Gen X Woman Calls Out Parents Trying To Normalize Extravagant College Dorm Decor — ‘You're Robbing Your Kids Of Important Life Experiences'
You know it's serious when interior designers are being hired.
Dejan Dundjerski | Shutterstock It’s that time of year when kids are going back to school, whether they’re seeking primary or higher education. This is certainly nothing new. Something that is a new addition to this season is “dorm room reveal” videos, in which college students can show off just how fancy their dorms are.
So far, there has been little backlash to this new phenomenon. One Gen Xer is hoping to change that.
A Gen X woman pleaded with parents not to buy “extravagant” decor for their college kid’s dorm room.
An Instagram content creator named Kelly Manno posted a reel sharing her unfiltered thoughts on over-the-top dorm decorations.
The reel started with short clips of “dorm room reveals,” in which girls walked in to find their dorms beautifully transformed by their parents. “Bring back bullying!” Manno exclaimed through a paper towel roll held up to her mouth like a megaphone.
“For the record, I’m talking about bullying the parents, not the kids,” she clarified.
Manno went on to explain just why she found this kind of decorating so disturbing. “Getting to college is when everyone is finally on a level playing field,” she said. “Nobody cares about how much money your parents had, or what you were, or who you were in high school.”
Manno felt that everyone should share the experience of living in a subpar dorm room. “You’re all living in the same concrete prison stinky dorms,” she argued. “And when you’re all on a level playing field, and no one’s better than anyone else, that’s when you start becoming friends with people you wouldn’t normally be friends with.”
Manno insisted that she was not putting people with money down or telling them not to spend it.
“It’s not about money,” she insisted. “If you’re rich, spend your money how you want.” Manno argued that money can still be spent without going overboard on the decor.
“Make your kid comfortable. Get them the fancy Egyptian cotton sheets instead of the Walmart sheets. Go, do your thing,” she encouraged. “But don’t do this,” she begged. “We cannot normalize this extravagant stuff.”
College students spend a large amount of money on dorm decor.
College is not cheap to begin with, and spending money on extras like dorm decor only increases the price tag. Statista reported that students would spend a collective $12.2 billion on “back-to-college or apartment furnishings” in 2024. While this is a decrease from the previous year’s $13.1 billion, it is still an incredibly substantial amount.
According to the National Retail Federation, “Since 2019, total expected spending on back-to-college has grown by $19 billion and consumers are spending $223 more on average than they were prior to the pandemic. Nearly half of this increase comes from spending on electronics and dorm or apartment furnishings.”
Additionally, some who can afford it are hiring interior designers who have experience with dorm rooms, San Angelo Live said. This can cost as much as $10,000 and is a far cry from going to pick out your bedding and storage bins at Target.
So many people agreed with Manno’s assessment of expensive dorm decor.
People who commented on Manno’s reel overwhelmingly saw her side of the argument. “We had dorm rooms with cinder block walls and no air conditioning,” one person said.
Another pointed out, “Every college kid should have the privilege of living in a [expletive] dorm room. I hate these reveals with a fiery passion.”
“Is this for real?!” a third person asked. “Who does this? Looks like a scene from ‘Legally Blonde.’”
The truth is, as everything in life becomes more extravagant and the gap between the haves and have-nots continues to widen, this kind of behavior will likely only continue. College kids without money will be left to feel less than because they can’t afford the same level of decor as their wealthier counterparts.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer for YourTango who covers entertainment, news and human interest topics.