We've already covered the country's
most expensive colleges, but CampusGrotto recently published a
list of the priciest college dorms. The top five most expensive are:
- The New School's Eugene Lang College ($15,990)
- Cooper Union ($15,272)
- Suffolk University ($14,544)
- UC Berkeley ($14,384)
- New York Institute of Technology in Manhattan ($14,290)
Room and board can be a big deal when it comes to paying for college. CampusGrotto mentioned that New York University—14th on the dorm list at $13,226—has the 36th most expensive tuition in the U.S., but when you consider cost of living, NYU becomes the country's second priciest school.
For me, living on a dorm was very helpful my freshman year, as it allowed me to meet a lot of people (it was an all-freshman dorm) and was so close to class that I could sleep in plenty. The next year I moved to an off-campus apartment that was still rented through the school (so it had school-issued furniture in it), and then the year after that I found an apartment in my same building to rent with a friend of mine, and we
IKEA-ed the heck out of it.
Like I said, I enjoyed living in a dorm freshman year, but I can't imagine doing it again. The communal bathrooms, the lack of privacy, the touchy-feely floor activities and RAs watching your every move... at a certain point, I think, some dorms start to feel more like summer camp than college.
How did/does your college living situation work? Was/is price a factor?
Comments (35)
I dormed my first year. I live about thirty minutes from school, but I wanted to experience life away from home. I thought it would be great, but it wasn't all that wonderful. I didn't get along well with my roommate (she was odd, depressed all the time and wanted to sleep all day and stay up all night, among other things) and I hated the communal bathrooms as well as the food. If you live on campus, you MUST purchase a very pricy meal plan at about $2000 a semester. The meal plan actually costed more than the room did (it was $1800 a semester with a roommate). So needless to say, this year I am living at home. The commute can be tiring but I am saving about $8000 a year. I would like to move into an apartment next year, but I'm not sure if I will be able to afford that. I just know that I will not be dorming again, atleast not here. It would be great if my school offered apartment living that could be added on to my tuition, but it doesn't so I am living at home for the time being.
@waking_up_older@xanga - Meal plans are so annoying. It's also kind of hard to find healthy options, so it's like, why am I being forced to pay so much for this?
Wow...interesting stats
I hope those costs are per annum and not per semester. Good Lord! O_O I thought I was paying a lot with 10 grand per year!
I spent my four years of college in dorms. But the frosh dorm was really like a typical dorm in which you share the bathroom/shower place with half of the floor. My sophomore year dorm was similar to an apartment type. 2 bedrooms connect to a small common area that link to a bathroom (and the other side of the bathroom links to another small common area with 2 bedrooms). 6 girls sharing a bathroom isn't that bad. and there's plenty of privacy.
But my favorite was my junior and senior "dorm" because they are just a 3-bedroom unit in a
"townhouse". It has kitchen, living room, and dining area with school furniture. So it has the floor plan of the apartment and the convince of living on campus. We did target and ikea. It was fun when the RA was partying with us...ha!
alas, the good old time in college.
i'm a freshman now, and i actually love my dorm. the lack of privacy is a little weird, but honestly, i feel like i've completely gotten used to it. my roommate's awesome, my floor activities have NOT been touchy-feely, and my RA is super chill. but at the same time, my floor isn't obnoxious, loud, or partying all the time. the only real downside is that it's on the opposite side of campus from most class buildings. and i think i'm paying less than $10k a year. two thumbs up! :]
I thought Cooper Union students all had free tuition?
I really like dorm living, especially freshman year, it was so much fun. I liked my floor (mostly) and my roommate. My school has a thing called a split double, where the room is divided in half using a large closet that reaches the ceiling. So we each at our own private section of the room. This year I have the same except, in this dorm I live with 4 ppl and we have our own lounge.
