Has anyone felt disappointed by the dorm?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD’s dorm room freshman year was smaller than her horse’s stall.

Her horse.

[Anonymous]

When I dropped off my oldest last year, I was horrified at his dorm - peeling paint, tiny room, no A/C, no closet. Apparently the (limited) bathroom facilities on a nearby floor had problems with black mold. I literally felt rage about the money we were spending and the horrible facilities. But tbh none of it bothered him. He happened to get a good number in the housing lottery and so he'll go back for sophomore year in a new dorm with A/C, the room is more than twice the size of his freshman room. So it all evens out.

[Anonymous]

I just dropped off my kid at school. The university overenrolled kids for the past couple years. I hear the complaints about tiny dorm rooms with no AC and I am with you in spirit.

However, my kid was assigned a dorm room with 7 other roommates. It was previously a lounge converted into a dorm room. 8 kids in a college dorm room is ridiculous. It's not summer camp.

I'm sorry to hear about ting dorm rooms for your kids. It is absolutely insane.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just dropped off my kid at school. The university overenrolled kids for the past couple years. I hear the complaints about tiny dorm rooms with no AC and I am with you in spirit.

However, my kid was assigned a dorm room with 7 other roommates. It was previously a lounge converted into a dorm room. 8 kids in a college dorm room is ridiculous. It's not summer camp.

I'm sorry to hear about ting dorm rooms for your kids. It is absolutely insane.

What school?

[Anonymous]

As long as there's not a vermin, roach, bedbug or asbestos problem, as long as the furniture isn't falling apart and there's no plaster or paint peeling, as long as kids aren't picking up some kind of diseases in the common bathrooms, have more faith that your DC will survive living in conditions that you deem squalor.

OP, face it: your child has lived a life vastly cushier and more luxurious than 99% of humanity ever experienced. You should adjust your attitude to see this year as building DC's character. If they can make it in this kind of "squalor" (lol) then they can make it through future hardships that all lives experience.

Seriously, it's one year. You are paying the big bucks for quality teachers, excellent classes, high achieving classmates, opportunities and connections, and brand name on the resume to open doors after graduation. Presumably sophomore or junior year they can move off campus into an apartment.

Living in a room like you describe will give your child some great stories to tell in years to come. And maybe also introduce a sense of empathy for those who did not have as cushy a childhood as they did.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I'm a foreigner who has never had to live in a dorm (students either commute from home or rent apartments), and I do not encourage my kids to apply somewhere with a high risk of getting a tiny dysfunctional space. My oldest just moved into a nice single at GW... the doubles are a bit cramped, but the dorms are overall on the nicer side - renovated, A/C, amenities, etc. I am NOT paying these American prices for my kids to get poor quality sleep for 4 years. Comfort matters. And we live in a tiny, old house! But it's still comfortable and well laid-out.

I entirely reject the notion that discomfort is "part of the college experience". Not at those prices.

GW had major mold problems. Is your child in a new dorm?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:FFS, folks. Grow up.
During my entire freshman year, I lived in a single that was turned into a double. We had bunk beds. It was miserably cramped. The shower was disgusting. It was dark and your feet sunk into the rotting concrete when you stepped inside. It was in the basement of a century old dorm at a very prestigious liberal arts college.

Why do your little snowflakes need their own room, their own bathroom, their nice comfy double bed, all the cozies and tidiness and oomphieness of home when they are in college?? This is real life. Mommy and Daddy are paying now, but not forever (unless you suck at parenting), so start getting used to some deprivations, kiddos.

My kid's dorm room is so small, she is supposed to have bunk beds, but she refuses, so she and her roommate are working out a floor plan so they can squeeze two twin beds in their. One of them is going to put her desk in the hall because she doesn't study at a desk.

Yeah, $80k for this!! Whine away, parents. This is college as it's always been and likely always will be.

I've never shared a tiny bedroom with a stranger in "real life."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has your kid never been to sleepaway camp? Some of those accommodations are really shabby and threadbare. I'm UMC and I say GOOD. It's a safe way for them to know they're starting to be on their own, and mommy and daddy aren't going to be there to make everything all nice.

Also, to worry about your college-age son rolling off his bed is a bit infantilizing.

Not a lot of families send their kids to sleepaway camp in this area. We're not in NY.

What? Almost every kid I know went to sleep away camp.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just dropped off my kid at school. The university overenrolled kids for the past couple years. I hear the complaints about tiny dorm rooms with no AC and I am with you in spirit.

However, my kid was assigned a dorm room with 7 other roommates. It was previously a lounge converted into a dorm room. 8 kids in a college dorm room is ridiculous. It's not summer camp.

I'm sorry to hear about ting dorm rooms for your kids. It is absolutely insane.

What school?

Penn State.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The trick is accepting quickly and making a housing deposit…at least that’s how it worked at my kid’s flagship. They got into the new all-suite dorm.

FYI — Some big state schools let you make a housing deposit when they send in their application. You don’t get it back, though, if they decide not to go there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just dropped off my kid at school. The university overenrolled kids for the past couple years. I hear the complaints about tiny dorm rooms with no AC and I am with you in spirit.

However, my kid was assigned a dorm room with 7 other roommates. It was previously a lounge converted into a dorm room. 8 kids in a college dorm room is ridiculous. It's not summer camp.

I'm sorry to hear about ting dorm rooms for your kids. It is absolutely insane.

What school?

Any school - it is not just one or two or a few schools, that is the point. Mason has new dorms and they are probably lovely, so maybe many students will decide to transfer to go to Mason.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has your kid never been to sleepaway camp? Some of those accommodations are really shabby and threadbare. I'm UMC and I say GOOD. It's a safe way for them to know they're starting to be on their own, and mommy and daddy aren't going to be there to make everything all nice.

Also, to worry about your college-age son rolling off his bed is a bit infantilizing.

Not a lot of families send their kids to sleepaway camp in this area. We're not in NY.

What? Almost every kid I know went to sleep away camp.

I never did.

But I grew up sharing a bedroom with 2 siblings. And a bathroom for 5 of us. And no AC. So my freshman year tiny double dorm room didn't bother me. I had my own desk for the first time. Also we hung out in the lounge quite a bit. And then the next year I had my own room for the first time - even tinier than the double but that was fabulous!

[Anonymous]

My other Kid went to Texas. UT has no requirement to live on campus Freshman year. We spoiled him, but look at his "dorm":

https://www.americancampus.com/student-apartments/tx/austin/the-callaway-house-austin#gallery

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My other Kid went to Texas. UT has no requirement to live on campus Freshman year. We spoiled him, but look at his "dorm":

https://www.americancampus.com/student-apartments/tx/austin/the-callaway-house-austin#gallery

Yeah - no one cares, lady.

[Anonymous]

Is this the first dorm you’ve ever seen? Lol