Maybe this is one reason why college costs so much?

[gimmethesimplelife]

I'm just throwing this out there to see what you'all think.

Recently, I did a secret shop of a student cafeteria at ASU in downtown Phoenix. I was floored, absolutely floored by the high quality of food, the classy surroundings, the clean and in good repair phony wood flooring, and the nice and non-harsh lighting. This cafeteria was a few notches up in quality and atmosphere than the student cafeterias of my college experience some twenty plus years ago.

This is impressive and nice - BUT it takes money for such an upgrade in food quality and surroundings. I wonder if this is a theme in education overall - an upgrade in things that don't really need to be upgraded really for a student to get through school and hopefully get out there and find their way. What do you'all think? Rob

[Tussiemussies]

Think the upgrade in food quality is really important since think cafeterias have been noted for their very poor quality of food. They do have to upkeep the building, don't know what lengths they have to go to though....

[bae]

I suspect that is a rather small portion of the cost of college, speaking as a parent with a child entering college next year...

[iris lilies]

What kills me is the huge athletic compounds being built. Here, I don't mean for the footbal players (that's a whole other thread) but for the regular students. "We have to do this to compete with other schools" sez the college administrators.

That's fine with me if a private college, I don't care how they spend their money. But at state colleges: 1st class exercise equipment? Yoga classes? Indoor swimming pool?

Oh wait, how can I forget--the taxpayers have unlimited resources, silly me.

[pinkytoe]

The new dorms at the university where I work are quite luxurious. Granite countertops, wood floors with cafeterias offering organic vegan and gluten-free etc. The athletic facilities are also very upscale.

[iris lilies]

The new dorms at the university where I work are quite luxurious. Granite countertops, wood floors with cafeterias offering organic vegan and gluten-free etc. The athletic facilities are also very upscale.

Is this UT-A? And who says that Texans don't value their educational institutions!

[flowerseverywhere]

I suspect that is a rather small portion of the cost of college, speaking as a parent with a child entering college next year...
Colleges are a business and they want to attract paying customers. You can attend on line education these days or a community college and not pay for all this. But I for one do not begrudge one penny I contributed towards my kids education and have started on my grandchildren's education fund. If you have to borrow for school, then it is time to re-evaluate what you are doing, though. School loans are killers.

Bae, has your daughter narrowed down her choices? From what you posted in the past she must be very well prepared for any field at almost any university.

[pinkytoe]

Yes, UT of A. However, the really fancy digs are actually considered private residences even though they are called dorms.

[bae]

Bae, has your daughter narrowed down her choices? From what you posted in the past she must be very well prepared for any field at almost any university.

She has a fairly large list, ranging from schools in the UK (St. Andrews, Cambridge) to some of the Ivy League schools to one local-ish school. The one I hear the most excitement in her voice about though is Oberlin, because they have both a liberal arts college and a conservatory of music, and she can pursue her academic and her musical interests there.

[flowerseverywhere]

Sounds exciting, Bae. One of my nieces spent a semester at St. Andrews and although the weather was dismal, she enjoyed the opportunity for European travel. Each kid is so individual in their finances, interests, how comfortable they are with the size of the school or distance from home. So many possibilities.

at least when public universities spend money it does translate to money and jobs for the community and state. Students and their families spend a lot of money at local businesses and the community gains a cultural resource.

A very interesting university is liberty university. It has close to 100,000 students between resident and on-line. It was founded by Jerry Fallwell and you should see their facilities. An artificial ski slope, huge stadiums and ice rinks etc. but the area around the university is full of thriving businesses. Of course it is a Christian school, but it was unlike anything I have ever seen. Different strokes for different folks.

[Miss Cellane]

Colleges are a business and they want to attract paying customers. You can attend on line education these days or a community college and not pay for all this. But I for one do not begrudge one penny I contributed towards my kids education and have started on my grandchildren's education fund. If you have to borrow for school, then it is time to re-evaluate what you are doing, though. School loans are killers.



A lot of what the colleges/universities are doing these days is to attract students. New dorms have all single rooms, so you don't have to deal with a roommate. Or they are all suite-style, with a living room and kitchen and a couple of bathrooms and several single bedrooms.

Better amenities overall. Cafeterias, better food, more flexible meal plans, more options for food--sandwich shop and fast-food type small cafeterias dotted around campus instead of one or two large everybody-has-to-eat-here-or-go-hungry dining halls, better gyms and workout facilities, better computer labs, cable TV hook-ups in all dorm rooms, free wifi (supposedly so you can do your online research from your dorm room).

As compared to my college days in the 1980s, where you had to bring the printout of your class schedule to the one dining hall on campus to prove that you had classes straight through the cafeteria's lunch hours, in order to be able to creep into the kitchen at the crack of dawn to make a sandwich and grab an apple for lunch, if you simply couldn't get back to the dining hall from 11:30 to 1:00.

