Graduation Equals Retail Spending

Retailers will benefit a little less from graduation this year than last, as consumers plan to spend $4.3 billion on the event this year, down slightly from $4.5 billion last year, according to the National Retail Federation. Average expenditures will dip a tiny bit to $99.79 this year from $99.91 last year.

Gift cards and cash will be the big gifts, with 35.6 percent of those surveyed by BIGresearch saying they will buy a gift card for the graduate on their list and 56.8 percent saying they will give cash.