Sending a freshman off to college is almost always an expensive endeavor, but the latest viral trend is taking back-to-school shopping to the next level.
Extreme dorm makeovers are becoming increasingly popular, with some parents shelling out tens of thousands of dollars and hiring professional interior designers to transform their kids’ humble abodes into the dorm rooms of their dreams.
Far removed from the beat-up mini-fridges and crooked posters of the past, the dramatic transformations are unnecessary, some say, and reflect the widening line between the haves and have-nots in the U.S.
“Wealth disparity just becomes obvious on a college campus, because suddenly your lifestyle is either funded by you or it’s not,” said Mya Mendola, who graduated from the University of Minnesota last year.
Nevertheless, transformation videos are all over TikTok, showing drab, undecorated freshman dorms elevated into luxurious oases. Crystal chandeliers, plush bedding and monogrammed pillows overflow in the small spaces.
“They’re away from home for the first time,” said Shelly Gates, a professional dorm designer. “They need their own little comfortable space.”
Gates, who owns Mary Margaret Designs, an interior design company in Mississippi, has gone viral for her elaborate room transformations. Her dorm makeover videos have garnered hundreds of thousands of views online, showing her clients’ shocked reactions at their unrecognizable rooms.
“My end goal is not to be on TikTok," Gates said. "It’s not to show off these designs, but my goal is always for the moms to be happy and the girls to be happy.”
She continued: “Old people like me grew up in dorms that literally were cinder block prison cells, and now our kids are the age to go to college, and we don’t want them to have that experience.”
The viral makeovers are not just for girls. Some parents are transforming their sons' freshman rooms into full-fledged man caves with gaming chairs, brick wallpaper, leather couches and neon signs.
A market for elaborate dorm designs has grown since 2020, when Tamara Wingerter and Stephanie Knight started the Facebook group Dorm Rooms of Mississippi and Beyond to share their extravagant renovations.
Wingerter, who now has her own business, said she has seen designs costing anywhere from $500 to $20,000.
“If someone has a $100,000 budget, I mean, I have never seen one of those yet, but you never know,” said Wingerter. “People drop that on a birthday party, so why not for nine months?"
After countless vision boards and full online shopping carts, Wingerter says her favorite part is seeing the students’ reaction when a room is finished.
“College is hard enough. It’s such a big transition for our children, why shouldn’t we make their rooms somewhere where they’re comfortable and happy that expresses their personality?” said Wingerter.
Mendola, the recent college grad, said the extravagant dorm rooms are nothing like what she had in school.
“Everyone had, like, a funny, cool, interesting theme,” said Mendola. “Nobody was going for aesthetics.”
“It makes you wonder — she went on — what level of individuality is coming into your room versus what level is something you curated online? Are we losing some self-expression, because so much of it is based on what’s cool on the internet?”
Mendola and Megan Stout, who graduated from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, in 2018, said they were shocked to hear what some people were paying for makeovers.
“I shopped at Target. I got the $5 floor-length mirror,” Stout said. “I think our futon at the time was like $100. So, nothing crazy.”
Stout said she didn't see the point of spending so much money on a “cinder block dorm room.”
“Twenty-thousand dollars, that’s literally a down payment!” she said. “There’s always families that can afford more and buy their kids more.”
