of all this, the university and the town live in close symbiosis, which is often not the case with college towns.</p>
<p>I truly believe that if the university tried to house all its students in residence halls, it would be pretty much a disaster all around. Upperclassmen would end up with less space and fewer options with respect to housing and roommate configurations, meals, and socializing–and most would end up paying more to get less. The university and its students would be more cut off from surrounding neighborhoods, and from the city of Ann Arbor in general. Neighboring residents would feel more cut off from the university, less sympathetic toward its needs, and more resentful of its demands.</p>
<p>Not good. One of the major reasons Michigan and Ann Arbor work as well as they do is the symbiotic relationship between university students and local businesses and property owners. Force the students into on-campus housing, and most of that is lost.</p>