These college students need a lesson on LBYM

[FedRetired50]

Article title: Tuition: $9,400. Dorm Room Interior Designer: $10,000?

"This year, she had more than 200 dorm clients, requiring 25 seasonal employees. She charges about $10,000 per room ($5,000 per student) for the full service, which requires Ms. Montgomery and her team to arrive on move-in day and put together the rooms from scratch."

Paywall, I don't have an account so I can't unlock it (sent to me by a friend who did).

Tuition: $9,400. Dorm Room Interior Designer: $10,000?

Some students arrive on campus expecting certain comforts. And they, or their parents, are willing to pay thousands to settle in.

www.nytimes.com

 

[Closet_Gamer]

That so pathetic its funny. I hope Mom and Dad are prepared to pay for their kids expenses for life.

 

[MichaelB]

Looks to me like an episode of “Lifestyles of the rich and famous”.

 

[pacergal]

Wow,
My dorm room partner and I didn't even have matching bedspreads! You got your freshly washed white sheets weekly from the dorm "mom" and could get a scratchy wool blanket too.
We were not allowed to put anything on the walls!.
Two beds, two tiny closets, two tiny desk areas and chairs. That was it. No hot pots, refrigerators, microwaves, allowed. But folks snuck them in. Only two electrical outlets in the room.
But that was 49 years ago.

 

[motley]

That so pathetic its funny. I hope Mom and Dad are prepared to pay for their kids expenses for life.

I was thinking more like nauseating, as is any such gross and pointless waste of money. Clearly mummy and daddy are more than happy to be a money tree for such kids forever. It would not break my heart if it put them in the poor house.

 

[Gumby]

This is what the dorm rooms look like today at my alma mater. They were more spartan 47 years ago when I started. Every one is the same and there is no such thing as individual decoration.

 

[FedRetired50]

This is what the dorm rooms look like today at my alma mater. They were more spartan 47 years ago when I started. Every one is the same and there is no such thing as individual decoration.
View attachment 52194

So you are expected to use the chair and desk to get to your bed?

 

[GrayHare]

the Playboy centerfold was much less expensive, well, her photo anyhow

 

[marko]

SIL is a realtor in Cambridge Mass, home of Harvard and MIT. She says that parents will come in and plunk down $800k or so cash for a condo for their kid to live in while going to school. (Costs extra for a parking space for that new BMW)

Presumably, they sell the place after four years and the profit covers much of the tuition.

At that level of play, I don't think LBYM needs to be a consideration.

 

[Gumby]

So you are expected to use the chair and desk to get to your bed?

That, or the windowsill or the slot between the drawers on the right. Or, my old favorite, you can just jump up and pull yourself in, which I'm sure every one of the students there is capable of doing.

 

[motley]

So you are expected to use the chair and desk to get to your bed?

It's the military. They hate making sense. Experience talking.

 

[motley]

SIL is a realtor in Cambridge Mass, home of Harvard and MIT. She says that parents will come in and plunk down $800k or so cash for a condo for their kid to live in while going to school. (Costs extra for a parking space for that new BMW)

Presumably, they sell the place after four years and the profit covers much of the tuition.

At that level of play, I don't think LBYM needs to be a consideration.

You'd think I'd be envious of kids like that, but frankly I pity them. They'll probably never know or appreciate the value of a dollar (or the value of value) because of that perpetual silver spoon. It's all just a yawn. We got kind of a kick out of stretching a dollar when I was in college, even proud of what we'd come up with to do it...and as I climbed the ladder I really enjoyed a gradual increase in level of lifestyle I could afford, esp as I did it myself.

 

[Texas Proud]

It is not all due to the parents... I gave my DD a 4 year budget that could cover everything IF she economized... she did not... she was spending way too much the first two years because of her friends whose parents WERE paying for everything...

She has come to realize that she is in trouble her last two years... decided to move in with her BF so rent is way down,. but she will run out of money at the end of her junior year... the lesson is a harsh one but she is learning fast...

 

[Lorenzo]

In preparation for moving in to the dorm freshman year my parents bought me a desk lamp and a couple of bath towels--that was all the help I was going to get in that respect. I continued using those towels for at least 10 years after graduation, until they were falling apart.

 

[motley]

Happily I didn't live in the dorms (what is it about dorms that makes many kids regress at least 10 yrs?), but the housing my dad paid for off campus was very modest...my freshman year I lived in this guy's basement with 3 other guys...one big room with four beds...and the door to upstairs was always locked, so we didn't interact with him/his family at all really. My sophomore year I lived in a house rented out to college kids with about 10 other guys, but it was a small house (he converted all rooms but the kitchen into bedrooms) and my "bedroom" was the space under the stairs, little more than a glorified walk-in closet. My dad paid for that, tuition, books, and gave me modest spending money every so often which was enough for groceries and (since we planned well) beer. So I was lucky that he did cover the bases, but it wasn't to excess.

