Lack of AC in many college dorms

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When my school closed because the temps were in the mid 20’s at bus pickup, I gave up. We have raised a nation of wimps.

by wimpy parents

x100000000

Tell her the northeast isn't going to bend to her wimpy aspirations. Next time consider Ole Miss.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve found that 95% of the things the parents are concerned about on the parent pages are non issues for the actual students. The parents are the whiners.

x1000000

The parents are PITAs, and the administrations know this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Given the repeated heat waves and rise in temperatures over the past decade, I agree that all dorms should have a/c. We already pay enough in exorbitant tuition and student fees so students should be comfortable.

Something to think about when choosing a college!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in a northern climate and no one had AC, not at home or school. However, in VA there should be AC. It's getting hotter and muggier. I just got back from Europe where they also don't have AC and almost died in the heat wave. People were dropping like flies. Before judging entitled kids go try to get some sleep in 90 degree humid weather with a fan blowing more hot air onto you.

THIS ^^. I'm sick of parents acting like it's somehow "entitled" when other parents complain about a lack of A/C in their kids' dorms. If these dorms were being used by adults, there is no freaking way they'd get by without A/C. It would be installed immediately. But since it's "only" teens/young adults who have to sleep there, it's perfectly ok to make them sweat and get no sleep. Really, a disgusting mentality.

[Anonymous]

There is a dorm at my son’s campus which was an apartment complex the university system bought as they kept adding more freshman and was running out of housing. It has two and four bedrooms with each person having their own bath. The complex has a pool, gym, market on sight.

The parents complain it is too far from campus, about a 30 minute walk or a bus from the attached stadium. I’m like a pool and no shared bathroom. Oh and a W/D in each unit.

Those kids have no idea what college life was like in the dark ages!

[Anonymous]

Get a fan for 2-3 weeks, OP.
What’s wrong with you?

[Anonymous]

Ridiculous. I went to Hopkins in Baltimore and when I was a sophomore, I found a used window AC unit in the paper and bought it from the money I made in my on campus job. I paid about $40 for an old AC unit, put it in my window and had AC in my room. I left the dorms in my junior year and moved it to the apartment I had. I was popular, and had friends that would come over on hot days to play cards in my room since I had the AC unit. After I graduated, I stayed in my apartment for another few years because I had a job down at Hopkins Hospital. When I finally left, I was moving out to the DC suburbs to take a job in the DC area. I donated my window AC unit to my old roommates because the condo I was moving to had central AC.

Now, window AC units are cheap. You can get one that will be enough for a college/apartment bedroom for about $150. If you want one for a bigger area like a living room, it's like $300. If the kid has roommates, they can chip in to buy one new. Or, the rich private college parents can buy one. There is no reason that the university needs to pay for central AC which will be significantly more costly for the university than window units for the kids who really want/need one, especially in an area that doesn't need one more than a few weeks out of the year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ridiculous. I went to Hopkins in Baltimore and when I was a sophomore, I found a used window AC unit in the paper and bought it from the money I made in my on campus job. I paid about $40 for an old AC unit, put it in my window and had AC in my room. at Hopkins Hospital.

Now, window AC units are cheap. You can get one that will be enough for a college/apartment bedroom for about $150. If you want one for a bigger area like a living room, it's like $300. If the kid has roommates, they can chip in to buy one new. Or, the rich private college parents can buy one. There is no reason that the university needs to pay for central AC which will be significantly more costly for the university than window units for the kids who really want/need one, especially in an area that doesn't need one more than a few weeks out of the year.

Most college dorms will not allow a window unit. They don't even allow non-window ac units, but bet those get snuck in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve found that 95% of the things the parents are concerned about on the parent pages are non issues for the actual students. The parents are the whiners.

I was just looking at the JMU Reddit and there were several threads about dorms in response to questions from incoming students. The lack of AC in several older dorms was discussed. Basically, the answers from current students were mostly along the lines that yes, having no AC sucks for a few weeks of the year, but you just deal with it. So no, the lack of AC was not a complete non-issue, but neither was it a big deal.

Also several posts saying the benefits of putting in deposit early and/or being in honors college is first dibs on the best dorms and to schedule classes. One response to a poster whining it wasn't fair to waitlisted kids like him that they got the "suckiest" dorms and classes, "well, you should have gotten better grades in high school to not get waitlisted."

In today’s admissions climate you can’t really assume that a kid was waitlisted due to lower grades. Maybe that’s true at some colleges but there are plenty of high stats, high grades, excellent extracurricular kids who are waitlisted or rejected. In the end the kids all pay the same tuition whether WL or not. My kid is going to a school in NE that admitted a very low percent of applicants. They waited to assign dorms until the summer. No preferance given for putting down an early deposit. I like that all kids are on equal footing. Also, we are sending our kid with a fan and they’ll be fine. They turned down an honors college with beautiful dorms and AC. In the end the kids will be fine with a fan (lots of NE families make do w/o AC even in the summer).

