4 ms·

I presume the $800 billion in new buildings was really $800 million. Still a mind-bogglingly large amount for a single university to spend.

by flipper 17y ago

mynameishere 17y ago
Not really. Schools can waste enormous amounts of money on nothing.
rudyfink 17y ago
Buildings are surprisingly expensive. ~50-75$ million (perhaps even more these days) gets you a pretty basic academic building (like a dorm). Fancy buildings with expensive contents like libraries and labs are substantially spendier.
- patio11 17y ago
  I don't doubt your numbers. However, a dorm is an apartment building with students living it and maybe a room with some communal computers. You can walk two blocks from almost any $75 million dorm in the country and find an apartment building with students living in it. That apartment building didn't cost $75 million, or indeed anywhere close. Sometimes excess is just excess. As she starts her freshman year at the University of Maryland, Alyssa Evans will not be roughing it: She'll have a furnished single room with a double bed, private bathroom, cable and high-speed Internet. Her four-person suite has a full kitchen, a washer and dryer, a dining room table and black leather couches in the living room. Her high-rise building has a game room with video games, poker and pool tables and flat-screen TVs, a rooftop deck, a pool and -- losing track here -- okay, and a big fitness center. And tanning beds. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14364465/ http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14364465/
  - jrockway 17y ago
    I am not sure that that's excessive. When I was in college, I shared a tiny room with a roommate. It was constantly loud, and I got nothing done. I ended up dropping out. Since finding a real place to live (and a real job, of course), I've written a book and have over 100 open source projects in my github. Having a quiet, comfortable place to work probably contributed to that. Giving people a reasonable place to live and study is not excess -- it should be mandatory. (Also, this stuff isn't that expensive. I live in a high-rise in downtown Chicago, not a cheap market, and facilities like this would not be very expensive when split between 4 people. It's not all that expensive for one person...)
  - endtime 17y ago
    The tanning beds are a bit much, but in general I don't see what's wrong with a nice dorm. Just because most of us put up with crappy living conditions as freshmen doesn't mean there's anything noble about it.
  - robg 17y ago
    Biomedical buildings, which the new campus is full of, are insanely expense - on the order of $50 million/floor. Almost everything is close to a custom design to insure safety and research fidelity.
- deleted 17y ago
  [deleted]

I presume the $800 billion in new buildings was really $800 million. Still a mind-bogglingly large amount for a single university to spend.

by flipper 17y ago

I presume the $800 billion in new buildings was really $800 million. Still a mind-bogglingly large amount for a single university to spend.

mynameishere 17y ago

Not really. Schools can waste enormous amounts of money on nothing.

rudyfink 17y ago

Buildings are surprisingly expensive. ~50-75$ million (perhaps even more these days) gets you a pretty basic academic building (like a dorm). Fancy buildings with expensive contents like libraries and labs are substantially spendier.

patio11 17y ago
I don't doubt your numbers. However, a dorm is an apartment building with students living it and maybe a room with some communal computers. You can walk two blocks from almost any $75 million dorm in the country and find an apartment building with students living in it. That apartment building didn't cost $75 million, or indeed anywhere close. Sometimes excess is just excess. As she starts her freshman year at the University of Maryland, Alyssa Evans will not be roughing it: She'll have a furnished single room with a double bed, private bathroom, cable and high-speed Internet. Her four-person suite has a full kitchen, a washer and dryer, a dining room table and black leather couches in the living room. Her high-rise building has a game room with video games, poker and pool tables and flat-screen TVs, a rooftop deck, a pool and -- losing track here -- okay, and a big fitness center. And tanning beds. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14364465/ http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14364465/
- jrockway 17y ago
  I am not sure that that's excessive. When I was in college, I shared a tiny room with a roommate. It was constantly loud, and I got nothing done. I ended up dropping out. Since finding a real place to live (and a real job, of course), I've written a book and have over 100 open source projects in my github. Having a quiet, comfortable place to work probably contributed to that. Giving people a reasonable place to live and study is not excess -- it should be mandatory. (Also, this stuff isn't that expensive. I live in a high-rise in downtown Chicago, not a cheap market, and facilities like this would not be very expensive when split between 4 people. It's not all that expensive for one person...)
- endtime 17y ago
  The tanning beds are a bit much, but in general I don't see what's wrong with a nice dorm. Just because most of us put up with crappy living conditions as freshmen doesn't mean there's anything noble about it.
- robg 17y ago
  Biomedical buildings, which the new campus is full of, are insanely expense - on the order of $50 million/floor. Almost everything is close to a custom design to insure safety and research fidelity.
deleted 17y ago
[deleted]