<p>I think the massage therapist who comes in to help out the ‘stressed out’ students at Wellesley during exam week is ludicrous. How dare you call me and beg me for money and then waste it in this way? I wouldn’t pay for a massage myself so why should I pay for one for a student? Ridiculous!</p>
<p>In regard to everlasting debate: “…the education at the Ivies and other select schools is so superior to the other options that students are significantly hurt by not attending them” - this is not a general question, it involves many aspects and cannot be askwered as straight forward as this statement indicate. Here are few points (which by no means are all inclusinve, there are many other aspects that have to be considered)
- Does family have unlimited resources?<br>
- UG has to match student personality and wide range of interests (current and potential).<br>
- Planned major / career. There as several fields in which attending Ivy’s / Elites will NOT make any difference and may actually hurt if family does not have unlimited resources. I am persolly familiar with CS, engineering, pre-med. In the first 2 cases, most IT departments and engineering firms hire locally, so going to any place will be just fine. In case of pre-med, Medical Schools DO NOT CARE about UG name, they want to see high college GPA (3.6+), decent MCAT score, medical ECs, mature social personality. In pre-med case, going to top school will hurt if family does not have unlimited finances, it will result in high debt. It is a much better idea to attend UG on full tuition Merit and pay for Med. School instead and have a debt free MD (only about 25% of Medical Schools’ graduates).<br>
- OK, if family has no problem paying whatever and student feels at home at some Ivy’s / Elite, wants to go there because he/she loves school, not because it is highly ranked and family will continue paying for Grad. School, why not go to this Ivy / Elite?
There is no general type of decision making in regard to which college to attend, it is a very personal question and one should not consider anybody’s commnets (including mine here), but strictly their own opinion.</p>
<p>@Pizzagirl I consider that a luxury perk (perhaps not lavish) because that’s something that a lot of colleges don’t do. Going out of your way to a local shelter is different than having your school give time and money to having an area to go play with animals and relax.</p>
<p>“I think the massage therapist who comes in to help out the ‘stressed out’ students at Wellesley during exam week is ludicrous. How dare you call me and beg me for money and then waste it in this way? I wouldn’t pay for a massage myself so why should I pay for one for a student? Ridiculous!”</p>
<p>Whoa, I have a D at Wellesley and didn’t know this!! LOL.<br>
But do you think this is REALLY the kind of fancy $100 hour long massage one of us might pay for on our end, or do you think it’s a 5 min neck rub in the library by one or two massage therapists, which is likely dirt cheap since it’s just the cost of these people? Come on now - let’s not pretend they are getting an Aveda Salon treatment here. </p>
<p>“Going out of your way to a local shelter is different than having your school give time and money to having an area to go play with animals and relax.”</p>
<p>These aren’t the things that are resulting in tuition going through the roof, though. These are pennies, relatively speaking. </p>
<p>I wonder what liability insurance (in general) costs colleges. My guess would be that is one area where costs have soared, but it doesn’t result in any “pretty amenities.”</p>
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<p>It’s also demographics, as the high school graduating classes are not growing so rapidly; indeed, in some areas, they are declining. Every May 1st I’m amazed at the number of (what I consider excellent) colleges that still have spots for Frosh enrollment. (Essentially, such colleges are starting to look like open enrollment deals.) To fill their beds, the college has to offer larger and larger tuition discounts (which is why sticker really doesn’t matter).</p>
<p>btw: if anyone has any idea why my different pov keeps getting deleted, pls shoot me a pm.</p>
<p>There’s a bifurcation due to the HS population in the Northeast and Midwest flatlining or declining and a huge increase in international apps (increase mostly due to China). So those schools that have a good reputation overseas (mostly research universities and top LACs) are getting an insane number of applicants now while LACs that appeal mostly to a certain demographic or region who aren’t reproducing much are struggling to fill slots.
That leads to not only insanely low admit rates at all the Ivies & equivalents, but also the well-esteemed state schools. So now, CS in Engineering at UIUC has a single admit rate while Sarah Lawrence is close to taking any warm body who’s able to pay.</p>
<p>Quite a change from 30 years ago.</p>
<p>Reed finished a new Performing Arts build last year, but they really needed it, as it wasnt as nice as one of the performing halls at a few of our inner city high schools.</p>
<p>Although I was surprised that a big remodel project in an innercity pool included a feature I had never heard of, the lazy river. I still don’t understand the purpose, but I haven’t seen it in person.
<a href=“Field Trip: South Seattle's Warm and Wonderful New Indoor Pool | ParentMap”>http://www.parentmap.com/article/field-trip-south-seattles-awesome-new-indoor-pool</a></p>
<p>My daughters directional U offers puppies to destress.
<a href=“http://www.linfield.edu/linfield-review/2012/12/animal-therapy-should-be-used-during-finals/”>http://www.linfield.edu/linfield-review/2012/12/animal-therapy-should-be-used-during-finals/</a>
I applaud strategies like massage therapy & puppies. :o3
I think they are valuable tools to help students take care of themselves, which most everyone can improve upon.
