The Yankees of iHousing

Apparently for some, housing at GW isn't quite as frustrating as it is for most of us that have ever used the iHousing system:

Another entertaining bidding war was for the Ivory Tower quad, which occurred between two groups of students outbidding each other from the starting bid of $1,000 to the final bid of $15,000. Top bidders Andrew Shapiro, Nick Melhado, Seamus Kerin, and Harrison Nesbit will be living in the "sickest room on campus" next fall. The group "loves a good auction" and was happy their money was well spent to benefit a charity as well as award them with their top housing choice.

On the surface, I am not a big fan of the principle of the idea, that the best student housing goes to whoever has parent's that are willing to add on to their already incredibly high tuition bill to buy them the "sickest room on campus". I also chaffed when I real that the gaggle of students that got the room "loves a good auction". This is one of the several reasons that GW gets the reputation that it does of having a student body that is almost as wealthy as they are pretentious.

However, after thinking over the idea more, I decided that it really wasn't the worst thing in the world. Sure, students that don't have as much money can't live in one of the top rooms on campus. They are still eligible for hundreds of other rooms that are similar to these rooms, and they do have cheaper, or nicer, off-campus options if they so choose. Also, the proceeds of the event go toward a housing scholarship fund for students.

If students are willing to throw this much money into getting housing, they would likely go off campus to a high-priced option, like the 2400 M apartments, if they got a bad draw in the GW Housing process. While I wholeheartedly disagree with policies by the University that give students with wealthy parents a greater advantage to essential services like housing than other students, in this case, there is a good utilitarian benefit to their purchasing of housing.

As for me, I will pay less than them (or any other Junior or Senior living in GW Housing) to live in a house off-campus for the second year in a row. It's less expensive, you have more freedom, and best of all, you don't have to swipe your GWorld to get inside.