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Jonathan Edwards College had a squash court that was turned into a theater–I guess theaters are more in vogue.</p>
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<p>Wow, JHS is right - that’s an awfully expensive way to run things, if different residences have their own theaters, darkrooms, recording studios, swimming pools, etc. To what extent are these facilities duplicative across colleges? </p>
<p>To what extent are these facilities seen as open to non-residents of that res coll – are they seen as overall shared facilities that just happen to be in a given residential college, are they by invitation-only, are they closed off to non-residents / frowned on if non-residents use? And now I’m thinking that NU shouldn’t call their system residential colleges anymore, LOL. To the best of my knowledge, my son’s res college doesn’t really have any special facilities (beyond the typical lounges, quiet study areas, socializing / TV areas, laundry and storage) that any regular dorm would have. Not that I really know, however, since I haven’t been invited much, ha ha.</p>
<p>A selection:
[Berkeley</a> Woodshop | berkeley.yalecollege.yale.edu](<a href=“http://berkeley.yalecollege.yale.edu/berkeley-woodshop]Berkeley”>http://berkeley.yalecollege.yale.edu/berkeley-woodshop)
[Printing</a> Press | branford.yalecollege.yale.edu](<a href=“http://branford.yalecollege.yale.edu/printing-press]Printing”>http://branford.yalecollege.yale.edu/printing-press)
[D’Port</a> Facilities | davenport.yalecollege.yale.edu](<a href=“http://davenport.yalecollege.yale.edu/dport-facilities]D’Port”>http://davenport.yalecollege.yale.edu/dport-facilities)
[Libraries</a> | Jonathan Edwards College](<a href=“http://je.yalecollege.yale.edu/libraries]Libraries”>http://je.yalecollege.yale.edu/libraries)
[Fabric</a> Arts Studio | morse.yalecollege.yale.edu](<a href=“http://morse.yalecollege.yale.edu/fabric-arts-studio]Fabric”>http://morse.yalecollege.yale.edu/fabric-arts-studio)
[Facilities</a> | Silliman College](<a href=“http://silliman.yalecollege.yale.edu/facilities]Facilities”>http://silliman.yalecollege.yale.edu/facilities)
[Recording</a> Studio | timothydwight.yalecollege.yale.edu](<a href=“http://timothydwight.yalecollege.yale.edu/recording-studio]Recording”>http://timothydwight.yalecollege.yale.edu/recording-studio)</p>
<p>Everyone has fitness rooms with exercise equipment, game rooms, libraries, and kitchens for student use. There are a lot of printing presses and various types of craft studio (some of which are above). My college used to have a couple of squash courts, one of which had a hoop and basket for half-court basketball (and thus was rarely used for squash), but apparently that was turned into a theater space when it got renovated. Silliman still has a basketball court, though. A number of the colleges have student-operated late night “butteries” or snack bars.</p>
<p>The other thing worth noting about Yale’s residential colleges is that all student academic advising and discipline are handled through the residential colleges. Each college has its own Dean for those functions, and students’ advisors are usually faculty who are fellows of the college (although one can depart from that if it makes sense). It’s something that produces real, personal advising, with a lot of continuity. The Dean very much knew each of us – as, very importantly, did her secretary, who did all the freshman room assignments, so she REALLY knew everybody. One of my closest friends got hired by a company where she stayed for 20 years based on a connection that the Dean’s secretary made for her.</p>
<p>EDIT: Sorry. That was sitting half-written on my computer a long time while I did actual work, so it duplicates a lot of other posts.</p>
<p>To answer Pizzagirl’s questions: There is a lot of duplication, obviously. Some things are limited to college members only, and others are open to everyone with appropriate arrangements. I suspect everything is open to everyone with the appropriate informal arrangements.</p>
<p>Re: expense. I think I said this upthread, but I’ll repeat it. </p>
<p>The University of Chicago has had a bona fide house system in place continuously since the 1920s (maybe earlier, I don’t remember, but well before Harvard and Yale). It has been working steadily for decades to bolster the quality of undergraduate student life on campus, including by strengthening the house system, encouraging more students to stay on campus all four years (or at least more than two years), and upgrading the dorm space. It recently constructed a glossy, state-of-the-art new dorm to house 800 students in 8 houses. This was totally new construction, no retrofitting involved, and one of the explicit goals was to make it attractive to upperclassmen and to reinforce the house system. The dorm cost about $100 million to build. In terms of sheer amenities, it is clearly the nicest dorm on campus.</p>
