ATLANTA - Pity not those innocent freshmen shuttled off to a cinder-block cell in a decrepit dormitory.

New campus complexes nationwide are now sporting space and luxuries previously unknown to most young collegians.

Sharing bedrooms? Primitive. Community-style showers? Barbaric.

Today, private rooms, furnished flats, functioning kitchens and even laundry rooms are almost standard on-campus amenities.

"It isn't just shelter by a long shot," said Ray Kimsey, vice president of architecture and planning firm Niles Bolton Associates in Atlanta. "The historical model that students had was the same as prisoners or inmates of an asylum. Student housing can be a really delightful environment."

The transition from gloomy to glamorous is under way at several colleges across the nation this month.

Pennsylvania State University is opening Eastview Terrace - a complex with 811 single rooms with private baths. And right about now, students at Baylor University will be moving into a new $33 million, 212,000-square-foot residence hall, complete with an amphitheater, a Chili's and 10 different floor plans from which to choose.

Wake Forest University has renovated all of its residence halls along with adding townhouses and apartments. Boston University also has added tony dorms, complete with kitchens and a panoramic view of the Charles River.

It's enough to give a freshman pause before sudsing the fountains.

And in Georgia, Kimsey and his crew have dramatically altered the state of college dwellings. The University of Georgia, Kennesaw State University, Southern Polytechnic State University, Emory University and Georgia State University are among the campuses where the firm has designed contemporary student housing that makes previous dorms seem like shanties.

Currently, Niles Bolton is designing accommodations for 2,000 additional students at Georgia State, plus complexes at Augusta State University and Albany State University.

"People have an amazing amount of privacy growing up," Kimsey said. "A majority of students who enter college have never shared a bedroom with a sibling. The expectations are much greater now than anytime previously."

Not to mention other pleasantries of life. Megan Hammond, 20, a third-year student and a resident assistant at Kennesaw State, lives in the university's modern on-campus housing that includes a private bathroom.

"I have this issue with bathroom sharing," said Hammond. "I don't do well with that."

In this breed of housing, students often not only have their own bedroom and bath, but desks, drawers and their own high-speed Internet connections. At Kennesaw State, each unit is equipped with a full refrigerator, range, microwave, and washer and dryer, which means there's no excuse to lug laundry-filled Hefty bags to Mom's once a month.

Terraces overlook a courtyard with flowing fountains. A recreation room is draped in regal red, flanked by a wet bar, billiard tables and a big-screen television.

And parents of commuters, you can relax: The cost isn't coming out of your pocket.

Although tuition hikes seem to be constant at state schools - the Board of Regents approved a 5 percent tuition increase for in-state undergraduates in May - these upscale accommodations aren't connected to that cost.

"It has no impact at all on what the tuition rate is," said Board of Regents spokesman John Millsaps. "We have a mix of housing for students these days. A lot of the newer models are a blend of public-private partnerships that actually collect the rents directly from students. Auxiliary enterprises (such as housing) don't come out of the operating budget. Those come from fees collected by those who use these."

Georgia Tech opened two modern complexes - 325 beds in each - in 1992. Three years later, another 1,900 new beds were filled with eager students."We were the Olympic Village, so we got a jump-start on what a lot of universities are doing," said Dan Morrison, associate director of residence life at Georgia Tech. "On just about every major campus, most everybody is rebuilding or renovating."Tech boasts 2,677 apartment units, primarily four-bedroom, two-bath apartments with ranges, refrigerators, microwaves and cable TV, as well as a fitness facility in each building."Many universities are building on that model," he said. "Other universities will come to Tech and tour these facilities. Some are retrofitting."The posh spread comes at a price. Traditional halls cost students $1,900 a semester. An apartment slot is $2,600.But the apartments are so nice that the colleges often are retaining juniors and seniors who would normally flee to off-campus housing, Morrison said.Despite the amenities - kitchens, for example, a big draw - socialization can suffer. Andrew Howard, Residence Hall Association president at Georgia Tech, has lived in the traditional dorms and the new apartments."The downside is that there's no community. Most people don't know their neighbors," he said. "We call that the two-door problem. People in traditional dorms leave their doors open. In the apartments, they're behind the front door and a bedroom door. We want to get residents out and meet each other."It certainly sounds a bit privileged. Or perhaps past accommodations were just a bit archaic."The way institutions perceive what they are providing has changed," Kimsey said. "Thirty years ago, the environment of the campus was a significant part of the overall experience. But housing was a way of providing very basic shelter. Universities now see the value of a true live-learn environment and the expectation for student housing is much greater."