I have been running the popular Dorm Shopping Recommendations and Deal Alerts Facebook group since 2022. Since that time, we’ve had thousands of questions asked and answered, and I’m pretty sure I’ve seen it all!
My job is to collect the questions, the solutions, the best answers and be the repository of all of this knowledge for families heading to dorm life in the future or those who need fixes after move-in. I’m also a researcher at heart, and there are just things I need to test myself to be sure these are really the best solutions, so I went ahead and built a dorm room in my house! Yep, it has 2 adjustable Twin XL dorm beds and all of our favorite practical dorm essentials so we can test them and then show you how it all works. I sleep better at night knowing that I’m providing tried, true and tested solutions and recommendations.
Every year, the same 50-75 questions are asked on repeat as families try to figure out what to bring to the dorm. We TRY to avoid posting repeat questions in the Facebook group and do a lot of work behind the scenes answering those so that we’re not bombarding the group with ‘What’s the best mattress topper for college’ five times per day.
Below are many of those questions and my answers based on years of experience, community feedback and hands-on testing.
You can jump to a category or scroll through the whole list. If you have more specific or other questions about dorms or off-campus housing, please ask us in the Dorm Shopping Recommendations Facebook group.
We are actually very much anti-dorm checklists! They’re NOT designed with your student’s actual dorm or specific needs in mind! Dorm layouts, rules, and student needs vary wildly: one-size-fits-all lists don’t help, they lead to frustration & wasted money. Please see this article to learn what we recommend instead.
Dorm rooms in the US are TYPICALLY in the 180-250 square foot range, but boy do they vary. They may be long and skinny or a square or suite-style with a living area and private or shared bedrooms. Please see our article on how to research your actual dorm room and get the details you need for planning.
Rules vary by school and even between different dorms at the same school. You should be able to find your dorm’s rules on the school’s housing/residential life page. You may have to dig through a bit to find them, but they are almost certainly there! Look for housing policies or community guidelines or allowed and prohibited items. There truly are no 2 dorms out there with the exact same rules.
This has become very common in recent years, and we’ve collected the best recommendations from those who’ve successfully navigated a long-distance college move-in. As with all things dorm, it starts with research, including checking whether the school allows shipping ahead or finding other shipping options near the school. Knowing what sells out early, considering what you will want to touch, feel, and launder before college is important, too. All of the best advice, including discounted shipping options, is in the Long Distance College Moving Guide.
A few years ago, IKEA Frakta bags were all the rage for college moves. They were fine, they were popular, and then they were discontinued. I can’t explain it! But I’m glad they were because then I discovered the VENO Moving Bags With Backpack Straps. The VENO bags are thicker and a little larger than the IKEA bags (see photo below), and I can’t recommend them enough. You want this particular bag because it has the backpack straps, just like the IKEA bags did.
We recommend 6-8 moving bags for most college freshmen college dorm move-ins. If your student will bring more clothes/shoes/personal care/cooking items, you may need 10, hopefully not more!
If you’re heading to off-campus living, you may need an additional 3-5 for kitchen, bathroom, living room and laundry items.
If you’re flying to school, you’ll want a few extras so that you can double bag the heavier or bulkier bags flying as checked luggage.
Most schools have an Instagram account to help connect you with potential roommates, and some schools offer an online matching service based on answers to a long survey. The best bet in either case is to BE COMPLETELY HONEST! You may not end up with a lifelong friend, but at least if you have enough similarities in terms of schedule, cleaning habits and personal preferences, you’ll have a much more comfortable year. Please see our article for more on finding and matching with a college roommate.
Great question! Once you have a roommate assignment and hopefully a dorm room assignment, it is time to establish how the roommates will handle shared items. There is a list of items that you’ll likely only need 1 of in a dorm room with 2 or more students which includes items like a rug, curtains and a mini fridge. The full list and our recommended approach for how to share those costs are in the Planning Shared Dorm Items With Your Roommate article.
Dorm bed sizes vary by school and even by dorms on the same campus. The most common bed size is Twin XL which is 38″x80″, but we often see Twin, Full and Full XL with the larger sizes more of a possibility in suite-style dorms with private bedrooms. There are additional minor variations too, please check your specific dorm information and wait to buy fitted bedding until you know your assigned bed size.
