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