College move-in used to mean twin XL sheets, a shower caddy and maybe a few posters taped to a cinder-block wall. For some families, that’s no longer going to cut it.
Parents are shelling out thousands of dollars to turn their kids’ temporary dorm rooms into carefully designed spaces, complete with custom headboards, wallpaper, matching bedding and professionally installed decor. The trend has spawned an entire dorm-design industry and a steady stream of elaborate room reveals on TikTok and Instagram.
And it’s happening as the price of simply getting through college gates reaches a striking new threshold, with the annual sticker price at dozens of U.S. colleges and universities now nearing or exceeding $100,000 a year, according to a CNBC analysis. That includes tuition, fees, room and board, books, transportation and other expenses.
The extra spending isn’t limited to the families hiring interior designers. College students and their families are expected to spend a record $103.5 billion, or $1,437.79 per shopper, getting ready for school this year, according to the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics, up from $88.8 billion last year.
A record $14 billion of that is expected to go toward dorm and apartment furnishings alone, up from $12.8 billion last year. The average family plans to spend $194 on the category, but increasingly elaborate dorm decor can push that bill into the thousands.
The price tags may raise eyebrows, but students are the ones living with the results. “No matter how people think how absurd spending all this money on your dorm room is, your kid’s gonna be here for the next nine months,” incoming James Madison University freshman Henley Bedwell told Axios. “Why would you not rather them be comfortable?”
Mary Margaret Designs founder Shelly Gates knows the ritual firsthand. The Mississippi mom of three started the business after decorating her own daughter’s dorm room at Mississippi State in 2020 and posting photos on Facebook.
What began as a summer side hustle eventually became her full-time job, designing dorm rooms across the South. Her own dorm at Louisiana State University was “essentially a prison cell,” she told Axios. But the rooms she designs today can include custom desk canopies, remote-controlled chandeliers and commissioned artwork.
Gates is handling about 35 dorm rooms this year, according to Axios, and some of her previous projects have reached $20,000, which she pitches as a four-year investment. “I want the art to be a memory of college,” she said. “I don’t want it to be something they outgrow.”
The $100,000 college experience
Of course, a $100,000 sticker price doesn’t mean every student attending those schools actually pays $100,000 a year.
Still, crossing six figures is a symbolic milestone for an industry already grappling with questions about affordability and whether a college degree is worth getting.
But families spending thousands on dorm decor aren’t necessarily the same ones paying six figures for college. Sara Harberson, author of the college admissions guide Soundbite, said the designer-dorm trend is particularly common at large public universities in the South, where even the cost for out-of-state students can be considerably lower than attending some private universities.
That can leave families with more room for discretionary spending once the tuition is paid.
“Then comes the ‘fun part,’ in the student’s eyes,” Harberson, who is also the founder and CEO of Application Nation, a network of private Facebook groups for parents navigating the college admissions process, told Fortune. “Many families view dorm room decor as a necessary expense. However, there are big error bars on either side of the actual cost of making a room look like a 5-star hotel. This allows families to spend what they want on it.”
Merit aid can widen that gap, Harberson said. Large public Southern universities can offer substantial merit scholarships, including to out-of-state students, while such awards can be much harder to come by at some elite private universities.
For some families, choosing the less expensive school can free up money for everything from dorm decorations to savings.
“In the end, families are making it clear where and what they want to spend their money on, when it comes to college,” Harberson said.