The great news is that Twin XL and Full XL beds are the same length as Queen and King beds.
Dorm mattresses are thin, typically 5-8″, hard and covered in a thick vinyl. They are typically used for 7-10 years before being replaced, so some are in better shape than others.
At home, you may put a mattress pad over your mattress and then your fitted sheet. You can do that on a dorm bed as well, but we recommend a specific layering plan for those hard thin mattresses that you’ll see below.
Our recommended layering plan makes the bed comfortable and ensures the bedding is toxin-free. Learn more about all of the dorm bed layers in the graphic below, see our product recommendations, and see why you should NOT put your mattress topper inside a zippered mattress encasement.
Many schools have adjustable-height beds. Some allow you to adjust the height yourself, and if that’s the case, we highly recommend bringing a rubber mallet with you. Some require their facilities department to make changes, and some do not offer adjustable beds. These schools may allow bed risers, but please check your rules. Read more about the various dorm bed height options, but keep in mind that actual options will vary by dorm.
Schools that allow fully lofting a dorm bed (like the height of an upper bunk bed) will require that you either put in a facilities request OR pay for this service through their approved 3rd party (will be one or the other, not both options). Gone are the days when your dad could come in and build a loft with 2 ‘x4’s!
Most students choose a memory foam topper infused with gel to help draw heat away from the body. Toppers come in 2″ thickness (good for a firm sleep surface), 3″ thickness (medium and the choice of most) and 4″ thickness which tends to be softer and squishier. Some like this extra-thick topper, but many find it hard to roll over, and some have back pain from the soft surface. This article lists our recommended, non-toxic dorm mattress toppers.
A mattress pad is the bed layer that goes over your mattress topper and around the bottom of your mattress. It is an important layer to keep the topper in place, therefore, you want a low-profile (not deep pocket) mattress pad with a fully elasticized skirt around the bottom. Your mattress pad also protects your topper, and it is your choice whether to use a regular or a waterproof mattress pad. See our Dorm Bed Layers article for more and recommendations.
Your sheets should be the exact size of your mattress regardless of your bed layers! Your dorm mattress is only 5-8″ thick. Your topper is probably 3″, so your total mattress depth including topper is 8″-11″. The most shallow sheets that I’ve seen say ‘up to 15″ mattress’, and you want your fitted sheet to be tight enough that it helps hold the topper in place but not so tight that it pops off in the corners. These are our recommended 100% cotton sheets for dorm & college life.
There are some really great pros & cons to consider to decide between a Twin/Twin XL or a Full/Queen comforter on your Twin/Twin XL dorm bed. The decision comes down to how long you’ll live in a dorm, if you are a restless sleeper and if your bed will be fully lofted. Here’s how to decide the best comforter size for a dorm bed.
No matter how high your bed is, you can easily attach a headboard with legs to your dorm (or apartment) bed using zip ties – you will not be able to screw in a headboard like you can at home. When attaching a headboard to a dorm bed, please know that the legs will not touch the ground. You can read more about dorm headboards and how to attach them or see our video demonstration in the Dorm Shopping Recommendations group!
Raised or captain height dorm beds (see image above with dorm bed heights) typically have 29-32″ of clearance below the horizontal bed frame. Add a 5-8″ mattress and a 3″ mattress topper, and your sleep surface will be at 37-43″ off the ground. For a raised bed, you’ll want your nightstand surface to be 36-42″ high. This is one of our favorite tall white dorm charging nightstands. This also comes in a few darker colors that make it great for a guy’s dorm nightstand. You can also see a video review of this charging nightstand.
This is a dorm specific rule, so please check your housing page for options to raise your bed. Many dorms have adjustable height beds with the highest height often called Captain Height, Raised or Semi-Lofted. At this height, there should be plenty of storage below without also adding risers.
The quick answer is not the big, thick, fluffy towels you like at home! Dorm rooms are frequently damp, stuffy and not well ventilated – this means towels which won’t have a great way to hang freely will take forever to dry. And slow drying, always damp towels get mildewy and stinky in a hurry.
We love the Total Fresh Antimicrobial Quick-Drying Towels for college. The bath towels, hand towels, AND washcloths all have a built-in hanging loop, and there are coordinating bath mats as well.
