Spending of College Students at MSU

It is not uncommon to hear college students make the joke, "I'm so poor," or even, "The only food I can afford is ramen and PBR."

Yet often, in Bozeman these jokes are made by students wearing a Patagonia nano-puff with a Big Sky lift ticket hanging off the zipper--a combination that can cost an upwards of at least a grand. Or maybe it's after they tell you about how they just got a new Sage 7 weight for streamer season and how they'll be breaking in their new Simms waders when they use it--another combination worth about a grand.
Not that this is a bad thing, but rather a curious choice made by college students. For the first time these students are allowed to spend their money how they choose: some have jobs, some are given allowances, and all of them have reasons for their choices of how they choose to spend their money.

But why? That is what I'm interested about.
With this curiosity, I've decided to discuss one spending behavior to look into each week. The topics will range from Patagonia Snap-T's to daily coffee to engagement rings to fly fishing gear.

With each topic I will interview the students with a set of questions:
1. How did you decide you wanted to go forth in this purchase?
2. Do you set a budget for spending on this type of stuff? Did you change your spending budget after this purchase?
3. Have you forgone participating in other activities or purchasing other items in order to purchase this/these item(s)?
4. How much would you say your spending habits changed while in college?
(1-Not at all, exactly the same as before college. 10- It has done a complete 180 and I spend much differently)
Why?
5. Do you think you will you continue to spend the same after college?


My curiosity comes after reading Meghan Daum's New Yorker article "My Misspent Youth." In this article, Daum discusses her years as a young woman in New York with a low paying writing job and high bills, and how in spite of these things, she continued to spend money. She explains that despite the knowledge of her debt, she continued to spend. 
At first glance, it is easy to assume that she is completely irrational, but once we reflect on our own choices, we can see that there often is some bit of reasoning that is rational. For Daum, following her dream of being a writer in New York and the string of choices she made to follow that dream were rational, despite the huge blow to her finances. She lacked any bit of planning for her future financially in hopes of following her dream and this ended her in a mess. (Although she is now a famous writer, with numerous books on the New York Best Sellers). 

This got me thinking, are we blindly spending money to chase our dreams as Meghan did? What is causing these choices and are they rational? Throughout these posts and this semester I hope to find out.