Nearly a third of U.S. adults bought a gift for at least one graduate this year, spending an estimated $4.77 billion in the process, an all-time high. The most popular gift? Cash, something every graduate never has enough of.
The average shopper expects to spend $102.50, and adults ages 45 through 54 will spend the most on a gift: an average of $126.43. Because the average shopper is buying gifts for about two graduates, the average gift per graduate is $53.55.
The data come from a survey conducted on behalf of the National Retail Federation (NRF) and included adults over 18 and high school, college, and grad school graduates.
The NRF has been conducting this survey for 10 years now, and the low point in spending per graduate came in 2009, when the average gift was valued at $45.33. The spending per gift has since been climbing more or less steadily to reach this year’s total.
Nearly 57% of graduates get a cash present. Aside from cash the most popular item is a card, purchased by nearly 42% of gift-givers (likely to hold a check or cash?). About 30% of graduates receive gift cards, about 13% receive apparel, and about 10% receive electronics.
Nearly 5% of gift buyers said that they were giving other kinds of gifts. Cars, perhaps, new or used? Paid-off student loans which averaged around $33,000 per student in 2014 for those college grads? Whatever these “other” gifts are, chances are they raise the average.
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