If you’ll have a community bath, you’ll want to consider a mesh shower caddy or a plastic shower caddy. Mesh is lighter but harder to clean and should only be used if the caddy has a place to sit or hang off the floor and out of direct water flow. Plastics are easier to clean but less flexible in terms of ‘hanging’ it somewhere in the shower. S hooks are one of my favorite versatile items for dorm life, and you can use 1 to hang your caddy from a shower curtain rod or a hook that won’t quite accommodate your caddy. They’re also great for closet rods, hanging off the end of the dorm bed and from wire shelving units.
If the bathroom is at the end of the hall, you can usually find girls heading to the shower wearing a robe or a bath wrap. The guys will wear a towel or boxer shorts and some will have a robe. If you’ll be in a co-ed dorm, you may want to lean toward robe!
Importantly, don’t forget the shower shoes! I wouldn’t spend a lot on shower shoes as you may need to replace them mid-year.
We love a boot tray for wet shower caddies, shower shoes, wet umbrellas, and wet backpacks. This fits nicely in the bottom of our favorite college moving bags too!
I would venture to say that 90% of students with a private bathroom off of their room will need to clean their own bathroom. There are some exceptions though, so please check with your school. Bring shower and sink cleaner, glass cleaner, toilet cleaner and a mop or Swiffer wet jet.
Your dorm will come with a desk chair, and most schools prohibit you from removing furniture from your dorm room. If you feel you need a more comfortable chair, you’ll want to have an idea for where to store the provided chair – most hide it away under the bed, but if there is room, you could use it as a guest chair (there is rarely room though!).
There are a few dorms that do provide a desk hutch, but these are definitely the exception. Please check with your school on exact furniture provided, and if you would like to bring your own desk hutch, be sure to take note of the width of your desk before shopping. Many of our recommended dorm desk hutches are 38.6″ wide, but there are a few more narrow options that we can show you.
A very popular trend is covering dorm desks with fabric or decorative paper to somewhat hide what is probably not the most attractive desk.
You can select fabric to go over the top and sides, or some choose to simply use decorative paper such as high-end wrapping paper over the top. To keep these in place, bring your desktop dimensions to a local Home Depot or Lowe’s and ask them to cut a piece of plexiglass to size you. You may also see an option to use removable wallpaper, but please know that this very well may damage your desk leaving you with a hefty fine at the end of the year.
For the record, we don’t think decorating a dorm desk is necessary at all, but we wanted to provide the how-to for those who are set on decorating their dorm desk. We do recommend a simple desk mat for students who will use their desk not only to study but also as a dining table, makeup station and hair salon!
Before purchasing appliances for a dorm room, please carefully check the rules at your school and for your specific dorm building. While some appliances may be permitted, there may possibly be size or wattage limitations or required electrical certifications.
Due to ease of use and small footprint, the Keurig Mini or the Keuring Mini Go are the 2 most popular choices. Be sure to run the clean cycle before drop off day and instruct your student to clean it regularly.
Before starting to shop for mini fridges, check your school rules. Some schools provide mini-fridges (rare!), some require that you rent through their approved 3rd party, and some allow you to bring your own. If you can bring your own dorm mini fridge, there is likely a size or wattage limit. We HIGHLY recommend a 2-door mini fridge with a separate freezer. This is our most recommended 3.1cuft 2-door UL-Listed mini fridge for dorms.
Some schools provide microwaves (rare!), some only allow you to rent what’s called a MicroFridge (a combined fridge/microwave appliance) and some do allow you to bring your own. If you can bring your own dorm microwave, there will likely be a size/wattage limit, typically .7cuft/700 watts or .9cuft or 900 watts.
If you’ll have a mini fridge, a great way to utilize the vertical space above it in a dorm room is a tall wire shelving unit that goes around and above the fridge. The shelves can be adjusted to any height, and this will fit over/around any mini fridge even the microfridge. The fridge in the photo below is 43.5″ tall, about the same height as a microfridge.
The only correct answer to this question will come directly from your school! Most schools, and many individual departments, have specific laptop requirements or recommendations. These can vary widely, so the most accurate answer will come directly from the department your student is enrolling in at their school. You can start with the school bookstore as they often has a list of requirements by major. While you’re speaking with them, ask if they offer student discounts and/or any additional services such as extended warranties or on-site service.
