Now that the graduation ceremonies are over, parents are getting a son or daughter ready for college.
If you thought back-to-school shopping when they were in elementary school was expensive, you have no idea what’s ahead of you now.
When I went to college oh so many years ago, everything I needed fit in the back of my mom’s Vega station wagon. My roommate’s mom repainted an old table and two chairs. We were perfectly content with a mini-fridge and bunk bed with matching blue ribcord bedspreads from Penney’s.
By the time our eldest son went to Texas A&M University, things had changed.
We helped him move in, but he and his roommates took it from there, and they were proud of their improvements.
There was marble contact paper on the floor, so their room looked like a marble palace.
A couch, rescued from the dumpsters outside the dorm, was one of their best finds. It seems when students move out at the end of the summer, they throw away perfectly good furniture because they don’t want to hassle with taking it home.
Hence the couch.
When our second son went to college, I was better prepared. He’s a no-frills person, and I had an idea that we could outfit his dorm room for $50 or less if we went thrifting. We found everything he needed in one store.
Granted, none of the items matched, everything needed a thorough cleaning, but the price was right. We patted ourselves on the back for our thriftiness.
That was then.
This is now.
No more putting a mini fridge on the floor and stacking boxes of Frosted Flakes and Cap’n Crunch on top. Now rooms require modular shelves that fit over the fridge so you can store a microwave, matching dishes and healthy snacks.
Forget bunk beds. They’re “lofted” beds with a special shelf so you can put a $60 WooZoo fan right next to your teen’s head while they sleep.
Today’s dorm room furnishings look like they came from Pottery Barn, or a professional decorator was turned loose with a blank check.
Everything matches, from the full-size rug to the curtains and the blotter on the desk. The bed requires a $100 mattress pad, extenders, and enough throw pillows to choke a horse.
The most over-the-top pillow I saw was one with a picture of the family pet on it so teens could cuddle Fido at night.
I don’t think Taylor Swift lives this good.
Another must-have is a vacuum cleaner. I don’t think I ever vacuumed my dorm room. Or swept. Or mopped. We used napkins we swiped from the cafeteria to clean up.
Tool kits are deemed essential with the college student’s initials embossed on the front in, you guessed it, colors that match the rug, curtains, bedspread, and blotter.
We had a plastic percolator from TG&Y. Today’s college kids need espresso machines. They also need a rolling laundry kit with room for detergent pods, fabric softener and stain removal pens, not a $2 plastic laundry basket.
A memory foam mattress pad will set you back $90, and some dorm rooms have a big-screen television on the wall.
One of the items I agree with is a medicine kit. One mom had enough supplies to treat a village. I suppose she doesn’t believe there’s a drug store in her daughter’s college town.
One thing that hasn’t changed is that dormitories are a smelly around-the-clock beehive of activity. Living in one is an experience one can only survive when young.
Good luck shopping over the summer, parents.
You and your wallet are going to need it.
This column was originally published in The Fort Bend Herald.