Pricey digs

Why live in a Comm Ave dorm when you could rent a posh Copley pad for the same amount of money?

by Jessica Rosin

At $8060 for the school year, or $1007 a month for eight months, a four-bedroom suite in Boston University's spanking-new dorm, the Student Village, rivals the cost of a luxury apartment in some parts of the city. And considering that the dorm carries the same rules and regulations found elsewhere on campus, such as restrictions on overnight guests and alcohol (translation: it's harder to hook up or get drunk, two activities near and dear to many students' hearts), the new building would seem like a tough sell.

It helps that the Student Village comes with central AC, a food court, and a fitness room -- but you could share a four-bedroom apartment in Allston, buy a T pass, and still save $4000.

Built in part to alleviate the housing crunch that plagues area colleges and the city itself, the new dorm will help Boston University meet its goal of housing 75 percent of the undergraduates who want to live on campus. Last year, the school housed 71 percent of such students. With the demand for dorm space outpacing the supply, the school now houses some freshmen in the Cambridge and Comm Ave Howard Johnson hotels and in an Emmanuel College dorm.

Despite its high cost, the 817-student dorm was among the most popular choices in the campus housing lottery, according to university spokesman Colin Riley. "It was gone rather quickly," he says. "The student with the first lottery number picked a place in the building. It was priced in a way to attract students and has been very successful."

Maybe. But it still seems like a lot of dough for a garbage disposal and central AC.