<p>Yale, meanwhile, is building two new residential colleges, for a total of 1,000 students in all four classes, designed not to be too shabby compared to the existing colleges. The budget for the new residential colleges is upwards of $600 million.</p>
<p>In other words, Chicago spent $125,000 per bed, and Yale is spending $600,000+ per bed. That’s what it takes to build the equivalent of its existing colleges.</p>
<p>The Chicago dorm includes a new dining hall, but they closed an existing dining hall, and the new dining hall serves about 1,200 students from three dorms. Each of 15 or so houses has a dedicated couple of tables in the dining hall. The Yale colleges each includes a stand-alone unique dining hall for 500 students. The Chicago dorm has one faculty member (and family) in residence. The Yale colleges will each have at least two faculty families, maybe more. </p>
<p>(I don’t know what the current deal is. There were four faculty members living in my college in the mid-70s – the master (and spouse), the dean (and spouse, another faculty member who later became vice-chancellor of a UK university), a single “confirmed bachelor” emeritus professor, and a young administrator (who happened to be the child of a Very Famous Person) with his wife and two young children who were much doted on. I doubt they still have that many. It was charming, but a little dumb. The emeritus professor was so shy he could barely speak. I sat with him for maybe three meals over the course of four years, and so knew what he had studied and taught, etc., and had a saying-hello relationship with him. But I had to learn from a book years later that he had been the very first Jew to receive tenure at Yale College.)</p>
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<p>Totally picturing the dining hall at Hogwarts here.</p>
<p>Re: #62, #63, #64</p>
<p>Meanwhile, aren’t there other threads where people are questioning whether their cost of attendance money should really go to gold-plated luxury residence halls, versus more educational resources, or have a little less (or perhaps just more efficiently organized) gold-plated luxuries at a lower cost?</p>
<p>One thing I forgot to mention earlier: at Harvard the House Master not only is responsible for the day-to-day administration of the House but has a formal academic leadership role for the students living in that House as well. When you graduate your Harvard diploma has two signatures - the President of the university and the Master of your House.</p>
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<p>Jonathan Edwards? You mean Yale has a college named after the current holder of the world record in the Men’s Triple Jump?
(kidding)</p>
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<p>Well, duh. And there should be peace in the Middle East and nuclear disarmament, too. Absolutely. In the meantime . . . Harvard and Yale have roughly the same sticker price as Chicago and other colleges with similar educational resources and less gold-plating on the amenities, and when you factor in financial aid they are actually charging less to many students. So it’s not quite the case that anyone’s COA dollars are paying for that. At least not directly.</p>
<p>Moreover, these facilities are already in place, so it’s not as though they’d save anyone any money if they closed down these facilities. It’s like the halls at my daughter’s college - they are movie-set worthy with beautiful wood and stained glass in the common areas, but they’ve also been in place for 100 years so they aren’t any incremental cost to anyone (beyond the usual repair and maintenance).</p>
<p>That’s a pretty big “except”. The beautiful wood and stained glass require a lot of care. Plus, Yale just completed a decade-plus renovation program for the residential colleges that cost half a billion dollars, in addition to normal maintenance, and Harvard is just starting something similar.</p>
<p>Once upon a time, before the age of 11-figure endowments and $40,000 tuition, people feared that the maintenance costs on all those old buildings would sink Harvard and Yale.</p>
<p>Still, Yale’s spending of $600,000 per bed is pretty extravagent, when its room and board charge is $13,000 per year (or $1,444 per month).</p>
<p>Where else can you rent a $600,000 place for $1,444 per month (food included)? Considered in that context, there is no reason for a Yale student to want to move off-campus. Of course, post-graduation reality, where one must rent or buy in the normal housing market while working or studying as a graduate student, may be a big downgrade in what one gets for the money. Enjoy it while it lasts…</p>
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<p>My son, in JE, has a roommate and is in a 6 person suite; they share a bathroom with a suite of 6 girls. Day-to-day, it’s no different from any other room in any other school we looked at on our college tours.
Don’t want to distract the OP from knowing that it is the support and sense of belonging that makes the house system what it is, not the accommodations.</p>
<p>That said, it IS hard not to think of Hogwarts in the dining hall.</p>