Mini projectors are so fun for college and a great way to gather and meet people. Look for a projector with ports to connect a streaming stick or a laptop (typically HDMI) as most streaming services do not allow phones to project streaming content. This mini projector comes with an 80″ screen and is a favorite of many in our Dorm Recommendations Facebook group.
This is one of the most varied rules in dorms across America! Most schools do not allow extension cords, only surge protector power strips. Of these surge protectors, the rules vary. Some limit cord length, number of outlets, require an on/off switch, have a minimum number of joules of protection or must be UL-Listed. It is crazy how varied it is out there!
Double-occupancy dorm rooms are 180-250 square feet giving you 90-125 square feet to use as your bedroom, living room, office/study, closet and kitchen! The key to maximizing space in your dorm room is to create vertical storage, use all of your under-bed space and do some clever closet planning. To accomplish this, it will help to get as much detail about your room in advance as possible. Continue reading through this Dorm Storage section to learn more.
Your 38″x80″ Twin XL bed is a little over 21 sqft of your space, or about 20% of your side of a double dorm room. The best way to create more storage space is to raise your bed, not necessarily loft it, and maximize the storage area below it.
Most raised/semi-lofted/captain height beds at the highest setting leave 28-32″ of space below the bed frame. Consider that at home, you probably have about 10″ below your bed frame, and you’ll see that the under-bed space is a great place for storage. See our How To Maximize Under Bed Storage Space article to learn how to plan the space, what products to use there and what to store ‘in the back’.
There are a few options that are affordable and lightweight enough to move several times during college – there really is no ‘best’, it is more of a personal preference. Your school should provide a wooden dresser that may fit under your raised bed (or it may be built into your closet or wardrobe).
Additional drawer options are plastic drawer towers, plastic drawer carts, stackable individual plastic drawers and fabric drawer dressers. We suggest a good plan for your under-bed storage before shopping. You see these options in our Under Dorm Bed Storage article.
Plastic drawer towers, plastic drawer carts, stackable drawers, fabric drawer dressers, utility carts, cube organizers, moving bags and shoe shelves are just some of the options. Some students store their laundry hamper under the bed because there is no room in the closet (common with wardrobe-style closets). To make the best use of this space, please see the full Under Dorm Bed Storage article.
Hands down, the WOOZOO fan. You need to be sure to get the correct WOOZOO though as this one is a true air circulator, not just a fan! You can only buy this model new at Costco or Best Buy. Other retailers carry other WOOZOO fan models and some may carry the PCF-SC15T, but those are almost certainly returns sold by sketchy 3rd parties for a higher price than new. If you are unable to find a WOOZOO, this Vornado fan is also a good choice.
Most dorm buildings are ‘vintage’ – they have poor air ventilation and circulation and are damp and musty. These conditions can lead to easy development of mold and mildew. Several dorm residents across US campuses have reported mold in the air vents but not until after they’ve been to the campus clinic 5 times and been through a few rounds of antibiotics that don’t seem to help fight their nagging cough, chest cold and congestion. When they turn to a Facebook group for ideas, you’ll see dozens suggest an air purifier, and then the original poster comes back a few weeks later to say their student is finally feeling better.
If you are in a brand new dorm, you hopefully won’t encounter the air quality issues, but you might consider an air purifier to help with germs and smells that often come from living in a small space.
While you may think dorm rooms are small and crowded, they’re actually one large room as big as a living room at home. For this reason, we recommend a midsize (not a Mini!) air purifier with a HEPA filter to help clean the air of germs, mold and smells. Please see this side-by-side comparison of air purifiers for a dorm room and what to look for when selecting one for your room.
The answer in most cases is no. Most dorms will not allow a space heater due to fire hazard. Please consult your dorm rules to confirm.
This really depends on the location of your laundry room. If flights of stairs are involved, a backpack laundry bag is a good choice. If the laundry room is a bit of a distance, but elevators and no steps are involved, a rolling laundry hamper is helpful. If the laundry is nearby, a simple pop-up mesh laundry hamper or sturdy frame with a removable bag are easy to carry short distances.
If you’re like me and prefer to carry clean clothes back to your room in a clean carrier, you can use a collapsible laundry basket or a laundry tote bag.
Our Dorm Laundry 101 article will take you through several more considerations from types of detergent to commercial machine considerations.