Yeah its expensive. Around 6k and that doesn't include a meal plan. I think meal plans are a joke. You pay all this money for crappy food. I want to live off campus but really close to campus my senior year (studying abroad for junior yr) b/c its cheaper but I thinking that the cost of furniture is going to cause me to go broke.
i suggest ppl dorm their freshman year. it sucks, but it's a great way of meeting ppl (which i feel is crucial to your freshman year experience) and geared toward students adjusting to college life, not to mention the great perks of having your classroom around the corner.
where i went to college (univ. of south carolina), dorm housing is common, because there are so many different types. i dormed throughout college (the typical dorm style my freshman and sophmore year). but my junior and senior year i lived in apartment style upper classmen dorms where we had our own rooms (with a kitchen, living area and 2 folks shared one br) and it cost an arm and a leg! and my last semester i lived completely off campus.
i enjoyed living on campus, depending on where you stayed. and price is NOW a factor now that my loans need to paid for. *sigh*
I did the on campus apartment style dorm my freshman year. It was too tiny for the amount we paid...something like $780 a month? Ick. Now for my sophomore year, I'm living off campus with 2 other people in a 2 bedroom...so rent is dirt cheap. We each pay about $290 a month for rent...then adding utilities and such too, but clearly, it's still a LOT cheaper than living on campus. It's not far from campus either. Plus, I live with my boyfriend and our best friend and I like those guys so much better than my bitchy, impregnated roommate from last year. Eww.
I'm commuting to school.
Community college for me is 15 minutes away..
I'm planning on a transfer to UCSD which is around 20-30 minutes away.
I don't need to live in a dorm. And I can make friends well-enough in my 3rd year. I'm not fussed. I also like my privacy. It really pisses me off when people say "DORM IN YOUR FRESHMAN YEAR!!!!!!!!!111!!!!ONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" because they never went to a damn junior college.
@feelslikejuly@xanga - lol 10 grand is a shitload T_T i pay like $300 per semester.
@snapeful@xanga - I wish I lived in CA so I could your sweet tution rates. Community college around here costs $95 per credit plus other fees. I heard you guys get $20-30 per credit classes!
@feelslikejuly@xanga - come to californiaaaaa! wow, i never knew it was that cheap compared to you guys :o yeah it's around $30 per credit. so is going to a legit school cheaper than going to community college? (i. am horrible at math)
my college's room/board is about 5 thousand and I pay out of pocket but that's about all I pay as far as tuition I have enough grants/scholarships to cover everything else.
Yeah, I have the smallest meal plan to save money.
But I like living in the dorms alot.
I am going to school out of state, and the houses around my school are very pricey, so staying in the dorms is the cheapest thing.
I lived in a dorm freshman year, and am now in one again for sophomore year. While it's true I'm moving into an apartment next year, I've really enjoyed living in the dorms. Price is not a horrible factor, and my RA freshman year turned out to be one of my closest friends. This year, I'm completely left alone.
I live in a dorm right now, first year.. and I love it!
Our dorms are like little "apartments" they have 6 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a kitchen and a living room. It's amazing!
RA's are cool, mine is usually passed out drunk somewhere LOL!
But it definitely does not feel like a summer camp, there is so much freedom I LOVE it!
Plus my dorm only costs about $6,000 a year.. definitely not as expensive as those other schools!
The dorms I lived in were about $10,000. But the price made sense, I think. Especially since I only shared a bathroom with three other girls (adjoining rooms via bathroom) for the traditional suite style. And then apartment style next year. four girls one apartment. But two people to a bathroom, which was even better. They were also in downtown Chicago with really sweet windows, so I couldn't complain.
Now I'm off campus in my own apartment. Sooo much cheaper. About half the price if not less.
I live in a dorm right now, and lived in one last year as well.
I hate the meal plan and lack of privacy. I hate the fact that the RA's watch my every move. I don't like the guy visitation policy.
I just don't like living in a dorm. It's loud and there's a lot of girl drama that I don't care about.
@sarah - Agreed.
I sortof wish that I was dorming. The college I'm going to was last minute, so I wasn't really expecting to get dorming since the school itself was more of a communting school than dorming. They're usually open for athletes, who live farther than the tri-state area I'm assuming and honor students (I missed the deadline for that).
I commute about one hour to there and when I get home depends on when I get out of class and when is the next bus at port authority.
Dorming would have been nice because I would have been fencing. But, I'm not because I can't come home 9:30 every night and cram in homework. /:
But, I'm slowly making friends which is great!
I live in an apt that is by the campus but it's sorta more like a residence hall.. it is all freshman livining in my building and they make us do all kinds of random events so all in all it's a nice social environment. However, what I don't like is the price. It's 10 thousand a year and it really sucks compared to other places that I could be living. I just signed my lease for next year and I'm so excited. It's going to be less that half the price of what im paying now with so many more convienent things.
What we really need to talk about is how much of a ripoff meal plans are....