<p>Inflation!</p>
<p>And Clark Kerr topped $15k the last time I visited.</p>
<p>i don't understand how any of you guys can rationalize the ridiculous housing prices. all the other UCs (which are also in CA) offer much better rates for housing, and most of them are actually much nicer than the ones offered here, with doubles and singles that are cheaper than a damn triple here. </p>
<p>i lived at one of the dorms at uci my freshman year, which was much nicer and spacious, and i believe i paid $7500 for the whole year in a double with 19meals a week (which was comparable to crossroads at worst, and usually much better). irvine is also an expensive place to live, so housing costs cannot be the predominant factor that's causing the astronomical pricing hike of UCB dorms. </p>
<p>it just disgusts me how overpriced the dorms are, when they don't even provide its worth in services. sorry to break this to you guys, but those of you who are dorming are getting f<em>*ed in the a</em> (sorry for the crude phrasing, but there's no better way of saying it =p)</p>
<p>Welcome to the Bay Area!</p>
<p>ccmadforever, you just tried to compare Irvine and Berkeley. Do you have any idea how different those cities are? Irvine is massively suburban, meaning land is cheap, cheap, cheap. Compare that to Berkeley, which is densely urban. You simply cannot compare the two fairly in terms of prices without correcting for such factors.</p>
<p>The land cost component is irrelevant regarding this topic at many of the UCs because in many cases the land was given to the University at no cost.</p>
<p>here's data for SF state. i'm sure you'll agree that that area is densely urban, if not more, than berkeley:</p>
<p>
[quote]
Residence Halls
Room and Board Costs for the Fall 2006-Spring 2007 Academic Year </p>
<p>Due on the 1st of Each Month = Total
19 Meal Plan $9,244 $1,300 $998 $9,284
15 Meal Plan $9,140 $1,300 $985 $9,180
10 Meal Plan $8,916 $1,300 $957 $8,956 </p>
<p>Residence Halls
Room and Board Costs for the Fall 2005-Spring 2006 Academic Year </p>
<p>Payment in Full
Due Dates 19 meals/wk 15 meals/wk 10 meals/wk
Due with License Agreement New Resident $ 8,830 $ 8,730 $ 8,510
Returning Resident $ 8,730 $ 8,630 $ 8,410
[/quote]
</p>
<p>how is it that berkeley can charge more than $4000 compared to sfsu's prices for a doubles room?</p>
<p>how about ucla? it's still in the top10 list of expensive housing, but they're a significant distance away from ucb in terms of pricing:</p>
<p>
[quote]
2006-2007 On-Campus Housing Rates
Residence Halls
One room, three occupants $8,899
$9,069
$9,369
$9,189
$9,544</p>
<p>One room, two occupants $10,179
$10,349
$10,649
$10,469
$10,824
[/quote]
</p>
<p>there is around a $2000 gap for a doubles room between ucla and ucb.</p>
<p>i say again that land prices have nothing to do with the rates ucb is charging its students. both SF and LA are expensive places to live in, as they are dense metropolitan areas that are devoid of open land.</p>
<p>Two Words:</p>
<p>Rent Control.</p>
<p>In addition, there is probably increased transactional costs and a bias towards the status quo due to UCB's often adversarial relationship with the city of Berkeley's government.</p>
<p>I see a lot of people here who don’t really have their facts together. For example, yes, Irvine is very suburban, but it’s also an affluent town with expensive housing out in the community.</p>
<p>Truth is, the best way to look at dorm prices is relative value, and here Cal has no excuses I can think of for its dorm prices. It’s easy to get a nice single room in a shared apartment in Berkeley within easy walking distance of campus for $700 a month. Add whatever fees you want…say $50 is normal for utilities etc…and usually people have to get a year-round lease. So we’re talking about $$8,500 a year. Now figure that a generous food allowance is $300 a month for the 10 months in school. So the total comes to $11,500.</p>
<p>In other words, Berkeley dorms are a terrible deal. Having paid for them for two years now, I feel completely ripped off and would never do it again. Should my youngest also go to Cal, she’ll start in other housing right away.</p>
<p>The dorm rooms are tiny. They’re unattractive. And of course, unless you want to pay even more than the prices listed below, they’re shared. The food is terrible, and the basic room and board price covers more like 14 meals a week than 21. So you still have some significant food costs beyond the basic price.</p>
<p>In the fall, my son is out of his little cell in Unit 2 and taking a room in a house that will be shared among several friends. He’ll pay $685 a month, utilities and wifi included. His single room is the size of the room he shared this year. He’ll be two blocks from campus. He’s no cook, but he’ll stock up on healthy frozen and canned foods from Trader Joe on University Ave., buy fruits and, I hope, some veggies. And we’ll save something like $4,000 from the price of the dorm. Plus he/we can use the room over the summer.</p>
<p>
Well, if you take out Christmas Break, I believe the dorms are good for 9 months… which makes it more like $1,450 per month.</p>
<p>P.S. They can charge whatever they fee like. Rich kids pay anyway, and kids on significant Financial Aid have the cost accounted for in the Package.</p>
<p>are the dorms worth it? Like I visited NYU and their dorms are expensive, but at least they are spacious and have their own bathrooms</p>
<p>^ will you just go to NYU already.</p>