Home away from home: The cost of moving to college

4 minute read

For a lot of students, their move to college is filled with all kinds of emotions: excitement, sadness, nervousness, joy, the list goes on.

To cope with the sadness of moving away from home, some people bring their favorite things with them to college. Other people find moving away from home as an opportunity for a dorm shopping spree. Here’s what “Make Your Space Livable” has to say about dorm furnishing:

“The total average amount that college students spend on dorm shopping is $942.17. When buying the bare minimum, you’re likely going to spend up to $769.09. You’d likely spend $263.72 on decorations, $117.30 on storage items, $56.65 on furniture items, $298.44 on appliances and $32.98 on electronics.”

Madeline Roberts, a freshman at Oklahoma Christian University, shared her excitement for the change of living at home to moving to college. She explained her thought process when decorating her dorm as she found ways to help her feel more at home.

“I definitely have a lot of attributes from home. I have a very similar dorm room to my bedroom at home,” Roberts said. “I love neutral colors, and I think overall the scheme and everything is, like, very minimalistic. Having a similar space made it an easy transition.”

With the help of her parents, it took Roberts one day to move in and two days to decorate. Her parents helped her build most of her furniture, and Roberts shared how  the experience reminded her of the time they spent together.

“The memories associated with the things in my room are what makes me love them,” Roberts said. “Like me and my dad built my shoe dresser, so every time I look at it, I think of our experience building it and there’s a memory tied to each thing.” 

Robert’s dorm decorations are half new and half from home. Roberts discussed how the total price for decorations increased due to the bigger items in her dorm.

“I’d say overall, the cost is close to five hundred dollars. My parents bought my fridge; I bought my ottoman,” Roberts said. “So we pretty much split costs, but I would say the price is close to five hundred.”

Valeria Tormos, a freshman residing in Tinius due to the overflow of freshman girls in Gunn Henderson, keeps her room simple and organized. Tormos compares the quiet life in Tinius to the “disorganized and dirty” life in her twin brother’s dorm hall, Fails.

“I like living in Tinius because it’s very quiet. It isn’t loud,” Tormos said. “When I go to my brother’s hall, it’s disorganized and dirty. I’m very clean, and all the girls here are good.” 

Because Tormos came to Oklahoma Christian from Columbia, she could not bring many things from home. When asked what her favorite decoration was, a pink teddy bear sitting on her bed stood out. Tormos talked about how she holds the bear close to her heart because it reminds her of home.

“My mother made it for me. I made sure to bring it when I left home as I was so nervous to come here,” Tormos said. “But my first time on campus turned out to be better than expected.” 

Lauren Schwamb, a freshman living in Gunn Henderson, attributed most of her dorm décor to gifts.

“Before I got here, I didn’t really know what I wanted, I just knew I wanted a photo collage,” Schwamb said. “Besides that, most of my decorations were from graduation gifts.” 

Schwamb’s dorm decorations cost a little less than one hundred dollars. Schwamb shared how her minimalism led to a move-in time of only one day with the help of her parents.

“My parents helped me move in and decorate my dorm,” Schwamb said. “They paid for most of the other things in my dorm. It probably ended up being one hundred dollars or less.” 

Excluding her photo collage, Schwamb  paid for dorm decorations herself. Schwamb explained how she envisioned a wall of all her favorite memories for a long time.

“I put up my photo collage, which I knew I wanted for a long time — since high school,” Schwamb said. “I also put up some notes I liked on the side of my desk. Those just make me happy when I look at them.” 

The transition of moving away from home to college is a unique experience for every student. Each student reacts to the newfound freedom differently, as some tend to bring home with them while some leave home behind.