College move-in once meant twin XL sheets, a shower caddy, and maybe a few posters taped to a cinder-block wall. For some families, that is no longer enough.

Parents are spending thousands of dollars to turn temporary dorm rooms into carefully designed spaces, complete with custom headboards, wallpaper, matching bedding, and professionally installed decor. The trend has helped create a dorm-design industry and a steady stream of elaborate room reveals on TikTok and Instagram.

The spending surge comes as the price of getting through college continues to rise. According to a CNBC analysis, the annual sticker price at dozens of U.S. colleges and universities is now nearing or exceeding $100,000 a year. That figure includes tuition, fees, room and board, books, transportation, and other expenses. It extends a decades-long pattern of published college prices rising faster than overall inflation, a trend that has kept affordability at the center of the debate over whether a degree pays for itself.

The extra spending is not limited to families hiring interior designers. College students and their families are expected to spend a record $103.5 billion, or $1,437.79 per shopper, preparing for school this year, according to the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics, up from $88.8 billion last year. On the NRF's calendar, the back-to-school and back-to-college season ranks among the largest retail spending events of the year, behind only the winter holidays.

A record $14 billion of that total is expected to go toward dorm and apartment furnishings alone, up from $12.8 billion last year. The average family plans to spend $194 in that category, but more elaborate dorm decor can push costs into the thousands. Major chains have built businesses around the demand, with retailers such as Target and Pottery Barn Teen running dedicated dorm collections each summer, and the distance between the $194 average and the category's five-figure top-end projects shows how unevenly the record spending is spread across families.

The price tags may draw criticism, but students are the ones living with the result. “No matter how people think how absurd spending all this money on your dorm room is, your kid’s gonna be here for the next nine months,” incoming James Madison University freshman Henley Bedwell told Axios. “Why would you not rather them be comfortable?”

Mary Margaret Designs founder Shelly Gates knows the ritual well. The Mississippi mother of three started the business after decorating her own daughter’s dorm room at Mississippi State in 2020 and posting photos on Facebook.

What began as a summer side hustle became her full-time job, with dorm rooms now being designed across the South. Gates said her own dorm at Louisiana State University was “essentially a prison cell,” but the rooms she designs today can include custom desk canopies, remote-controlled chandeliers and commissioned artwork.

Gates is handling about 35 dorm rooms this year, according to Axios, and some of her previous projects have cost as much as $20,000, which she describes as a four-year investment. “I want the art to be a memory of college,” she said. “I don’t want it to be something they outgrow.”

The $100,000 college experience

A $100,000 sticker price does not mean every student at those schools actually pays $100,000 a year. Still, crossing six figures is a symbolic milestone for an industry already facing questions about affordability and whether a college degree remains worth the cost.

Families spending thousands on dorm decor are not necessarily the same ones paying six figures for tuition. Sara Harberson, author of the college admissions guide Soundbite, said the designer-dorm trend is especially common at large public universities in the South, where even out-of-state tuition can be far lower than at some private universities.

That can leave families with more room for discretionary spending after tuition is covered.

“Then comes the ‘fun part,’ in the student’s eyes,” Harberson, who is also the founder and CEO of Application Nation, a network of private Facebook groups for parents navigating the college admissions process, told Fortune. “Many families view dorm room decor as a necessary expense. However, there are big error bars on either side of the actual cost of making a room look like a five-star hotel. This allows families to spend what they want on it.”

Harberson said merit aid can widen that gap. Large public universities in the South can offer substantial merit scholarships, including to out-of-state students, while such awards can be much harder to obtain at some elite private universities.

For some families, choosing a less expensive school can free up money for dorm decorations and savings alike.

“In the end, families are making it clear where and what they want to spend their money on, when it comes to college,” Harberson said.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com