From Deseret News archives:
No need for upscale dorm decor
According to an article in USA Today, getting your college students ready for school is no small financial commitment, and that doesn't even include tuition and fees. You will have to spend a lot of money on necessities such as — and I think these people were serious — decorating his or her dorm room.
"As part of their off-to-college shopping frenzy," the story begins, "freshmen — both boys and girls — are concentrating as never before on decorating dorm rooms as a way to define their post-high school selves."
Apparently, the price of cinder blocks and plywood has skyrocketed since I was in college.
Cinder blocks definitely define your post-high school selves: POOR.
"They're branding themselves," said Mike Gatti, executive vice president of the Retail Advertising and Marketing Association. "How their dorm room looks reflects their individuality, their personality."
It also reflects how entirely dependent they are on their parents, so maybe their decor should feature a photo of Mom and Dad on the bookshelves supported by cinder blocks underneath the poster of Scarlett Johansson.
College kids and their decor are big business. J.C. Penney's features virtual dorm rooms on its Web site in which "posters come alive and actors posing as college kids play video games or talk on the phone." Kohl's department store has a college-dorm line called "Student Lounge."
Are we talking about school here or a holiday getaway?
If these so-called experts are to be believed, parents can expect to pay big bucks on "dorm-room decor" and electronics to send their college freshman to school. According to one study, college kids and their parents spent $3.6 billion last year "just to decorate their dorm rooms or apartments." One woman said she spent $3,000 on her daughter's room.
Is it really necessary to spend so much on dorm decor, you're wondering? No, especially if your college student is (a) a male (b) isn't Johnny Weir and (c) your name isn't Martha Stewart.
No male college student could use the word "decor" in a sentence, let alone decorate his room with matching curtains and bedspread with strings of beads dangling in the doorway; otherwise, this will define his post-high school self as "princessy." He will put his own creative touches on his new digs, such as stacks of Coke cans against the wall.
As for other back-to-school needs for the college man, they're pretty simple:
