I recently visited my alma mater, a small, selective (top 20) liberal arts college, and found the facilities looking much as I had left them 20-ish years ago. I think the gym had been spruced and there was a new science center. The dorms--the same. Spartan. Very. (A few are nicer by virtue of being old and pretty.) I compare this to my experience in several large state university towns, where new dorms, eateries, and buildings pop up like mushrooms and are swank as hell. Very interesting.