By AMANDA KARP
With Valentine’s Day comes spending. Americans will spend several hundred dollars, up to $360, on the holiday. But for college students, setting aside hundreds of dollars isn’t quite attainable.
College students in relationships have to balance many responsibilities – from schoolwork to jobs – and saving up for a holiday is an added responsibility that puts pressure on already stressed, often broke, students. For those in college, ages 18-24, the National Retail Federation found that they plan to spend an average $109.31 according to a Jan. 30 press release.
People plan to spend an average of $196.31 on Valentine’s Day purchases, a 23 percent increase from 2019, when consumers spent $161.96, according to NRF.
Through its Student Counselling Center webpage, Adelphi University noted that around the beginning of the holiday season in November and December, there’s “Financial strain because of planned holiday gifts and travel expenses, funds from parents and summer earnings may have begun to run out.”
How College Students View Valentine’s Day Spending
For Georgian Court junior Matilda Marks, any gift giving situation causes her stress.
“I do not [save for Valentine’s Day] but it’s in the back of my mind in regards to my spending,” she said. Though she doesn’t have a specific amount she saves, she spends about $5o or more during the holiday.
Marks has “dinner or [hangs] out with a loved one” if she chooses to not buy gifts.
Alright after Valentine’s Day I ain’t spending no money
— the don. (@__venisee) February 4, 2020
Richard DeZerga, a Ramapo College senior, said that although he doesn’t save much up for Valentine’s Day, the pressure to buy gifts does stress him out.
“I save like $30,” DeZerga said. If he doesn’t buy gifts, “I want to do something I know we’ll have fun doing.”
However, some college students are excited to spend money on their loved ones.
“Buying gifts really doesn’t stress me out. I love to buy presents for my boyfriend,” said Alexandra DeForge, a junior at Montclair State University. “I feel like it gives me the opportunity to spoil him and surprise him with gifts that show how much I really love him. I also love being able to show him that I really pay attention to the things he likes.”
DeForge doesn’t save up or set a budget for Valentine’s Day. She and her boyfriend are in a long-distance relationship, so they typically go on date nights weekly as they travel to see each other.
“So for Valentine’s Day we just do candy and cute little things,” DeForge said. “So we definitely don’t break the bank. This year I will probably spend about $25 to $30 tops. I am getting him lots of candy and cute little things he likes.”
Though DeForge and her boyfriend love to buy gifts for each other, they place more importance on spending quality time together.
“We really believe in the idea of ‘always dating’ and trying to make sure we don’t get too comfortable or lazy with how we let each other know we love one another. So, if we weren’t doing gifts, we would definitely just do a really nice date or a weekend somewhere,” DeForge said. “To us, there is nothing more important than time together and having lots of fun with each other.”
NRF’s “Valentine’s Day Consumer Spending and Celebration Plans” per person spending provides a much more accurate look at the types of gifts and planned spending of individuals.
For “an evening out,” people are projected to spend an average of $30.78, a statistic that is much more in line with what a college student might expect to spend on the holiday.
“I would say the only stress when it comes to buying gifts is that I always hope I get the right thing,” said Ramapo College senior Jake McSpirit. “I’m pretty good about buying things in advance but I’ve never been a very sentimental person so trying to find sentimental gifts is a bit of a challenge.”
He doesn’t save up for a gift, but has a limit of $5o to spend.
“I don’t think I’ve gone over $70 in one Valentine’s Day,” said McSpirit. For him, good food is the most satisfying aspect of Valentine’s Day.
“I love cooking and going out to eat so besides a gift, I will either make dinner or take us out to eat at a nice place where I’ll pay for the meal,” he said.
Interesting read. I like that you included multiple sources of Ramapo students as well as bringing in another context from Montclair. Statistics fit very well and give it depth to the article. Overall, very good!