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How Much Do Dorm Rooms Cost – Some students decorate their dorm rooms with strings of fairy lights, decorative vines, pillows and matching bedding. Credit: Image courtesy of Megan Boell/University of Cincinnati
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How Much Do Dorm Rooms Cost
Having spent most of the past two and a half years at home due to the pandemic, with their bedrooms as the backdrop for their social media content, the current generation of college students will naturally be obsessed with aesthetics. At least that’s what makes sense to Amanda Zuckerman, CEO and founder of Dormify, a furniture company for college dorms and apartments.
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“Your parents want to send you off feeling comfortable, like you’re in a space that supports everything you do every day in college,” Zuckerman said. “Because if you don’t start and end your day in a functional, inspiring, warm and welcoming space, how are you expected to be the best on campus?”
According to the National Retail Federation, the average American family spends about $1,200 on college returns. While some spend much more, shopping with advisors at retailers like Dormify, Dormco and others that specialize in dorm furniture and decor, and entering decorating contests, others struggle financially with minimal college expenses and are in a difficult position when faced with “invisible” costs, such as making a dorm room livable.
“Kids who can’t afford a mini-fridge are going to feel bad when it comes time to split the dorm costs,” said Susan Dinarski, a professor of education at Harvard University.
Besides flashy ads from online specialty stores and hard-to-miss window displays at big box stores, there are other options for students in need, including gift programs, DIY projects, and thrift shopping.
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Students who live in dormitories make up only a small percentage of college attendees, as many students commute to college, live off campus, or study online. According to a 2016 report by the Urban Institute, about 60 percent of students live in dormitories at private, for-profit colleges, and about 36 percent at public colleges. The share of low-income students varies by how selective an institution is, but 70 percent of all public college students receive Pell Grants and 30 percent of students at private, for-profit colleges receive Pell Grants, according to an analysis by the College Access and Success Institute.
Dynarski said that for students who actually live in the dormitories, inequality is a manifestation of the outside world. Entering a four-year boarding college is often like entering upper-middle-class life, she said.
“And if you don’t arrive with the accoutrements of upper-class life, it’s hard for you to interact with your peers socially and then academically,” Dynarski said.
The University of Cincinnati is hosting a contest for the best room decor called What’s Your #UC Room Drip? Credit: Image courtesy of Maleya Taylor/University of Cincinnati
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One of the benefits of going to college is the networking that students build and can connect to the workforce after college, she said, “so anything that prevents people from forming cohesive social ties with classmates reduces the benefits of college.”
Ideally, colleges would find a way to address the problem proactively rather than putting the onus on students, Dinarski said.
While Dormify benefits from families who spend a lot of money and can meet with Dormify design consultants in the New York showroom or via Zoom to help create the perfect home away from home, Zuckerman said her company also tries to help to low-income students.
Each year, Dormify partners with private scholarship foundations to provide dorms for students who receive those scholarships, and Zuckerman said the company is about to launch a dorm giveaway program for low-income students.
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They also have a student ambassador program that gives students discount codes that they can offer to their friends or social media followers and earn points when people shop with their codes. Student ambassadors can use their points to earn free dorm room checks and can also enter sweepstakes, Zuckerman said.
To make their dorm rooms cozy and personal, Zuckerman suggested that students turn to social media, where they can learn to “get the look for less” by DIYing or shopping during sales.
“You can do, you know, a photo collage that doesn’t cost a lot of money and completely transforms your room, or you can get, you know, a set of lights that will give you that wow factor,” Zuckerman said. “There are a lot of great tools out there to really transform things that you can get at a low cost.”
Brittany Dickinson, Goodwill International’s sustainability manager, said another inexpensive way to bring personal style to a hostel is to shop second-hand.
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“What I personally love about thrifting is that it can give you your own personality,” she said. “Your stuff that you buy is not at all like everyone else in your dorm.”
Students can find most of what they need for their dorm at Goodwill, and it’s not only cheaper, but better for the environment, she said. Buying used items saves plastic and cardboard that would otherwise end up in dumpsters outside the dorm, and prevents the product from ending up in a landfill.
“It is much more sustainable to buy something that already exists, that has been used, that has been loved or worn before, as opposed to buying a new product that may be made from the most ethical materials and from a company that has advertised a lot of environmental benefits.” Dickinson said.
And whether students bought new or used at the start of the new year, she said they should consider donating items they no longer need when it’s time to leave so someone can use them.
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(212) 678-8402 Subscribe to my newsletter! Olivia Sanchez is a higher education reporter. She previously covered… More Olivia Sanchez
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The “it” bag among a subset of shoppers in the know is emblazoned with tacky logos, features a vibrant combination of two primary colors, and features some kind of shiny zipper. Despite all this, it is sometimes unavailable due to high demand. You can often find it marked up as much as 300 percent on third-party marketplaces.
Gucci? Coach? No, it’s a Frakta bag, courtesy of Swedish designer … Ikea. I just bought six of these directly from the retailer for $4.99 each.
The Frakta bags are made of the same blue plastic as Ikea’s large open shopping bags, except they are shaped like duffel bags and have a zipper and extra straps that can double as a backpack. I know about them from a Facebook page called Dorm Chatter, a bastion of 35,000 followers, mostly moms, debating the best fans, sheets, and, yes, storage bags to transition their students to college.
In the early 90’s I attended a public university with standard cinder block dormitories. I decorated it with posters, milk crates, and a brown, battered, rented mini-fridge. So I wasn’t fully prepared for what these hobbyist dorm experts were telling me that my kid, who will be a freshman this fall and attend college six hours away, “needs” his room.
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First of all, these are the Frakta bags. Members of the group have posted a ton of photos showing just how much stuff can fit in one and how great their stackability is in the back of an SUV. Alternatively, they can have a second life as travel bags or laundry bags. I was convinced.
But then it started to get more esoteric. There’s the Woozoo, a ball-shaped oscillating fan that also moves up and down for better cooling, which regularly sells out at Costco. There is a Lucid mattress pad (oh shit, does it need a mattress pad?) for which it was determined that 3 inches of thickness was perfect. There are a few pool noodle hacks – a hugely popular DIY tool – including one where you cut a noodle in half lengthwise and place it on the bottom edge of a loft bed to keep taller kids from bumping into themselves
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