Okay, so I have seen more dorm rooms in the last four years than your average 40-something, but I was shocked to find out that dorms are making the news.  BusinessWeek.com and Forbes.com are both headlining articles about the extreme cost of living in a dorm.

I could not believe my eyes as I was reading the information.   One article spoke of a dorm room being over $10,000 for a school year.  That works out to about $1,000 a month even though not all of those months are full months.  That is one heck of a house payment or apartment.  I have four children – a hard word to use when one will be 22 this year – in college.  Only one has moved off campus and that was not by choice but due to transferring and no on-campus housing being available.  The difference between the ancient but recently remodeled dorm room at one private college and the townhouse that was not in much better shape but more like real life is $500.  The difference between brand new apartments on one campus and the old dorms is about the same.

My one off-campus student lives in an all inclusive apartment complex that is on the campus shuttle route and is less expensive than the apartments the university has on campus.

The entire situation amazes me.