At some colleges, the equivalent of The Park Evanston, the luxurious high-rise apartment complex on Chicago Avenue, is actually an on-campus housing option.
Though many traditionally consider cramped quarters and defunct washing machines as an integral part of the college dorm experience, some students at Northwestern and other campuses choose more expensive housing options. Upscale dormitories are the latest trend when it comes to undergraduate housing, and these pricey accommodations can include everything from spacious private rooms to tanning beds.
At Purdue University, students can secure a spot in the luxury First Street Towers residential hall, which opened in August, for $13,800 per year. Other campuses across the country, including Boston University and Arizona State University, also offer similar upscale living arrangements.
At NU, premium Group III residence halls like Slivka Residential College and Kemper Hall offer more upscale living quarters for those willing to pay $8,483 per year for a single dorm. Rates in Group I dorms, like Sargent Hall and Willard Residential College, cost $1,358 less annually for a single.
Tyler Boschert, a McCormick junior and treasurer of Slivka, said he believes the experience of living in an expensive residence hall is well worth the extra money.
“I would not want to live anywhere else,” he said. “Having many different types of amenities makes Slivka more flexible. Whatever you want to do at any time, you can do it.”
Boschert also said he thinks living in a dorm like Slivka encourages a more adult lifestyle and more interactions with other residents.
“I personally feel like living in Slivka as compared to living in other places facilitates lots of discussion about more mature topics of current importance, and part of that is living in a residential college.”
Vice President for Student Affairs William Banis said current residence hall developments are focusing on improvements to existing buildings, rather than the construction of luxury high-rises. Five to 10 years from now, he said, older buildings will be replaced with new student housing. Based on a thorough campus housing study that concluded last year, NU plans to make cosmetic upgrades to residence halls, in addition to new heat and air conditioning systems.
“We’ve done a lot of work already and we’ll be starting the housing renovations in a very measured way until we can get through this recession,” Banis said. “We’ve taken stock of all the housing on campus, and as soon as possible, we’ll raise money for larger projects.”
Dr. Linda Rubinowitz, an assistant professor of clinical psychology at NU’s Family Institute, said she understands the rationale behind providing students with upscale housing and believes it can have a positive impact on students’ lifestyles.
“It can be really helpful to live in a way that’s similar to what you do at home,” Rubinowitz said. “There is a sense of being over-stimulated (in traditional dorms), and moving into an environment that you can control makes it easier to focus.”
But Rubinowitz also raised the point that students who opt for upscale housing over a traditional dorm may miss out on many fundamental college learning experiences.
“It doesn’t really foster the skills of sharing and learning to cooperate,” she said. “And I think those are really important skills to develop.”
Until changes are made to dorms on NU’s campus, some students remain content with older, more basic residence halls, like Weinberg sophomore Kiersten Hansen, who lived in Sargent Hall during her freshman year.
“It built character because we all had something to complain about together,” Hansen said. “Once you’ve moved out, you realize that it’s not so much about the facilities than about the environment and the people there.”
