When I visited college campuses with both my teenagers, the college dorms were often a big selling point. It seems the tour guides were always raving about the newest dorms on campus and clearly universities are using their new dorms as a recruiting tool.
While there are still plenty of dorm rooms on college campuses that look like cinderblock cells, schools are constructing an increasing number of dormitories that look like swank apartments.
I ran across a Chicago Tribune article today that discussed that swanky university dorms at Purdue that include 47-inch flat-screen TVs, entertainment centers built by Amish carpenters and kitchnettes with ceramic tiles. Some Arizona State dorms offer tanning booths, luxury kitchens and sand volleyball court!
In this economic climate, however, I wonder whether the dorm building frenzy can continue or should.
If your child is interested in finding campuses with amazing dorms, here is the Princeton Review’s latest list of the nation’s best dorms:
- Smith College
- Loyola University Maryland
- Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering
- Scripps College
- Bennington College
- Bryn Mawr College
- Bowdoin College
- Goerge Washington University
- Harvard College
- Washington University of St. Louis
- Claremont McKenna College
- Trinity University
- Mount Holyoke College
- Pomona College
- Skidmore College
- Thomas Aquinas College
- Wellesley College
- Pepperdine University
- Wiliams College
- Stanford University
Further Reading
Lynn O’Shaughnessy is the author of The College Solution and she also write a college blog for CBSMoneyWatch.com.