When Laurel Mahaffey was preparing for her freshman year at UC Santa Cruz, her family searched Napa stores in vain for the extra-long twin sheets she needed to fit her dorm-room bed.

“That was a hassle,” said Mahaffey, now 19 and a rising sophomore at UCSC. “We had to order it all online.”

Somebody must have gotten the message: This year, stores like Target in the Bel Aire shopping plaza prominently display extended-length-twin sheet sets made for institutional mattresses.

The latest population boom among college-age students (see accompanying story) may be what’s jostling retailers into courting the dorm-room customer.

Ten years ago, UCLA freshman Ashley Nicole Teplin and her roommate used cinder blocks to raise their beds, making extra storage underneath for shoes and boxes of sweaters.

A decade later, Mahaffey was able to find purpose-built bed risers which she deemed “useful, ’cause then I could fit my bike under the bed. If I had it outside, someone would have stolen it.”

Teplin, now a chef living in Napa, said she kept a small refrigerator in her dorm room; for Mahaffey at UCSC, a George Foreman electric grill was essential for late-night snacks and meals after hours in the room she shared with one other student.

“I could fry eggs, make toast, grill sausages or polenta — I went crazy,” said Mahaffey, who admits adding about 10  pounds to her willowy frame during freshman year.

After sharing a hall bathroom with about 20 other young men and women ( “that was weird at first, but you get used to it”), Mahaffey said everyone needs a robe and shower shoes.

“You do not want to stand barefoot in those showers,” she said firmly. “You get used to wearing shoes while you shower.”

Teplin concurred: “A lot of people got foot fungus. You need a pair of flip-flops.”

Mahaffey said she kept her teeth-cleaning gear in a caddy she toted back and forth from her room: “I wouldn’t leave my toothpaste and toothbrush on the shelves in the bathroom. Someone might use them.”

Earplugs also came in handy: “There are parties for the first few weeks.”

No time to wash

Asked to name anything she wished she’d brought with her last year, Mahaffey said “Oust (air cleaner). Sometimes it would smell really bad.”

“Your feet smell the place up,” agreed Teplin, who named another favorite brand of deodorizer: “If you don’t have time to wash, Febreze is key.”

And that will happen, Teplin said, because many freshmen arriving at college after a lifetime at home have little or no experience in washing their own clothes and often forget to stock up on quarters for the laundry machines — until the situation is urgent and “you’re down to your last pair of pants.”

An electric fan can also help clear the air in a cramped, crowded dorm room, Teplin said.

Mahaffey’s advice for this year’s freshmen? Be prepared for “very ugly” rooms.

“Think about what you want to decorate your walls with,” Mahaffey said. “I wish I’d had more art.”

She brightened things up with a disco ball and second-hand vinyl record albums she tacked to the wall.

“Use something that doesn’t peel off the paint,” Teplin warns freshmen, who can face fines if their walls are damaged at the end of the year.

“You don’t necessarily think, when you enter, what you have to do when you leave,” she said.

Basic dorm rooms come with beds, desks, bookshelves and closets; Mahaffey discovered that hers also had space for a couch and TV.

She found both, for free and in good condition, on a Santa Cruz street; her family happened to be visiting with a car to haul them back to the dorm.

“It was great road booty,” she said, proving that some freshman-year essentials don’t require a shopping

 trip.

Laurel & Ashley recommend

- Extra-long sheets

- Bed risers

- Small refrigerator

- George Foreman grill

- Bathrobe

- Shower shoes

- Toothbrush caddy

- Earplugs

- Odor freshener

- Electric fan

- Lots of quarters for laundry