Jacuzzi 101.

The competition for cortege students is yielding amenities once unimaginable on campuses. At the Oshkosh campus of the University of Wisconsin, students can pamper themselves with massages, pedicures and manicures; Washington State University in Pullman boasts of having the largest Jacuzzi on the West Coast. (It holds 53 people.) Penn State's student center in State College has two ballrooms, three art galleries, a movie theater with surround sound and a 200-gatton tropical ecosystem with newts and salamanders. On the drawing board at the University of Southern Mississippi are plans for a water park, complete with water slides, a river and something called a wet deck for sunbathing. Critics call them multimillion-dollar frills that are driving up university debts and inflating the cost of education. Colleges defend them as necessary in the scramble to attract top students and faculty.