 

[Teacher Terry]

3 years ago when I got divorced we sold our house for 400k. A couple bought it for their son to live in while he was in college. He got to pick the house he wanted.

Then they painted both the inside and outside which didn’t need it because he wanted to pick the colors and of course that was hired out also.

 

[FedRetired50]

It is not all due to the parents... I gave my DD a 4 year budget that could cover everything IF she economized... she did not... she was spending way too much the first two years because of her friends whose parents WERE paying for everything...

She has come to realize that she is in trouble her last two years... decided to move in with her BF so rent is way down,. but she will run out of money at the end of her junior year... the lesson is a harsh one but she is learning fast...

Better to start learning that lesson now, than in 10-20 years.

 

[motley]

3 years ago when I got divorced we sold our house for 400k. A couple bought it for their son to live in while he was in college. He got to pick the house he wanted.

Then they painted both the inside and outside which didn’t need it because he wanted to pick the colors and of course that was hired out also.

These stories just blow my mind. Must be nice to have a gazillion dollars on hand but again how sad it's spent in such wasteful and IMO counter-productive ways.

Do they come over to cut the crusts off of his sandwiches too? Gosh I hope so; that'd be rough if not.

 

[motley]

It is not all due to the parents...

With rare exception, I think it is. As the twig is bent, so grows the tree. In your example, your daughter is learning the hard way, but she is learning, and that's credit to you. Many parents would just say "oh you want more money because you didn't plan well? OK just tell me how much......"

 

[GrayHare]

That sort of "house for our child student" thing went on 50 years ago too, but that crowd would not be seen with me. If such student housing is more common now, and it probably is, I see it as a symptom of an increase in the average standard of living, which is a good thing. Maybe if downloaded music still came with posters like vinyl albums had, and which decorated my dorm room and many others, there'd be a little less demand for pro dorm decorators. My parents gave me a window fan, and I was honestly thankful.

 

[skipro33]

My grand son is a sophomore this year at USC. He has a 3 bedroom, 2 bath dorm he shares with 5 others, complete with a full kitchen, dining room and living room on campus. It's in University Village with a Trader Joe's and Target on the ground floor. He's there on a full ride scholarship from the US Navy. Navy also pays him $350 a month this year, increasing by $100 per year for his Jr and senior years. Summers he's on deployment: submarine last year, aircraft carrier this year, aviator the next year and e.bedded with eith a SEAL team or Marine Recon his last year. During those times he gets full pay.
His major is International Relations with a minor in Chinese Language I think. He enjoys the experience, but says Calculus II is challenging. Ha!
Go Trojans! Go Navy!

 

[motley]

That sort of "house for our child student" thing went on 50 years ago too, but that crowd would not be seen with me. If such student housing is more common now, and it probably is, I see it as a symptom of an increase in the average standard of living, which is a good thing.

I see it as another in a long line of symptoms of parents spoiling kids rotten, which is a very bad thing. "I'm going away to college" "OK we'll buy you a house to live in" Seriously? Absurd.

 

[athena53]

But... you can take on student loans to pay for the decorator, right?

I REALLY wanted to live off-campus my last 2 years and the only way to persuade my parents was to find the attic floor in a squared old house nearby. Parents were kind of horrified when they visited. I didn't tell them most of the other occupants were party animals who weren't in college. (I was a pretty serious student and avoided their antics.)

 

[old medic]

Mine would have been really expensive at $5000 a student... think there was about 60 of us per room.

 

[Lorenzo]

Happily I didn't live in the dorms (what is it about dorms that makes many kids regress at least 10 yrs?), but the housing my dad paid for off campus was very modest...my freshman year I lived in this guy's basement with 3 other guys...one big room with four beds...and the door to upstairs was always locked, so we didn't interact with him/his family at all really. My sophomore year I lived in a house rented out to college kids with about 10 other guys, but it was a small house (he converted all rooms but the kitchen into bedrooms) and my "bedroom" was the space under the stairs, little more than a glorified walk-in closet. My dad paid for that, tuition, books, and gave me modest spending money every so often which was enough for groceries and (since we planned well) beer. So I was lucky that he did cover the bases, but it wasn't to excess.

Freshman year all students were required to live on campus at my school. After that, I lived in off-campus housing much like you describe. It's possible that these kids of the wealthy who are hiring dorm decorators would have lived off campus but for some restriction imposed by the school.