UNIVERSITY LIFE Students demand more in their campus housing

More colleges are building residence halls that resemble chic apartment houses.
By DEBRA O'CONNOR
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- When University of Minnesota student Jade Pirlott was looking for a place to live last year, she yearned for a convenient location, a nice kitchen, a spacious bedroom, air conditioning and heated underground parking. And, after a freshman year spent sharing facilities with dozens of dorm residents, she definitely wanted her own bathroom.
Without having to move off campus, she found what she wanted: Riverbend Commons, a new style of residence hall that serves as an example of what many of today's college students -- especially upperclassmen -- want and will pay extra to get.
"I think everyone who comes to college should have the classic dorm experience," where small, shared rooms lead to the forced togetherness that helps freshmen get on their feet socially, Pirlott says. Beyond that, though, she wanted a change.
"This, I don't consider a dorm at all. It's small apartments."
National trend
Following a national trend and responding to student demand, most of the residential construction the university has done over the past several years has been upscale, from two single bedrooms connected by a bathroom to places with full kitchens and living rooms.
"Students don't want to live in traditional residence halls anymore, but they don't necessarily want to live off campus," says Chad Horsley, Riverbend's apartment coordinator.
And they're asking for amenities. Riverbend Commons, for example, has barbecue grills on a huge patio overlooking the Mississippi River, a party room with a full kitchen and tables on one end and a big-screen television and CD player with surround sound on the other, basketball and sand volleyball courts, a state-of-the-art computer center, free washers and dryers and an ice machine. The underground parking costs an extra $100 a month.
The fancier setups cost more: A triple-occupancy room at traditional residence halls costs $1,696 per semester; a "SuperSingle" at Riverbend Commons costs up to $3,241 per semester.
Students want more
Across the country, "people are considering residential living as full service," says Jennie Robinson, residential life director at Hamline University in St. Paul. They want technology, including card access for security, Internet service and cable television. Some colleges eliminate telephone jacks in the rooms and give students cell phones.
And students want a "self-directed community," which means they make their own rules and get along without a paid staff person living with them.
Women's colleges seem to be particularly sensitive to the way students live. In a national student survey on dormitory quality, nine of the top 20 "Dorms Like Palaces" were at women's colleges, with Smith and Bryn Mawr among the top five. Loyola College in Baltimore ranked first in dorm quality in the Princeton Review's annual college guide, "The Best 351 Colleges." The top 20 "Dorms Like Dungeons" are mostly at state universities.
"Quality-of-life issues have become serious things for schools to consider, especially in the recruitment process," says Erik Oson, editor of the Princeton Review. "It's a key consideration, especially when a student is looking at similarly selective colleges. The amount of money that schools are sinking into developing bigger, nicer dorms is astounding."