Better than getting s*± faced to relax.</p>
<p>Neither of my Ds schools have a football team, something that might be unimaginable to another family.
With some research, you can find the right combination of offering that work for your family.</p>
<p>I have to say that I am impressed by the excellent facilities, all the conveniences coming with them and the grand view of my kid’s residential college even though it’s not the first time I visited (I was there again yesterday). I am genuinely happy for my kid. Compared with my college years, it was like day and night. Of course, I know my kid is not enjoying all of the nice things thoroughly as they spend most of the time staying in the dorm room or library studying. So do things like these justify the high cost which we can afford but certainly feel uncomfortable doing? Well, I think it depends on who you ask on what specifics. Students have different focuses and families care about different things. If you ask me, I’d say that despite all the nice things I’d like to see some improvement in the food choices in the dinning hall(S). The biggest complaint I have heard of is the lack of healthy choices, and you know what the school administration has just decided to further “cut back” on (or “improve the operational efficiency of”) of dinning halls. What can I say? It’s easier to be said than done when it comes to cutting cost. The school is working with a diversified customer base.</p>
<p>The lazy river was at Miami U (Oxford, Ohio). There was also a climbing wall.</p>
<p>Miami OH is on the kid’s list (for merit). I had no idea it has a lazy river. Wow.</p>
<p>The entire campus is impressive…the athletic facilities are pretty awesome. The brand new student union wasn’t open when we toured last fall, it was still under construction. Not for nothing is Miami our most expensive state school, though the merit it offers to high stats students does bring it down for a lot of families.</p>
<p>Photos of the Disneyfied amenities:
<a href=“9 Awesome College Perks That Put Most Schools to Shame”>9 Awesome College Perks That Put Most Schools to Shame;
<p>My kid attends our state flagship school. Sticker price for in-state is $25-30k, which is definitely on the high side for an in-state school. </p>
<p>His dorm room is nothing special, although the price includes 85 cable TV channels that are piped in. I plan to visit often so I can watch HBO and the other 40 channels I don’t have at home. He eats in a brand new $85 million dining hall that has 9 separate restaurants – Italian with wood fired pizza, sushi, Asian, middle Eastern, Latin, kosher, etc. The school just finished a $64 million expansion to the student rec center – swanky workout facilities and an outdoor “leisure” pool in the shape of the school mascot which is heated by the excess heat coming from the year round indoor ice skating rink (fyi, the school does not have a hockey team – the rink is just for student use). And, yes, a 40 foot high climbing wall. Currently working on a $140 million expansion of the football stadium and the football practice facilities. Strangely, you still have to feed quarters into the laundry machines. My other kid’s school has “free” laundry where the machines send you a text message to let you know the cycle is done. Basically, it is a 3.5 to 4 star resort, but as compared to real life the guests are better looking and don’t pay for themselves. </p>
<p>I’m actually surprised they don’t have to charge even more. Presumably they do these things so that they can lure in the 45% of the enrollment that is out-of-state and who pay an even higher price than I do.</p>
<p>@GMTplus7 I find it interesting how most of the schools on that list have fairly decent tuitions. </p>
<p>And Berea covers tuition costs for all its enrolled students! Now how is that for an awesome perk! </p>
<p>The author, of course, prefaces the article with the whole college is getting more expensive meme, and then includes Berea and its free laptops on the list. How dumb! </p>
<p>Davidson no longer provides free full-service laundry, though that was not the case at the time of the writing of the article. It is now providing free self service laundry, though.</p>
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<p>How did a climbing wall become a symbol of extravagence? If the school has any kind of gym for student use, then a climbing wall is probably one of the cheaper parts of it. Treadmills are probably among the more expensive types of gym equipment, due to their ongoing costs (electricity and maintenance), and the amount of floor space they consume.</p>
<p>I don’t think they are, I was just responding to a post: “climbing walls and other gee-gaws”.</p>
<p>Now that you mention it though, climbing walls I’ve seen usually require a person or two to run them (holding harness,spotting, whatever). That could add up I suppose.</p>
<p>@OHMomof2 I imagine that it would be certified students working there. I can’t imagine it being an outside company. But it’s unlikely tuition is going towards that cost. </p>
<p>Depends on how big they are. My Ds school (k-12) had them, ( the parent group raised the money) my impression was they free climb, the climbing walls or they take turns, you don’t need to be certified, it is pretty simple to belay another student.
My D is going climbing tomorrow as a matter of fact, which alarmed me, since I didn’t think she had a helmet with her, ( she is here for a few days! ) but she is probably going to a gym which stocks that equipment.
Climbing is very therapeutic for people with sensory issues including those with Aspergers & ADD.
It builds their concentration and & the cross body movement helps the neuro system.</p>