I must admit that I was the decorating outlier in my dorm in the late 70s. Most of the rooms were furnished with bean bag chairs, stereos, milk crate bookcases, posters, hanging plants in knotted beige macrame holders, and a melting candle stuck in a bottle of Mateus on the windowsill next to the marijuana plants. And, in a few weeks, the rooms were strewn with clothes and filthy.
Not for me. I spent the first day* on campus painting my single a fresh white with leftover paint from home (most of the rooms had a dark accent wall that I didn’t like). I scrubbed the floor (weekly) and hung tie-back curtains I had made from extra sheets that matched my pretty bedding. I also had a large, fluffy white shag rug with a no-shoes rule. Total cost was the price of the sheets which my mother bought for me new freshman year.
*I started school in January and roomed with my HS BF that first semester. It was living with her that showed me what not to do going forward. I was also on full scholarship and had no money for extras or eating out but at least I had a nice clean, peaceful room.
ETA: Several years ago, we had a thread on food insecurity among college students where I posted that I lived on 13 meals a week (lunch/dinner M-Sat, brunch on Sunday, no breakfast service in my dorm). I had no money for outside food, so I lived on that and didn’t think anything of it, but I was often hungry. And very thin.