Dorm Deluxe

The simple life? No way. College students indulge as rooms go from grotty quarters to top-tier luxury

Some people choose the college they will attend for its distinguished faculty, others for its bowl-winning football team and not a few for its girl-to-guy ratio. But Amanda Botway decided on Chicago's Illinois Institute of Technology when she saw the dorm she would live in. Outside, the $28 million State Street Village residence hall, designed by renowned architect Helmut Jahn, is constructed of corrugated, stainless-steel panels and walls of tinted glass. Inside, a glass elevator glides from pristine courtyards to a fifth-floor penthouse, where there's a sleek lounge with leather sofas and a 50-in. plasma TV. Botway's 250sq.ft. corner room has...

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