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Positive memories of college dorm living usually revolve around a new-found sense of freedom and the ability to eat, drink, screw, and screw-up without the watchful eye of overprotective parents. Complaints about crappy cafeteria food, sexaholic roommates, and complete lack of privacy are usually par for the course. Usually, the only people who can stay in someplace really luxe or just moderately cool have to sell their souls to some antiquated Greek system and suffer a ridiculous hazing process.
But these ten dorms across America are totally cool—and some might even be worth their exorbitant price tag. Especially, if mommy and daddy are paying for it.
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10. Illinois Institute of Technology
Where: Chicago
Dorm name: State Street Village
Coolest perk: 50" HD TVs in lounges
Unnecessary but awesome: Million dollar views of Chicago
Approximate cost: $2,654
Wanna live on a futuristic tip? State Street Village has sleek, modern dorms created to look like the L-Trains rumbling by. The trio of buildings flank the train line, making for incredible visuals. Designed by world-renowned German-American architect Helmut Jahn, the highly-coveted State Street Village has a 24-hour security guard, a temperature controlled suite, and a kitchenette on every floor. There's also a lounge on every floor, which includes a 50" television for every college students gaming and football-viewing needs. In addition, the surrounding McCormick Tribune Campus Center has video games, pinball machines, and three dining options including a full-service restaurant called the Pritzker Club to impress the parents.
9. George Washington University
Where: Washington
Dorm name: Ivory Tower
Coolest perk: Dunkin' Donuts on premises
Unnecessary but awesome: Million dollar electronic locks
Approximate cost: $10,325
If you basically want to live in a mini-mall, George Washington University's Ivory Tower can meet every Americanized consumerist need imaginable—all for a steep 10 racks a head. Dorms come standard with a living room, full kitchen, dining area, and even private bathrooms—no communal showers here. The basement of the aptly-named Ivory Tower has Dunkin' Donuts, Potbelly, Pita Pita, a music practice room, a grocery store, and even a dry cleaner on premise. Nominated for The Dormy Awards, the Ivory Tower is considered one of the coolest dorms in the country. Anywhere with donuts and high-speed Wi-Fi is a magical place.
8. College of William and Mary
Where: Williamsburg, Va.
Dorm name: The CW House
Coolest perk: The spacious backyard
Unnecessary but awesome: 18th century reproduction furniture
Approximate cost: N/A
Tucked away in Colonial Williamsburg, the CW House is nothing like the typical college experience. This gorgeous house from 1737 is awarded to two ambitious seniors who get good grades, participate in clubs, and actually care about their school's future. The white colonial home is covered from floor to ceiling with luxe wood, 18-century reproduction furniture, a fireplace for surviving the cold Williamsburg nights America's forefather's suffered through, and a backyard with gardens. The students that live at the CW House have to represent their school to the community, plan events for other students throughout the year, and show their basic school support, which seems like a cake walk when most other students are out doing the walk of shame.
7. University of Virginia
Where: Charlottesville, Va.
Dorm name: Academical Village
Coolest perk: The fireplace
Unnecessary but awesome: Elite exclusivity
Approximate cost: $5,930
Our forefathers were the ultimate bros. Thomas Jefferson had the right idea when he drafted the Declaration of Independence, but he also created a really awesome place for well-off University of Virginia seniors to doze off in the Old Dominion sunshine. To be one of the lucky 54 people to live in one of the prestigious lawn rooms—complete with porches, rocking chairs, and fireplaces—students most prove they really want it (ie: won't cozy up with a live-in girlfriend someplace else or study abroad). The rooms are quaint; there's no air-conditioning or kitchens. But there's a working fireplace, total privacy, and a...sink closet? Which is perfect for a hobo shower in front of the fire before opening your door onto a patio overlooking the most popular common area of your school. Our forefather's really did understand the meaning of "independence."
6. St. Lawrence University
Where: Canton, N.Y.
Dorm name: Arcadia Yurt Village
Coolest perk: The outdoor sauna
Unnecessary but awesome: No social media maintenance
Approximate cost: Unknown
Imagine living in a yurt surrounded by ancient trees and embarking on daily excursions like rock climbing or kayaking through crystalline waters. Now imagine doing that in college and having nature literally be the campus. Devoid of every electronic that ordinarily keeps millennials connected ateverysecond, students learning niche majors like Outdoor Studies are thrown straight into the wild of the Adirondacks. The yurts are 16-feet across in diameter and sleep three students each with sleeping bags on top of air mattresses (which means they're bigger than most dorms). Outdoors, students take courses like Natural History of the Adirondacks, Philosophy and the Environment, and Creative Expressions of Nature. The twelve students in the program cook for each other in their outdoor "dorm," chop firewood, and only get to go into the city every other week to do laundry or make phone calls. For some, it may sounds to extreme, but all the students leave talking about the "power of Gaia," which sounds like one hell of a drug. Also, there's a sauna. So, there's that.
5. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Where: Cambridge, Mass.
Dorm name: Simmons Hall (a.k.a. "The Sponge")
Coolest perk: The ball pit
Unnecessary but awesome: Checkerboard windows
Approximate cost: $4,511
The Sponge isn't just an outdated form of birth control or a device that college students never use. It's the nickname of the architecturally outrageous dorms at MIT (formally known as Simmons Hall). Designed by Stephen Holl, the architect specifically set out to create a building with "holes." Each hole or gap is a terrace, while windows serve to increase the illusion. The $78.5 million building also has bright, sunny rooms thanks to at least nine windows in each room. Lovingly called the "Space Waffle," the Sponge is modernity at its finest. There is no carpet, furniture that stacks like Lego bricks, rubber ducks in a water sculpture, and a tower wired to play Christmas carols. The dorm is flanked by a football field, so it takes awhile to get there from other parts of the academic world. But, for those interested in living out-of-the-box (literally), The Sponge is where college undergrads can soak up all the action.
4. Boston University
Where: Boston
Dorm name: STUVI2
Coolest perk: Walk-in closets
Unnecessary but awesome: The Penthouse
Approximate cost: $13,630
26-stories of opulent sustainability, Boston University's StuVi2 (or Student Village Phase Two) is perfect for the young elite of this "old money" town. There's 24-hour security, walk-in closets for all your old-school Star Wars paraphernalia, spendy single apartments and shared apartments, study rooms scattered throughout the giant building, music practice rooms, and secure bicycle storage perfect for the quintessential Beantown biking lifestyle. The luxury doesn't end there. The sleek building also has a penthouse suite with an insane view of the Boston skyline. Time to get spoiled, mama's boy.
3. Brandeis University
Where: Waltham, Mass.
Dorm name: Usen Castle
Coolest perk: In-dorm coffee house
Unnecessary but awesome: Pie-shaped rooms
Approximate cost: N/A
Always had delusions of grandeur? Well, playing at royalty is not hard for students who take up a proverbial turret at Brandeis University's Usen Castle. A gorgeous stone facade crawling with vines boasts rooms for 120 sophomore students, Brandeis' coffee house, Chum's (which was apparently the model for Central Perk in the 90s sitcom Friends), and direct access to the Usden Student Center which includes two dining halls, the mail center, and a lookout balcony with a view of Boston's skyline. Rooms come in classic single, double, triple versions, but there are also suites available, rooms that are pie-shaped with hardwood floors, and a lounge with a piano. You know, in case a student wants to play at court jester to entice a young maidens into shacking up in one of the mixed gender rooms with him.
2. Purdue University
Where: West Lafayette, Ind,
Dorm name: First Street Towers
Coolest perk: Private rooms
Unnecessary but awesome: The pool table
Approximate cost: $14,298
It's not Lindsay Lohan's luxe extended stay at the Chateau Marmont, but over-privileged co-eds get to stay at what essentially equates to Purdue University's version of a hotel. The practically brand spankin' new complex took $52 million dollars to create and includes extras that ramen-subsisting undergrads could only dream of, like two student lounges complete with a 47-inch flatscreens and kitchenettes for actual cooking. All the rooms are private single rooms that include a private bath and air-conditioning around a central living area, a plush situation that basically constitutes parents playing a premium for their child to have a private sex palace. Ahhh, college.
1. University of Michigan
Where: Ann Arbor, Mich.
Dorm name: North Quadrangle Residential and Academic Complex
Coolest perk: Integrative study and living arrangement
Unnecessary but awesome: Shark on the cafeteria menu
Approximate cost: $13,230
Many college students spend their study time holed up in the library, buzzing off of Pocky and vending machine coffee while struggling to stay awake under the weight of their statistics notes. But the $175 million North Quadrangle Residential and Academic Complex offers something completely different and actually pretty intuitive for their international and intercultural students. Not only does the North Quad have plush single, double, and triple rooms, the space impressively integrates sleeping, living, and study spaces. It includes classrooms, offices for communication studies, the language resource center, and a writing center. The Academic Complex has a television production studio, a multimedia collaborative work space that has video-teleconferencing and electronic media sharing, and a marketplace-style dining center. Yes, that includes gourmet dishes with exotic ingredients like shark and a dope coffee house to get your late night study on. Foodies, you've found your new home.