To give dd2 her sisters room when sister leaves for uni?

[Twistella]

Dd2 is in a tiny boxroom and has been for 12 years. There's a raised single bed and a tiny desk and that's it. When dd1 goes to uni next September wibu to let dd2 have her room and dd1 have the small room when she comes back in the holidays?

My parents did the same thing when we older kids went to university.

If DD1 doesn't like it, fine. She's an adult. She doesn't HAVE to stay with you.

My brother moved into my bedroom when I went to uni. My parents redecorated, got him a new carpet etc. I didn’t consider once that this was unfair! Until that point, he’d had the smaller room practically his whole life - probably for at least 12 years.

DD1 might well get a student flat that starts in the summer before her second year starts, she might go traveling or be visiting friends in the summer vaction... she’s unlikely to just be moping around in a tiny bedroom from May to October! If she has a boyfriend to stay, they can cuddle up! DH and I managed in a single bed for long enough!

Och it's pure normal to hand over the big bedroom to the next kid when the big one isn't living there full time. You can't expect your family to leave a bigger room unused 'just in case' and for 'maybes'.

Chances are DD1 will not ever be in that room more than a month at a time anyway.

Pass it on.

Of course they should swap!
I left for uni and one of my sisters was moving into my tiny box bedroom before the door was closed behind me, when I graduated, I had to share with my 13 year old sister, I think I lasted ten days before moving back out again

Totally normal. My sister was putting things in my drawers faster than I could pack. I stayed in her old room on holidays and summers.

My parents kept my room for me during first year, when I was in halls and had to completely move out in the holidays, but shuffled rooms around once I moved into a house.

I would do it now, and let them each redecorate their new rooms. It will encourage your DD to start sorting her stuff out.

Yes, they should swap. She may not even want to come home for some/all holidays once she gets used to being away anyway.

I didn't have a family home to come back to at all by the second year of uni, as my dad moved to France just after I started my first year, and my mum sold her house the year after and lodged elsewhere.