I’m from metro NYC originally … that area makes its own rules for real estate pricing and everything else. Almost like its own climate. The attitude is that anyone who doesn’t like it can fuhgeddaboutit and live in a lesser city & state!
“that area makes its own rules for real estate pricing and everything else.”
Yep. I’d happily live in NYC near my friends if I were in a position to quadruple my housing budget.
But all housing comfort and satisfaction is relative; it’s all about who your peer group is! I think I live in the best of all possible worlds – with so many friends and family in NYC, DC, and SF, I’m used to their housing prices and forced compromises, so I come back home to downtown Chicago and feel like I live in a palace at a great price. Of course, I’m sure people who move here from Oklahoma City are appalled that Chicagoans could pay such high prices for a little rabbit hutch.
And honestly, people in high cost areas (I live in one, though not as bad as SF or NYC) really hate it when people come from elsewhere and say “how can you afford to pay $X for Y?”. Obviously we live where we live for some reason, so please just drop the subject!
@donnaleighg, yes, it seems to be the same people who are equally incredulous at the salaries in the NYC area, the taxes here, and the housing costs, but don’t seem to realize that there’s a connection. Some 30+ years ago, my company moved me from DC (where I was doing okay, not great) to Mississippi, where I think I would have been elected governor if I had stayed more than six months.
My older son was a bit picky about dorms. He really wanted his own room in a suite. That way, if he were tired or needed to study, he could just close the door and not disturb anyone or be disturb. He got what he wanted as an undergrad and loved it. Today, he’s in law school, and most of his friends live with one or two people. He chose to live by himself in a tiny, but very nice apartment. Again, he likes it. The only person he has to worry about picking up after is him. My younger son, who never said anything about housing, surprised me when he said he wanted to be in a suite-style dorm with his own bedroom. He got what he wanted, but his dorm was much older and not nearly as nice as what his brother had as an undergrad.
There is nothing wrong with being picky about housing. My kids are not spoiled. They know what they liked and what they do not like. They enjoy their alone time.
I have often thought that the idea of a suite where everyone has their own room is the perfect dorm situation b/c you have the option of interaction or privacy.
Same here, @toowonderful . However I am appreciating the points others have made about the communal living experience as a freshman, particularly for our D who has a touch of social anxiety and doesn’t easily reach out to others on her own.
Your daughter will be more resilient than she thinks! My daughter was also a bit of a princess before heading off to college. She ended up in the ugliest, oldest dorm on campus–peeling paint, warped carpet, very far from all her classes, and a big, gross communal bathroom. I thought it looked like a barracks. She loved it, and signed up to live in the same dorm her sophomore year. What made her experience so good was the friends she made there. And the distance from her classes meant keeping in shape through the long, horrible winter. She just left for a year abroad, but has said that when she returns for her senior year, she wants to live in the same stinky dorm. (And yes, it did smell kind of musty–there was a steaming pit with a fence around it outside the dorm all year because of some drainage issues. Lots of parents freaked, but nobody transferred to a different res hall.)
BTW I finally stumbled upon Niche.com. Great resource.
I was quite surprised when my son picked the dorm with quads.
Good food is much more important than a snazzy dorm.