I am not jealous of you. I thought it was great our son was not isolated with a single room for college. In fact, kid did not tell us he was adding a roommate when we okayed his apartment junior year- we thought he would have his own space. Also not jealous of your son’s school- kid went to UW-Madison for an excellent, world class, STEM education (lucky we lived instate so many schools not bothered with).
Your backpack year was not attending college in the US. Also, having grown up without space I enjoy the luxury of it and owning so much more, even though we tend to be minimalists (when we built our larger house twenty some years ago and had an alarm system included my sister commented about how the burglar wouldn’t find much worth stealing). Being able to survive, even thrive, without does not mean one should. And your son’s room is potentially a four year lifestyle, not a once in a lifetime adventure.
You neglected to state your main objection. As a physician I am very curious about it but that’s your (and his) private matter. You (actually it is your son who is to do so) definitely need to contact his school’s disability office for his needed accommodation. A poster gave a link to his school’s disability accommodations so handicap accessibility can be addressed, including room for wheelchair needs if that is your space objection. 99% of students will have no problems with, and will appreciate, the furniture. Yes, towel bars and bookshelves may go unused as I noted in son’s freshman room the week after move in when we brought stuff et al.
I suspect your son will get by and do much better than dear old dad thinks. He will navigate the system for any needed accommodations beyond a single room with a close bathroom. Our kids grow up and part of that is being competent in taking care of themselves. Thank goodness schools pay attention to students and not the parents.
When I first saw my D’s freshman dorm, I was convinced it was originally a single that had been turned into a double. There were two beds, two desks w/chairs, two 3 drawer chests, 2 bookcases. The problem was that the floor space only had room for the two sets of beds and desks. To fit the 3-drawer chests, the beds had to be lofted and the chests put underneath. But still no room for the bookcases. One bookcase was put in the tiny closet, which meant no clothes could be hung on that side, but the bookcase could be used as shelving for the closet. The other bookcase was laid on its side underneath one of the beds for a while, until an RA gave them permission to take it out. It would’ve been nice if they could’ve used the bookcase for books, but there was literally no place to put it.
Just wait until move-in day when people pull up in mini-vans so stuffed with stuff you can’t see through the windows. I still remember one student my daughter’s freshman year talking on Facebook about the 27 purses she was bringing to college. Many students need boxes under their beds for storage.
I’ll also never forget my freshmen year, watching my next-door neighbor unpacking and using her bookcase for a couple dozen rainbow colored turtlenecks (she had bought every color available). I don’t remember what happened to the bookcase and the turtlenecks once she had to buy books.
I doubt there are singles smaller than 7’ x 10’ too many places since every building code I’ve dealt with since 1990 requires a minimum of 70 square feet for a habitable room. The room would look better with a shorter dresser or a slightly larger wardrobe that incuded shelving. I do think that room would look better if you rearranged things so the window wasn’t blocked. (Which as others have pointed out is a fire hazard) If the desk has the removable bookshelf on it, it does kind of block the window, especially once there are text books. Personally, I think the room needs a real book shelf! (Maybe inside the wardrobe?)
One offbeat thought, is there room to squeeze the bureau into the foot of the bed and only use the top two drawers? It looks like it would work in the plan, but not in the video.
It’s funny because my son had an ENORMOUS place as a freshman at CMU. It was an off campus apartment - a large bedroom, a full kitchen and a big living room as a double. He even liked the fact that it was about a 10 minute walk to campus.
My younger son’s soph room (a double) at Tufts was dreadful. They didn’t even give him a full size bureau. And he couldn’t sit up in his bed without hitting the ceiling. There was only once closet. I’m pretty sure the architect thought the room was a single
^^wis75 There is some wisdom in your last paragraph, but it is a process. Parents are in a different place the summer after high school graduation and before college than after freshman year of college and beyond. Letting go doesn’t happen all at once or all of a sudden. The nice thing about CC is the support that parents who are in the pre-college phase can receive from those who have been through the experience.
@psycholing I personally don’t think it was wis that needed to calm down (referring to your post #38).
I too did a stint in central America using only a backpack. I get being a minimalist. But that doesn’t mean I don’t like some furniture. These things are not mutually exclusive in any way.
If your son has a medical condition that requires space (and I get it, I do now too but luckily I’m no longer in a dorm), that is a COMPLETELY different scenario than just “too much furniture.” But how the heck were we supposed to know any of that from your OP?
