nice facilities are easy to see and judge. And (in theory) this would make a good proxy for judging the other aspects: if the university has pride in providing

nice facilities are easy to see and judge. And (in theory) this would make a good proxy for judging the other aspects: if the university has pride in providing good quality accommodation for their students, than you could assume that they provide similarly good quality education, library services, etc. There is also an argument that the accommodation has a direct impact on students' education: if students are worrying about dodgy landlords, ongoing issues with heating or mould or leaking pipes, then they'd lose potential study-time in having to address the issues, have less mental capacity to channel to their education, and have an environment less suited to studying. So good quality accommodation is a net asset for educational services, but in some places the cost is substantially higher than the private-sector rental market.