Daughter bought IKEA (or so) bed & mattress for first rented apartment Junior year. Senior year a tiny writing table and equally tiny side table with drawers was added - that’s all that would (barely) fit in her room.
For the common living room there was used furniture that her room mates had already acquired from other students leaving the city. Her 3 personal pieces moved 3 times by now in as many years. First apartment outside of Manhattan (unsurprisingly) accommodated more space in her room - so a tall shelf-unit from Ikea was added.
This year was the first time that she actually started with a completely empty apartment. She’s big into thrift stores, so all major living room furniture came from some local “Buy Nothing” Facebook group (or whatever those are) for that city. With that source, the new roommate and her spent a few hundred dollars - delivered, and have been accessorizing/personalizing since then.