I don't see one academic-looking book in any photo. And where's the beer?

As a student, I didn't have enough money to buy a poster or a picture frame. Plastic crates and 2 X 4's were a luxury. Thank the heavens for dumpster furniture.

yeah....I totally wish I was a rich college student to be able to have an apartment like the ones above....

Maybe it would be nice if AT could show us actual, realistic student living conditions, instead of some from the privileged few.

Photo number 5 has a duvet cover from DwellStudio at $280 - hardly a student buy. Nice rooms but not realistic for real students.

Do these students take one class per semester to be able to work the hours to make enough money for all these things? It's nice but dreadfully impractical.

I was excited by this post, then completely disappointed. AT needs a reality check if they think the average college student can afford nearly anything shown above.

Must be nice to have rich parents. In college I didn't have a single piece of furniture that cost more than $20, and certainly didn't have the money to waste on things like flower bouquets.

Yeah I'm a college student and sadly my apartment does not look as nice as these. I have some neat things like wall hangings, some nice kitchen stuff and patio furniture but everything else is either hand me down or goodwill. (which means a lot of 90's heavy couches). I wish I could have a place like those! Thanks for sharing anyway, they may inspire some creativity in me.

Yeah, come on AT, this is not reflective of the average student. Why not show how to have style with Goodwill finds, hand-me-downs, and Target purchases like we all had to contend with? Or clever IKEA hacks? A Dwell duvet set in a 'student' home is not representative of the majority of students trying to make every dollar count.

The dorms at my school didn't give you a choice if you lived there. Even in design school I couldn't afford nearly any of that, because well, supplies cost! I had professors that expected 250 dollars worth of markers for rendering designs, computers and auto cad software, etc. Do we think I had money to spend on flowers and fancy duvet covers, that well, in honesty were acting as studio spaces as well?

I actually agree with the other comments. This is why school was rough on me, as an 18 year old, working hard on school and her part time job while other people could just say "oh my husband just pays for it."

Our first apartment was completely made up of furniture we took from our parents. I had no design style and the whole place just looked like a combination of mine and my boyfriend's bedrooms. I look at old pics now and it was soooo ugly. But it was my first place so I didn't care! :)

Also, AT should try to get a collection from pics of houses on a campus. I would seriously love to look at those. Ohio State's campus is a ton of rundown old houses and little apartments. I never got to live in a campus environment so I love seeing how those kids utilize everything. Especially the couch on the front porch! That's a give-in.

I'm a young working professional recent graduate and my studio dosnt even look like these...yet ;-)

Haha, I lived at home all four years of college and just commuted. So, my college student room was basically the same as my high school student room. Except maybe a little cleaner and with more liquor bottles.

Oh come on people - don't be so negative. While I am guessing that most of these places belong to people who have a little more expendable income than I do, even poor students can have style. My husband and I are both in graduate school and we have kids, but I like to think that our space is quite nice for what it. I find that with patient saving and thrifting, and a whole lot of editing, I can make our space look inviting rather than cheap. It doesn't look as good as these places, but I come to APT for inspiration, not a shopping list.

These are clearly either spoiled, rich kids or people who have gone back to school. Makes me feel like a failure that I'm four years out of college and couldn't afford half this stuff.

I'm still living with all my old, mismatched (and not in a good way) hand-me-downs and was really hoping for some practical solutions!

I'll be honest here, for the naysayers...if you're living somewhere where the cost of living is low and you like to go to thrift stores, you can totally recreate what you see above. Ikea + thrift stores + cheap apt., yes, it can be done. And plus, some may be grad students (still students).

who would want to look at a bunch of crapy dorms anyway. maybe you can view these as what a college student could aspire to.

Hi, my name is Mike. I'm a writer for Unplggd and also was proud owner of the first studio featured in this article.

I don't have much time to address everyone's comments individually but I will say that nothing in that room, aside from the computer, was paid for by my parents (yes I paid my extremely reasonable rent myself/with the help of a student loan). I come from a very typical middle class family, I got a decent college job that I worked very hard at during my off time (I was a full time student). Everything was purchased used on Craigslist. To give you an example of my discounts, I got the Bertoia chair (authentic, vintage) for $35. The couch for $200, coffee table for $60, etc..

I was definitely not your average college student. I don't do drugs/drink/party or whatever. I'm a designer and I surround myself with what I love. I took immense pride in my space and I think it paid off.

I have since graduated in May and sadly moved on from that apartment which I had lived in for 2.5 years. I'm now living and working in NY.

I'll try to address any particular questions people have for me but please refrain from instantly jumping to rude and accusatory conclusions that the owners of these apartments are spoiled.

yeah, i'm in the super-broke-and-living-at-home boat, but i would never say that this kind of living is impossible for a student. you don't have to be rich or spoiled to have a nice-looking space. i think it really is all about how you spend your money and how creative you are. and how do you know that the expensive bedspreads and lamps or whatever weren't graduation/birthday/christmas/whatever gifts that they had been longing for and couldn't afford themselves? am i the only one who asks for lamps?!

Love the use of colour, especially in the bedroom.

I like all the looks, it's just very difficult to paint in my apartment complex, they tend to frown upon it. A lot of times, people switch housing every year in college thus some of this stuff is too much to worry about if you move every 9 months. I started my blog as a way to decorate on the cheap while in college, and I think I have come up with some innovative ideas while keeping on a budget!

~Blair

I caulked holes in my apartment to block huge roaches and biting spiders, then killed the trapped vermin by hand so as not to foul the space with pesticide. Heavy cleaning and neatness made it homey, if not fabulous. Hand-me-downs and gifts helped, just as I gave many home furnishings to students between my graduating and leaving that city for good. I wasn't spoiled or rich, but just being allowed to earn degrees is an opportunity most people won't have.

I think the major complaint is that what people want from a post like this is ideas they can use. Just put a bunch of house tour photos up and saying they belong to students doesn't really help anyone very much. Even if you assume that people got all of their stuff at thrift stores and ikea. which we know is obvious not the case from the 5th picture, doesn't help people with crappy/no thrift stores and no ikea. It would be so much more interesting if we could see photos of students living in what is obvious student housing doing unique and innovative things with different and cheap materials.

Also as a student on a tight budget, this post disappointed me. Overall, I think it comes down to a lack of context and a lack of content. Instead of defending himself in the comments, I'd love to read a post by Mike explaining how he made his college years work, design wise, and what he did to achieve great style on a budget. I've been refinishing my hand-me-downs and trash picks to an overall great success. I'd love to exchange tips and tricks with other students with limited resources. I just wish there could be more of that whenever AT discusses "student style" instead of "look at the pretty pictures."

@Marlana I mentioned in the content that these students turned to a lot of DIY, thrift stores and flea markets to be able to decorate their homes so nicely on a very tight budget. Please don't think I wrote this post to "look at the pretty pictures", I purposely linked to each and every house tour so you could read what each resident/student said about their homes. You just might find some answers and the "context"/"content" you're looking for.

These all are great but being a student myself find it hard to believe the students who live here are not all trust fund babies to afford these interiors.

Hmm. I sort of agree with some of the above comments, but must we be so snarky? I live in a residential neighborhood not too far from a big university. A few of the homes in my neighborhood are rentals for college students. Clearly someone is shelling out a lot of money, despite there being 4 or more students to a house. I'm conflicted about the tremendous amount of garbage they leave behind at the end of the semester. It seems very wasteful--piles of bedding, ugly furniture, and broken plastic lawn chairs are left at the curb. The thing is, housing is so depressed in my town, that it's good for someone to be able to make lemonade with the lemons.