I have one friend who is an adjunct faculty member at a college. She does not have tenture, or even a steady job. They just keep hiring her semester by semester. She's trying to hang in there until she gets a tenure-track position. But she called me in tears last year, because she was getting pressure to pass a student who basically did no work all semester and who flunked the final. But the bottom line was, the student paid tuition and fees and the college needed that money. Someone in the administration was concerned that a) she was flunking a student and b) she was giving out too many Cs.

Retaining students has become huge at many colleges. It's a lot easier to transfer than it used to be.

[24prins]

My daughter's dorms seem pretty average. There's one traditional style 'long hall' dorm building and the rest of the buildings are groups of rooms (several doubles, one single, maybe a triple) with a lounge area for each group of rooms. The lounge area is just a couch, an end table and a coffee table (none of them new or nice). There's a laundry room for the building. The grounds of the school are beautiful, and I noticed most of the schools we saw had beautiful grounds (Endicott and Quinnipiac were spectacularly beautiful; Colgate is also gorgeous).

The food at her school is incredible, and the dining hall is very nice. They've made a commitment to locally sourced food, and everything is made from scratch (no institutional food in the institution :)). They'll even make a family recipe if a student gives it to them.

I noticed the workout facilities at most of the schools were either new or recently upgraded. There's a lot of new construction going on from what I saw, and it looks higher-end to me. We only looked at one public school, though, and it's notoriously hard to get into.

[Miss Cellane]

My daughter's dorms seem pretty average. There's one traditional style 'long hall' dorm building and the rest of the buildings are groups of rooms (several doubles, one single, maybe a triple) with a lounge area for each group of rooms. The lounge area is just a couch, an end table and a coffee table (none of them new or nice). There's a laundry room for the building. The grounds of the school are beautiful, and I noticed most of the schools we saw had beautiful grounds (Endicott and Quinnipiac were spectacularly beautiful; Colgate is also gorgeous).

The food at her school is incredible, and the dining hall is very nice. They've made a commitment to locally sourced food, and everything is made from scratch (no institutional food in the institution :)). They'll even make a family recipe if a student gives it to them.

I noticed the workout facilities at most of the schools were either new or recently upgraded. There's a lot of new construction going on from what I saw, and it looks higher-end to me. We only looked at one public school, though, and it's notoriously hard to get into.

My cousin went to Endicott. I'm not sure a college should have it's own beaches . . . . The view from many of the buildings, looking out over the Atlantic, was stunning.

[24prins]

My husband wanted to go to Endicott more than my daughter did. When she got the acceptance letter, we all said Congratulations to him instead of her. :D It was the most beautiful campus I've ever seen. The admissions building actually looked like a museum, right down to the furnishings (it was the home of the woman who donated it). It was quite intimidating to my daughter to begin with, and during the tour Biff and his friends walked past us with their tennis rackets. That was too much for the poor kid (and for her mother, to tell the truth). It was actually kind of funny, because her dad and I kept trying to get her to understand that just because somebody was expensively dressed with an amazing racket walking up to a mansion didn't necessarily mean he was rich.:laff: Then as soon as she got to the school she picked (where she was convinced that she would fit in better), she met someone who lived right next to Endicott on the water. Go figure.

[ToomuchStuff]

A lot of what the colleges/universities are doing these days is to attract students. New dorms have all single rooms, so you don't have to deal with a roommate. Or they are all suite-style, with a living room and kitchen and a couple of bathrooms and several single bedrooms.

Better amenities overall. Cafeterias, better food, more flexible meal plans, more options for food--sandwich shop and fast-food type small cafeterias dotted around campus instead of one or two large everybody-has-to-eat-here-or-go-hungry dining halls, better gyms and workout facilities, better computer labs, cable TV hook-ups in all dorm rooms, free wifi (supposedly so you can do your online research from your dorm room).

As compared to my college days in the 1980s, where you had to bring the printout of your class schedule to the one dining hall on campus to prove that you had classes straight through the cafeteria's lunch hours, in order to be able to creep into the kitchen at the crack of dawn to make a sandwich and grab an apple for lunch, if you simply couldn't get back to the dining hall from 11:30 to 1:00.

I have one friend who is an adjunct faculty member at a college. She does not have tenture, or even a steady job. They just keep hiring her semester by semester. She's trying to hang in there until she gets a tenure-track position. But she called me in tears last year, because she was getting pressure to pass a student who basically did no work all semester and who flunked the final. But the bottom line was, the student paid tuition and fees and the college needed that money. Someone in the administration was concerned that a) she was flunking a student and b) she was giving out too many Cs.

Retaining students has become huge at many colleges. It's a lot easier to transfer than it used to be.


Food, not so much. You qualify for a loan, so get your warm body here and spend, spend, spend, so you can earn that degree you won't use in German Polka history, just to put down, you have a degree on a resume, is more along what I hear.

The one exception I heard was a friends daughter who received a full ride to Harvard, and at the commencement, they went through "if you don't go out and change/better the world, we have failed you" speech.
A college is a business. Education, is more about the student, IMHO.

[Gardenarian]

I think there is a lot more demand for college education these days, and so they can charge more.
Pretty much every teen I know is planning on going to college at some point. That was not the case when I was in high school in the 70s.