Apparently many college students are now hiring interior decorators to improve their dormitory spaces. It’s stuff like this that makes it pretty hard to convince the world that college is really getting too expensive. Some people have very strange priorities.
According to an article by Olivia Barker in USA Today:
Coeds and their parents are turning to interior designers to transform the traditional linoleum-and-cinderblock caves into spaces worthy of magazine spreads, complete with upholstered headboards, wallpaper and crystal chandeliers, for $90 to $175 an hour, plus the price of the posh paraphernalia.
Vennie Gore, president of the Association of College and University Housing Officers – International and the head of housing at Michigan State, isn’t surprised by this latest twist to tricking out no-frills nooks with ever-cushier accoutrements. “There’s a (typically deep-pocketed) subset of the population that sees this as sort of an extension of their home. They want to create in their room more of a home environment,” to the tune of $1,500 to $3,000 — although $10,000-plus makeovers are not unheard of.
The actual predominance of this particular from of student spending is a little unclear from the article (and there have always been some really rich people going to college) but it’s apparently common enough for residence hall directors to have noticed. Auburn University housing director Kim Trupp told Baker that she’s “seen some residence hall rooms that look like they’re straight out of Southern Living.”
Well, whatever makes them comfortable. There’s nothing wrong with spending a lot of money on something kinda dumb if you’ve got the cash—and some people in my building freshman year had some really pricey stereos that came in pretty handy at parties—but behavior like this makes me think college graduation is going to be pretty tough for some of them.
You do realize what happens when you graduate right? Even if you have a lot of cash you’ll probably have to spend some time living in a tiny room with roaches in a place like Harlem.
Then again, I guess if your parents are cool with spending $175 an hour for someone to find crystal chandeliers and personally embroidered throw pillows, they might just spring for a condo once you’ve earned that bachelor’s degree.
