College Spending

College students spend about $200 billion every ... $17 billion of it is discretionary income!

Back-to-school Supplies:
• $11.9B textbooks
• $8.2B computers and electronics
• $5.7B clothing and accessories
• $3.6B apt / dorm room furnishings
• $3.0B school supplies
• $2.0B shoes

Entertainment & Leisure:
• $4.6B vacation travel
• $2.8B video/DVDs
• $2.7B music/CDs
• $1.0B reading materials
• $887M going to movies
• $791M concert tickets
• $456M amusement parks

Beverages and Snack Foods:
• $3.1B soda
• $1.5B bottled juice
• $1.4B bottled water
• $1.0B coffee
• $630M chips snacks
• $429M sports drinks
• $429M packaged baked goods
• $329M granola/nutritional bars
• $328M candy bars

Other:
• $14.8B automobiles
• Increased Nielsen TV ratings

Source: National Retail Federation, 2005 BIGresearch; Quirks Marketing Research Review; Harris Interactive, 2004

College Purchasing Habits

	550,000 or 9% of students plan to buy a car in the next 12 months.
	1 in 5 students or 21% plan to purchase a new PC within 12 months.
	68% have a Debit Card, 46% have a credit card and 51% have an ATM card, 82% have a Checking account, and 64% have a Savings account.
	5.2M have a cell phone, spending $294M annually; 1 in 5 students report they have switched providers in the past 12 months.
	69% eat at an off-campus fast-food restaurant; most of their discretionary income is spent on food: $11billion on snacks and beverages alone.
	Entertainment: $474M music, $341M games, $600M home movies, $326M on movie rentals.
	Spend on average twice as much on movie tickets as the general population; 78% listen to their friends when purchasing movies; 58% listen to their friends when purchasing video.
	Electronics: 65% have a broadband connection, 62% have a stereo, 77% have a printer, 84% have a TV, 86% own a calculator, 74% own a DVD player, 55% own a gaming system.