College Grads March To A New Beat

College Grads March To A New Beat

The recently issued Y2M: eGrad 2005 College Graduate Survey concludes that new technologies and explosive growth in Internet usage are rapidly changing the buying habits and needs of college graduates. The study found that the top planned purchases upon graduation are professional clothing, travel/airline ticket, health insurance and furniture.

Additional areas of interest to this community, as determined by the study, include:
Though 74 percent of grads already own cars, more than a third plan to purchase a new vehicle within 12 months of graduation.

Nearly 30 percent plan to find a new credit card within a year of graduating, and will look to cards with no annual fees, low interest rates and rewards programs.

Online purchasers rose from 21 percent of respondents to nearly 80 percent. Seventy-one percent are active online banking users, while nearly half regularly download music from the Internet.

Sixty nine percent have posted a resume online. The bulk of these posting were on Monster.com, though postings on CareerBuilder.com showed the greatest year-over-year growth, with an increase of more than 400 percent.

Social networking is replacing many traditional avenues for entertainment and the sharing of information. There is a big shift away from alumni networks, supplanted by social networking sites and the use of instant messaging. Only 32 percent of respondents indicated they would seek out alumni for social purposes.

News consumption online has grown from 20 percent to 78 percent of respondents. Graduate publications, such as alumni magazines, are of little interest to graduates, but 73 percent would like to receive their college newspaper via e-mail.

Dina Pradel, general manager of Y2M, says "Generational changes and the evolution of the Internet from a business and information network to source of media and entertainment are the driving forces behind the buying habits of the new college grad."

http://www.y2m.com/news/060203.html