[Anonymous]

Rite of passage. Like walking to school in the snow uphill. Get fans and let them have freshman bonding experience. My husband and I still talk about how hot it was in our freshmen dorms lol.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ridiculous. I went to Hopkins in Baltimore and when I was a sophomore, I found a used window AC unit in the paper and bought it from the money I made in my on campus job. I paid about $40 for an old AC unit, put it in my window and had AC in my room. I left the dorms in my junior year and moved it to the apartment I had. I was popular, and had friends that would come over on hot days to play cards in my room since I had the AC unit. After I graduated, I stayed in my apartment for another few years because I had a job down at Hopkins Hospital. When I finally left, I was moving out to the DC suburbs to take a job in the DC area. I donated my window AC unit to my old roommates because the condo I was moving to had central AC.

Now, window AC units are cheap. You can get one that will be enough for a college/apartment bedroom for about $150. If you want one for a bigger area like a living room, it's like $300. If the kid has roommates, they can chip in to buy one new. Or, the rich private college parents can buy one. There is no reason that the university needs to pay for central AC which will be significantly more costly for the university than window units for the kids who really want/need one, especially in an area that doesn't need one more than a few weeks out of the year.

Colleges VERY rarely allow students to install their own A/C units. Usually only if there is a medical need and you get it cleared with Residence Life/Disability Services.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ridiculous. I went to Hopkins in Baltimore and when I was a sophomore, I found a used window AC unit in the paper and bought it from the money I made in my on campus job. I paid about $40 for an old AC unit, put it in my window and had AC in my room. I left the dorms in my junior year and moved it to the apartment I had. I was popular, and had friends that would come over on hot days to play cards in my room since I had the AC unit. After I graduated, I stayed in my apartment for another few years because I had a job down at Hopkins Hospital. When I finally left, I was moving out to the DC suburbs to take a job in the DC area. I donated my window AC unit to my old roommates because the condo I was moving to had central AC.

Now, window AC units are cheap. You can get one that will be enough for a college/apartment bedroom for about $150. If you want one for a bigger area like a living room, it's like $300. If the kid has roommates, they can chip in to buy one new. Or, the rich private college parents can buy one. There is no reason that the university needs to pay for central AC which will be significantly more costly for the university than window units for the kids who really want/need one, especially in an area that doesn't need one more than a few weeks out of the year.

You sound extremely out of touch. A/C units are not allowed in these old dorms! The electrical system can’t handle it. I would have no problem buying a window unit for my kid to use in an un-airconditioned dorm - if we were allowed to!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ridiculous. I went to Hopkins in Baltimore and when I was a sophomore, I found a used window AC unit in the paper and bought it from the money I made in my on campus job. I paid about $40 for an old AC unit, put it in my window and had AC in my room. I left the dorms in my junior year and moved it to the apartment I had. I was popular, and had friends that would come over on hot days to play cards in my room since I had the AC unit. After I graduated, I stayed in my apartment for another few years because I had a job down at Hopkins Hospital. When I finally left, I was moving out to the DC suburbs to take a job in the DC area. I donated my window AC unit to my old roommates because the condo I was moving to had central AC.

Now, window AC units are cheap. You can get one that will be enough for a college/apartment bedroom for about $150. If you want one for a bigger area like a living room, it's like $300. If the kid has roommates, they can chip in to buy one new. Or, the rich private college parents can buy one. There is no reason that the university needs to pay for central AC which will be significantly more costly for the university than window units for the kids who really want/need one, especially in an area that doesn't need one more than a few weeks out of the year.

Colleges VERY rarely allow students to install their own A/C units. Usually only if there is a medical need and you get it cleared with Residence Life/Disability Services.

Exactly. Or else they’ll put a kid who has a medical need for A/C in one of the air-conditioned dorms. I can’t believe the PP thinks the general population of students is allowed to bring an A/C unit. I wish.

[Anonymous]

I can just see all this window units falling and hitting people walking by on the heads and killing them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Last week a university parent FB page I'm on had a freshman parent (alumni) wanting the university to do everything in it's power to retrofit all dorms with AC. Note: only ~50% of dorms have AC, most without are over 50 yo, so the cost to do so would be astronomical (those dorms have radiator heat, not forced air where AC could more easily be added) Parent actually thinks it would be a great use of donations to retrofit ALL dorms as "it is not fair that some kids get dorms with AC and others do not. For what we pay for this private university it's insane that we the kids don't have AC everywhere they go".

Note: University is in an area where AC is typically only needed for 2-3 weeks, at most 4 weeks in the fall. In Spring there might be a random day it would be nice, but most of April/May are typically in the 50/60, a good day is 70 and there is a nice breeze off the lake. So this is not Texas or Florida or Arizona. Everything except dorms are fully AC'd. So kids can visit the library, Student union, other friends in dorms with AC, gym, any academic building, etc if they really need AC. At night it typically cools into mid 60s or lower. Also note, that when kids move out of dorms for 3rd year and beyond, the majority of apartments and houses for rent do not have AC---maybe 25% do, and those cost significantly more.

Thoughts?

For the kind of money these "non profit" universities charge out kids, they better have AC in all the dorms. I'd also want them to provide free massages with happy ending once a week for the kids over 18 and for visiting parents (if they so choose).