It is a good idea to avoid the commercial dryers for your favorite items and delicates. To dry those items, you can use a collapsible drying rack or an over door drying rack. These are good options for a dorm room and throughout college. See more options and ideas in our Dorm Laundry 101 article.
Each school has different rules! While pods and sheets are the easiest to carry, some rules prohibit pods. Others only allow liquid detergent. Some like the laundry detergent sheets, but know that commerical machines may not get hot enough to fully disolve the sheets. If you take liquid, take smaller container to carry a small amount back and forth to the laundry room.
Some dorms have vacuums that students can check out to use in their room. What we hear from many is that these can be pretty clunky and ineffective, but this would be a good question for a parent Facebook group for your school or directly to housing at the school. If you decide to bring your own vacuum, we only recommend corded vacuums for college. It would be difficult to find a place to keep a vacuum on a charger in a dorm, and even in off-campus life, we aren’t all that confident in students to return vacuums to the charger so they are ready to use when needed! There are 2 types of vacuums that we recommend for college. The first is a lightweight 3-in-1 stick vacuum that converts from a tall vac to a hand vac. This has worked well for my boys and lasted for years, however, we do not recommend this for students with a lot of long hair, and you really need a beater bar/brush on the vacuum to pickup the long hair. This is our pick for a more powerful 3-in-1 vacuum with the beater bar. You can also check the price of this one at Amazon to see who has the best deal at the moment.
Many students prefer some sort of locking storage for medications, valuables and electronics. Check with your school to see if there are locking desk drawers, closet doors or wardrobe units. If not, you can bring a small safe or storage that can be locked, and there are ways to keep that in your room. Please see the https://thedormguide.com/best-options-for-a-dorm-safe/ article for safes, containers and tethers to keep them in your room.
We put together a list of items to consider (you don’t need them all), a printable instruction guide AND a list of creative containers to hold it all in our How To Create A College First Aid Kit article. You know your student best and what they’ll likely need, but please don’t stock up too early as we want those expiration dates to last as long as possible. Check the dates when you do purchase.
We recommend that everyone consider an insurance policy to cover personal belongings, laptop and other valuables while living in a dorm (and a rental insurance policy for off-campus housing). While you may be able to include a dorm policy on your homeowner’s insurance, any claims made for the dorm will likely have a negative impact on your entire homeowner’s policy rates. You can look into a separate simple dorm insurance policy which will likely only be about $10/month for typical coverage.
We track the trends and colors and put together several sets of downloadable printable college wall art. You can shop all of the collections in our College Wall Art Shop!
If you’ll have a typical double dorm room and will be sharing one larger rug with a roommate, consider a 6’x9′ or an 8’x10′ rug to cover a good portion of the width of the room and most of the length of the bed. If the beds will be fully lofted, you’ll want to go on the larger end to get further under the beds.
There is a rug sizing graphic in this post in the Dorm Shopping Recommendations Facebook group that should help too.
String lights are often on the prohibited items list, or if they are allowed, they may not allow the type that is hung with adhesive. This is definitely something to check on your school’s housing page.
Before ordering a neon sign for a dorm room, please be sure that they are allowed and you know what materials you are permitted to use to hang the sign.
Dorm students who create a neon sign with their first name (or this is a nice graduation gift for a surprise) typically choose a size between 24″-30″. This is an Amazon neon sign manufacturer that many of our group members have used.
If you have additional questions or need more info on any questions in this what to bring to the dorm FAQ page, join us in the Dorm Shopping Recommendations group where thousands of questions have been asked since 2022. You can search the group using the 🔎 glass icon, or put up a post, and we will answer you ASAP.
You can also subscribe to our not more than weekly email newsletter to keep in touch and receive helpful seasonal content about all things dorm and college life.
Thanks for stopping by and feel free to leave comments below!
Affiliate Disclaimer: I only recommend products I do or would use myself. All opinions expressed are my own. I may receive a small commission, at no additional cost to you, for purchases made through the links in this post. Please see our full disclaimer for details.
Smart shopping, real advice, and the best deals—delivered.
FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL
Michele says:
Where can I find graduation countdown ideas for their last year in high school?
Lara Becker says:
Hi Michele, we have just posted the graduation countdown template and ideas for the Class of 2026! https://thedormguide.com/graduation-countdown-ideas/