Bring on the bling

DARTMOUTH -- When plans for new residences were being drawn up for the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, students offered a few ideas. Classic dormitories would not do. More fitting, they suggested, would be a complex with an indoor swimming pool, a cafe, private bathrooms, full kitchens, and nary a bunk bed.

Administrators nixed the pool idea; an Olympic-sized one sits yards away in the school gymnasium. But most of the other ideas were accepted. And so this year, some 1,200 UMass-Dartmouth students will move into new ''apartment-style" living space, complete with recessed lighting, oversized windows, dishwashers, and full beds.

In an era when private colleges and large public universities have stocked their campuses with luxuries in the increasingly fierce competition for students, smaller state schools have found themselves at a crossroad. Without large endowments or major athletic enterprises, places like UMass-Dartmouth can't match their wealthier brethren. And with limited public dollars at stake, they haven't wanted to appear frivolous.

But administrators say they are increasingly adamant that their students have at least some of the same perks -- both to lure students and as a point of pride -- even as it has meant passing along the costs to students.

''Why shouldn't working-class students have these things as well?" said John Wooding, provost at UMass-Lowell. ''They shouldn't be just for the students at MIT."

The entry of state schools into the amenities race underscores the end of the classical belief in a Spartan campus, a place where creature comforts were considered distractions from a life of the mind. Today, despite cuts in state aid, regional schools are following the stampede to make campuses recreationally friendly and luxuriously comfortable.

At UMass-Lowell, students work out at a $19 million athletic facility with a suspended jogging track, Pilates classes, and personal trainers. At UMass-Boston, students mingle and plan their academic course work at an $80 million student center.

The amenities are a far cry from those at bigger schools. At Boston University, the new $90 million athletic center features a hot tub and climbing wall. Big public schools can also boast: The University of Vermont plans to spend $70 million on a new student center that will include a bistro and shopping.

Still, students at regional schools say they are delighted by their campus upgrades. ''There's a dishwasher," Pamela Malatesta, a 21-year-old senior majoring in English literature at UMass-Dartmouth, said of the four-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment she will live in this fall. ''It's very exciting."

Justin Massei, a 19-year-old sophomore, said he chose UMass-Lowell for its engineering program. But, he says, ''I remember falling in love with the rec center. When I was going through orientation, I was like, 'I can't wait to get in there.' "

The new buildings at the UMass campuses are a distinct departure from the minimalist concrete structures built in the 1960s and 1970s. Airy and light-filled, they are studies in aesthetics. The recreation center (don't call it a gym) at Lowell has exposed steel trusses and red brick to reflect the city's industrial roots; the student center in Boston is glass-fronted, revealing stunning waterfront views.

To not make the changes, administrators say, would mean losing students. ''It's much different today when kids are analyzing schools; now amenities are incredibly important," said Dana Skinner, the athletics director at UMass-Lowell. ''There is an aspect of keeping up with the Joneses."

David Kirp, public policy professor at the University of California at Berkeley and author of ''Shakespeare, Einstein, and the Bottom Line: Higher Education Goes to Market," said the competition is a reflection of a changed student perspective.

''Regional universities were once meant to be bare-bones institutions with enough folks in the region to come to them," Kirp said. ''We now treat students not as acolytes whose preferences get formed in college, but as consumers who know what they want."

At UMass-Dartmouth, before building the new apartment-style residences, administrators surveyed students, many of whom requested amenities they had seen at campuses of larger schools. The request list was long and provoked some controversy.

''It was hard for some people to understand why students requested a full-size bed," said Michael Laliberte, associate vice chancellor for student affairs. ''Some felt there were sexual overtones to it, but when we polled students, none of them slept in twin beds at home. They live out of their beds. They study on their beds, work with their computers on their beds."

Jesse Correia, a 20-year-old junior, said the apartment he will live in this fall is everything he could have asked for. ''It's a drastic change from the residence halls," he said. ''It doesn't feel like you're living on campus."