<p>I had one all four years (actually my roommate had one the first year, and it was so nice that I brought my own for the next three). It's definitely not a necessity and probably not the norm, but it's REALLY nice to have.</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Yes, each floor has its own, but these are regularly missing or broken (inevitably, just when you need them). They can also be far away, and since they're very large and heavy, it can be a pain to lug them into your room (and a pain to actually use them). In general, they're there if you need them, and they work well when they're working, but the situation isn't totally ideal. All of my neighbors preferred to use my (or my roommate's vacuum) to the hall one, which is some indicator of convenience (and it worked well...we just said anyone was welcome to use it as long as they emptied it, because neither of us liked to do so :p).</p></li>
<li><p>When you live in one room and you do everything there, it can get pretty gross even for the cleanest people. Some people don't mind that. I personally couldn't stand it, so I liked to vacuum pretty regularly (it's also a much less daunting chore when your room is small). It was also a lot easier to keep things clean when I could vacuum regularly and easily...no trouble to pick up a little mess. Somehow, in college, running down the hall and lugging the big vacuum back can seem weirdly unworth it.</p></li>
<li><p>At move out time, and also before breaks, the vacuums can be in huge demand and difficult to track down. This is really only important at move out because your room needs to be clean or you're fined, so again, it wasn't necessary to have my own vacuum, but it definitely kept things easier.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Originally, we had a really cheap, really light stand-up, filterless vacuum...I think it was from Bed Bath & Beyond, or maybe Linens 'n Things...somewhere around $20-25. Later, got a dust buster type thing that was equally cheap, but much stronger. </p>
<p>So anyway, no, if you'd like to keep stuff more to a minimum, there's absolutely no reason that this is necessary. My mom was more of the "how much more can we possibly cram into this room" mindset, and I ended up really appreciating this particular random item :) </p>
<p>If your daughter does see a need for this later, for the record, there are stores close by where she can pick one up. No trouble, and one less thing to worry about now, like you say.</p>
<p>(ETA: I truly don't know how my posts always end up being so annoyingly long, even when they're about something this simple. Sorry...geez.)</p>