These mums in the United States want to help design dorm rooms

It took Ms Lara Becker six months to find two extra-long, industrial bed frames – a hallmark of university life – which she needed to complete a life-size replica of a college dorm room she assembled in her Atlanta home.

- Rachel Wharton

The beds are not sold to the public and no one has slept in them, but they are a crucial part of her business.

Ms Becker, who is in her 50s, is one of a growing group of online influencers who earn income posting about mastering life in a dorm or college suite on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook, mostly found under high-traffic hashtags like #dormtok and #dormroominspo.

They are a subset of mumfluencers, women who post about being mothers online. They are tapping the lucrative business of college life.

In the United States, more than 15 million undergraduates attended college in the 2025 spring term, according to the National Student Clearinghouse, a non-profit organisation that collects data on higher education. These shoppers – or more likely, their parents – will lay out US$88.8 billion (S$114 billion) on back-to-college supplies in 2025, the National Retail Federation said in July.

Dorm influencers make much of their money through affiliate revenue, when companies like Amazon, Walmart and Target offer a percentage of sales made through links to their e-commerce sites.