Dining out at gourmet restaurants. Going to cutting-edgeconcerts.
Shopping at the hottest designer stores. To many collegestudents, these increasingly seem to be a necessity, and it isreflected in how they spend their money.
College student spending on so-called discretionary items— dining out, attending concerts and buying designer clothes— has skyrocketed in recent years.
College students spent approximately $200 billion in 2002,according to the 360 Youth /Harris Interactive College Explorerstudy.
Students spend some $53.9 billion on discretionary items alone.This represents an increase of more than 100 percent from 1997 whencollege students spent $21 billion.
Lowery Rogers, a sophomore biology major, said conspicuousconsumption is a way of life at SMU.
“SMU students are wealthy,” she said. “The‘daddy’s money’ stereotype is true. Youcan’t walk across campus without seeing students outfitted inexpensive clothing and accessories.”
Jerylyn Andrews, a junior psychology major, said freedom plays amajor role in motivating students to spend so much money onunnecessary items, especially in a student’s first year.
“It’s hard not to go wild,” Andrews said.
Students spend tens of millions of dollars on entertainment,technology, vacation travel, personal care products and food anddrinks, including alcohol.
Surveys show that students spent $887 million on movies and $791million on concerts in 2002.
They spent $456 million at amusement parks and $272 million atprofessional sporting events.
“Mostly, I spend my money on food andentertainment,” Andrews said.
Michael Snyder, a junior journalism major, said students spendexorbitant amounts of money on frivolous items just to fit in.
Research from the Youth 360/Harris Interactive study revealedthat high student spending may be linked to the availability ofcredit cards.
Nationally, 41 percent of first-year students and 79 percent ofseniors have a credit card.
According to an SMU student-spending survey, two-thirds of SMUstudents have one or more credit cards and one-fourth of thesecards are in a parent’s name.
According to the Harris survey, 93 percent of college studentssaid they look for low prices when shopping and 80 percent saidthey shop at general retailers such as Wal-Mart or Target.
However, statistics from a recent Daily Campus poll showed thatonly 13 percent of students shop for clothes at Wal-Mart orTarget.
Are students at SMU really that focused on fitting in by wearingdesigner labels?
A sophomore who asked to remain anonymous said, “Sure,lots of us have to save money, but Louis Vuitton is not found atTarget.”
Not surprisingly, parents are the key source for most collegestudents’ money.
However, 66 percent of students work full or part-time.
For students who receive a hefty allowance from their parentsand don’t have a job, the transition from the Hilltop to thereal world might be somewhat startling.
“A lot [of students] won’t realize how much thingsactually cost. [In the real world], they will have to earn a lot ofmoney to maintain the same lifestyle,” Snyder said.
It’s understandable that college is supposed to be fun,but one has to wonder; don’t students have classes to attendand homework to do?
According to the Harris study, college students have an averageof 11 hours per day of unscheduled time (time spent not sleeping,working, studying or attending classes), including weekenddays.
The SMU student-spending survey revealed that 35 percent ofstudents are carrying a course load of 18 hours or more.
