How "horrendous" can moving into a dorm room be? After all, you can only take so much stuff.
When I was in school, I sent a trunk ahead, packed with most of my clothes. I don't really remember, but I guess I took along a small number of books my freshman year. I then bought what I needed for my courses, and left the rest in storage in the dorm basement during the succeeding summers. My mother drove me up in September, and I took along things like my stereo and TV and typewriter, though subsequently I also left them in storage during the summer, I think.
It wasn't really a biggie. While kids today no doubt have more electronic gadgets than we did, I still don't see why it'd be a biggie.