Dorms are interesting because the colleges really do have to compete with the outside real estate market (including, in some schools more than others, the stude

Dorms are interesting because the colleges really do have to compete with the outside real estate market (including, in some schools more than others, the student's room at their parent's house) and with each other. We've all heard stories of crumbling dorms in decades past, but it wasn't too long ago that boarding houses and cold water flats (i.e., apartments with no hot water) were reasonably common. If potential students come to visit a college and the dorms notably look bad, they might get a bad impression of the school, even subconsciously and end up going somewhere else. And if too many students decide to live off campus, it messes with student activities and general sense of school pride (which also messes with future alumni donations) and with the school's bottom line.