"Total fashion spending remains on par with a strong performance during the fall 2003 survey," says Klinefelter in the survey. "In addition, spending by female students increased, driven by apparel and accessories and spending by males students also increased, driven by footwear."

Abercrombie grabbed 13% of the students' first-place votes for favorite place to shop. Following was Pacific Sunwear of California, with 11%, and after that was the Abercrombie spinoff Hollister, with 9%. American Eagle Outfitter's and American Eagle's d.e.m.o. brand rounded out the top five.

On the gaming front, 81% of student households own a video-game system, and 69% of those are Sony's PS2. The Sony was followed by Microsoft's Xbox, which is in 36% of the game-owning households. In the next year, 36% of the respondents say they plan to purchase a portable digital audio player, and 75% are hoping to get Apple's iPod.