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Perks, privacy and space are great, but some students find themselves missing the mayhem of traditional dorms. "In more traditional halls, it's easier to interact," says Brian Halcomb, 20, a junior who lives in Emerson at Seattle Pacific University. "You have the common bathroom, and the rooms are closer to each other, so the casual conversations and seeing people happen much easier." To parents footing the bill, though, that can be welcome news. The quiet suite that New York University sophomore Haley Plourde-Cole, 19, shares with two roommates in a luxury high-rise dorm has made it easier for her to study and keep a 3.6 GPA. That makes the $10,000 bill a lot easier for her father Stuart to swallow. Says Dad: "She's earned it." --With reporting by Paige Bowers/Atlanta, Deborah Edler Brown/Seattle, Jeanne Dequine/Miami and Kristin Kloberdanz/Chicago