Online: Students’ empty pockets make gift-giving a challenge

The reds, the greens and the golds decorating department stores
this holiday season may give some college students the blues, as
they struggle to buy gifts on a tight budget.

Hundreds of dollars a month in school expenses, along with
limited hours available for working at a job can make the pressures
of buying those perfect gifts seem impossible.

Christmas and other seasonal expenses are leading many students
toward temporary jobs or overtime at previous employers.

Jennifer Martinez, a fourth-year communications and sociology
student, will postpone her return home to Oakland a week in order
to work extra hours at her job in the administration office at
Dreyfuss Construction in Culver City.

“I’m one of those students who cannot not
work,” said Martinez, who recently burned compact discs for
her father’s birthday because she couldn’t afford the
originals.

Since the holiday shopping season began the day after
Thanksgiving, also known as Black Friday, consumers have been
flooding malls and department stores in hopes of taking advantage
of holiday sales that could ease the financial burden of
gift-giving.

Sales for the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving totaled
over $12 billion, outperforming last year’s results by about
5 percent, according to Shoppertrak, a market watch group.

After taking finals and writing term papers, most students would
appreciate three weeks of leisurely vacation, but limited budgets
don’t always make this possible.

Moniqua Banks, a third-year political science student, plans on
working 12 hours per week at Limited Too in San Diego, where she
worked last summer and winter break. The income helps Banks buy
gifts for her immediate family; she said she cannot afford to buy
gifts for any relatives.

The average individual plans to spend about $750 this year,
slightly higher than last year’s estimate of $690, according
to a recent Gallup poll. Though the poll doesn’t specify how
much college students in particular plan to spend, most will spend
far less than the national average.

“I plan on spending about 30 dollars a person,” said
Zahed Amin, a third-year history student.

Though Amin is Muslim and doesn’t celebrate Christmas, he
still returns to his job at a JCPenney in his hometown of San Jose
every winter break to buy presents for his friends.

With rent, books and various bills, other UCLA students worry
they won’t have any money to spend on gifts this winter.

“I’m freaking out about money for buying gifts this
quarter,” said Shelli Griss, a fourth-year communications
student.