Davidson College in North Carolina offers students free laundry facilities. Students can ski for free at a resort owned by Michigan Tech. And on lots of campuses, free iPod portable music players, cable television service, and computers in dorm rooms have become standard perks.

Given the average $10,000-a-year annual tuition and fees for even a state-supported college, you might think these trifles are bit like the free cup holder that the salesman says he’ll throw in if you’ll buy a new car from HIM.

Americans who got through school in an earlier day can only shake their heads at the extra inducements that colleges are using to lure students. A lot of them would have to admit that all it would have taken to get them to enroll somewhere was a friendly neighborhood beer hall that served pizza.