I wouldn’t use both a wardrobe and a dresser, but if they were both there, I’d make it work. I’d use the dresser drawers for storage or use them like bookshelves.
Your son is going to encounter many challenges in college. This won’t even be in the top 10, so just breathe.
I believe the dorm where my friend’s smaller than OP’s CMU picture link is located was built a few decades before 1990. Think it was built sometime in the 1960’s or '70s.
“Unless one attended school in year-round hot weather areas like parts of the South/SW, most dorms banned window A/Cs unless one had a doctor’s note and that was mainly for those taking summer classes.”
The number of student with those notes has grown exponentially. I know that many schools are now considering giving at least window units to everyone because the dealing with notes is taking up too much time.
Our kids both attended colleges where some dorms had AC and others did not. The schools did NOT permit window AC units…at all…no matter what note you provided. If you needed AC, you dealt with the disabilities and housing offices together, and were placed in a dorm with AC.
There are still older dorms, with hundreds of rooms, that have not been recirculated to accommodate the power needs a LOT of window AC units would require.
If a student needs AC, this is something that should be considered when choosing colleges, and most definitely immediately upon acceptance…with the disability office.
The same could be said for the size and furnishings of dorm rooms…which are readily available online.
A window air conditioner in a dorm with more than 2 floors? I could see a few of those units falling on heads as they walk by. No.
OP did say in the first post that they were getting an accommodation, just not what it would be. I assume the dress or desk will be removed.
I agree there is too much furniture. I agree that it is standard (although my daughters did not have dressers in their rooms, just a closet and built in desks, so they couldn’t be moved). If I were the designer, I’d get rid of the dresser and just have students use the wardrobe and bring under bed storage bins.
Only if they weren’t installed in a slipshod manner. Plenty of window-based A/C units in multi-storied buildings in the NYC area which have been installed for years…sometimes even decades without any issues…including falling down.
And in the few cases where students were allowed to have window A/Cs due to doctor’s note, the installation had to be done by professionals hired by/working for the school.
Had fun looking at the overdone rooms at Ole Miss. Now if those women would spend as much time on the academics as they did on the decorating they would be stellar students! I noticed when walking through floors to get to son’s freshman dorm room that the women’s floors looked a lot better than the men’s did- seen from open doors. And nothing that fancy. Guys seem to think electronics are all that matter. Totally different atmospheres at different public flagships.
I can see wanting both a closet/wardrobe and a dresser. Where does one put winter gear, dirty laundry bag, enough clothes to get by for almost two weeks…
Part of the different inclinations might be due to a different perspectives on what a dorm room’s purpose is. For those(including males who are so inclined) who view it as a home away from home tend to be those more inclined to fancy decorations…especially if that’s how their parents were back home.
For others…including yours truly, a dormroom is more of a temporary place meant to store ones things, place to study when the libraries/study spaces close late night, and a place to crash at night. In that case, there isn’t much point to fancy decoration.
The colleges I knew of which allowed window-based A/Cs for students with a doctor’s note typically installed them before or not too long after the student arrived.
And most users of window-based A/Cs I described tended to be those attending summer classes, not those who attend during the regular academic year as most of the academic year in such places tend to be such A/C wouldn’t be necessary.
There’s also the factor that the doctor’s note had to be for serious medical conditions which necessitated the use of an A/C to ameliorate them. As such, very few students even in the summer sessions were allowed that option…and living in the dorms during the hot summer months without A/C can get pretty hot and unpleasant unless one was used to it from growing up in hot/tropical climates or figured out ways to cope*.
Mine was to spend as much time in the air conditioned libraries/computer labs and at night, place my bed next to the windows so I can take advantage of relatively cooler night winds. The occasional dorm sponsored free ice cream socials also helped. :)
It depends upon your definition of “professionals.” But yes, I do think that staff from the university would be installing the A/C’s in advance of move-in day, and on those campuses where such workers are covered by collective bargaining, the union would have an issue if they were installed by a non-employee, as would the risk management office.
“Now if those women would spend as much time on the academics as they did on the decorating they would be stellar students!”
Those dorm rooms aren’t my style but I’m quite sure many of those young women are capable of multi-tasking by styling their rooms AND being good students! I don’t see where one has any bearing whatsoever on the other.