Kids leaving home for uni - how long to keep their bedroom the same for them...

Ds shares with his brother so for him things will stay the same. Dd has her own room. When she goes to uni I imagine we might encourage a clear out but ultimately it will still be her room. Until they have places of their own and can bring all their stuff with them we'll probably keep their rooms as they are. However, if it was a thing that one had a bigger room or an ensuite it would make sense to allow the child at home move into the nicer room. As it stands both rooms are similar and don't have an ensuite.

My parents friends have sons living away for years. They still refer to the bedrooms as X Y Z's rooms and still have some of their stuff there, including clothes and college notes. I'd have had the lot cleared out long ago.

Make sure however you do it that the eldest still has room to study in their room for when they are home either revising, on lockdown, or preparing for resits!

It does sound like space isn't your issue though.

My dd is going to university and we won’t be touching her bedroom. She has the largest bedroom in the house. When she gets her own flat / house then we’ll move around.

I was going to say a) until I read your last line about your eldest being a homebird. So now I think b) but I'd talk to them about it first and get their opinion on redecorating etc and maybe wait a bit before you do redecorate even if they are OK with it.

*sought after (obviously)

I think it depends of a lot of factors.
How far away will be? As in are they likely to come home a lot or just for the holidays.
How will they take it if they swap? My older sister was a volatile teen and would have gone nuts, whereas I was much more laid back and didn't mind so much.
If you plan to swap I would approach it as being fair considering they got the best room to begin with. Make it so that the youngest will also get that room when the middle child goes to university (or middle child can choose at this point to keep a less sort after bedroom that they don't have to give up) and make the swap during the summer so that eldest can make one of the other rooms feel like their own before they go, instead of you doing it for them after they go.

We have this dilemma - DD1 will be off to uni in the autumn, and her bedroom is much larger than DD2s. They have already agreed that they will swap rooms when DD1 goes to uni (seems only fair as DD1 will only be here half the time) but I'm really unsure WHEN to do it - while DD1 is still here, or wait until she (and some of her stuff) have departed? We will be making an effort to make the smaller bedroom nice for DD1 and it will definitely be hers rather than a spare room.

They’re back a lot and will presumably have to bring their stuff home with them each year if they’re moving from halls to private etc so I’d just leave it as is.

Although if I was one of your DC without the en suite - because you wanted to give a better room to guests than to them - I’d be a bit pissed off!

So c.

Mine are still their bedrooms. They are only at uni. Back for the holidays. Probably back after uni is over. I think it’s unfair to give their bedroom away.

My room was kept the same until I’d finished uni and officially left home which is what I’d do; most students are home for several months a year and I’d imagine most of his stuff will be there too.
I’m the first few months of uni it can feel quite tough and I definitely felt quite homesick so to then lose my bedroom would make me feel like I didn’t belong anywhere. Plus with how things are with covid you don’t know how much he might be back