I should clarify that I'm a dorm parents, so we live in a nice apartment in the dorm. No room sharing for me these days. Well, at least no room sharing with people I'm not related to by blood or marriage.
1. No weird drops in water temperature or pressure. Perhaps the boilers can run out of water, but I've never had that problem. The water doesn't get super duper hot, but it's hot enough for me at the highest setting. Plus, no worries about scalding yourself, because the water just can't get that hot.
2. Industrial strength toilet -- we have a public restroom style toilet, thankfully with a lid. That baby never clogs. Bonus: hopefully Julie will never be scared by loud public toilets, because our toilet is that loud.
3. My friends live just down the hall. Of course, the downside is that people move to new apartments many years, so the same friends aren't always down the same hall (this also leads to the funny bit of who else has lived in your apartment, and we swap apartment tips and tricks all the times about the idiosyncracies of each place). I love being able to throw on flip flops and visit people. We also loan stuff to each other all the time. It's like being in a commune without actually having to share my living space.
4. Free rent! Do I need to say more? It is in exchange for keeping track of 115ish teenage boys, but that's not as bad as it sounds.
5. I can submit a help ticket anytime something breaks, and someone will come fix it for me. I even got someone to paint a room once, in the winter, when projects were slow.
For us, this lifestyle works well. I hope it continues to be good for our family; hard to say what changes are in store. We've had kids living here all summer, and that's gone fine. Matt even got paid to do supplemental dorm duty. I'm excited for our school-year boys, as some of them will even play with Julie or our cat. Here's to "alternative" living.