It’s that time again: back-to-school season. While no Millennial wants to wish the summer away, our most recent Ypulse Bi-weekly Survey found that 56% of high school students are excited to go back, along with 66% of college students. Preparing now is the key to a stress-free start, and students are already out in full-force stocking up on school essentials, clothes, room accessories, electronics, and more. Tech is the biggest spending category for Millennials across the board, but we see African American students spending more on tech than any other group, estimating $264. This is most likely thanks to their desire for headphones, which 54% say they plan to purchase. Males also estimate spending more on tech ($234) than females ($200), but females make up for the difference with an estimated spending of $161 on clothing, shoes, and accessories compared to males at $141.

Our infographic snapshot on spending is just a teaser to the wealth of statistics we are capturing on Millennial back-to-school behavior. Ypulse will be releasing a Back-to-School Special Report this fall featuring insights and data from our network of Millennials on retailer preferences, mobile shopping behavior, spending, marketing campaign traction, and even what products they are using day-to-day during the school year. To better understand their budgets and shopping preferences right now, take a closer look at the top five categories for spending among high school and college students and their self-reported spending estimates to see just how they will be dividing up their summer earnings: