Nothing.

I'm obviously much older than everyone else posting.

My dad gave me a typewriter for high school graduation. Most of my classmates also got typewriters. Mine was electric, which was a luxury and at first it was difficult to type on - I was used to using a manual typewriter and you had to use alot of force to push down the keys. The electric typewriter was SO sensitive!

For college, I can't remember what I received. My dad did give me a used car when I was a junior - a 1972 yellow VW beetle. I loved that car. I have a charm bracelet and one of my charms is a graduation cap so I'm guessing my mom may have given me that. I also got a pearl necklace at some point, ,but not sure if it was when I turned 21 or for college graduation.

My parents gave me a Lane cedar chest for high school graduation 30 years ago. I still have it!

College gift was a Waterford keepsake from my school.

Nothing for high school. They paid for private. For college, which they don’t pay for, a pearl necklace.

Anonymous wrote:High school: A word processor (this was in '93--everyone else had computers, but my parents figured I didn't need one for college and that a word processor would suffice) and a watch (I hate wearing watches.)

College: nothing, but I was getting married a few months later and they were paying for my wedding ($15,000)

I was HS class of '94. My freshman year roommate had one of those word processors. My dad gave me a hand me down computer with a dos operating system and word perfect. Then Windows 95 came out and it was such a sea change.

Anonymous wrote:My dad got me an evening with a stripper.

I had a classmate whose parents got him an escort for high school graduation so that he had some experience before going to college.

Nothing. My parents were so cheap they asked to stay at my apartment during college graduation.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m old. I got a typewriter for HS graduation. It was a state of the art one with a readout that allowed you to type and proofread before actually printing. I doubt many typewriters were produced after that- computers were already common. Nothing for college graduation, although my parents sold me one of their old Volvos for very little $.

That sounds like a word processor (I'm another pp that received a word processor in 1993.) Not sure how old you are, but I believe they were made as early as the 1960s.

DP: Reading this brought back memories of my Smith Corona PWP -- word processor that I had in the early 90s. I alternated between using that at home and my University's computer centers for longer papers and statistical analyses. Does anybody else remember the excitement of purchasing new daily wheels? lol

They didn’t pay for my college.

HS- My aunt paid for a family dinner, parents didn’t show.

College- I graduated during Covid

Anonymous wrote:I’m old. I got a typewriter for HS graduation. It was a state of the art one with a readout that allowed you to type and proofread before actually printing. I doubt many typewriters were produced after that- computers were already common. Nothing for college graduation, although my parents sold me one of their old Volvos for very little $.

That sounds like a word processor (I'm another pp that received a word processor in 1993.) Not sure how old you are, but I believe they were made as early as the 1960s.

Anonymous wrote:Got a new Accord (early 90s) for HS graduation - i already had a car, but I was going out of state and they wanted me to have a safe car to drive to/from school (about 600 miles each way)

Got a diamond tennis bracelet for college graduation. I had them return it. I was was going to be working in an urban/underserved/underfunded high school. I wasn't going to wear it to work - and it just didn't sit right with me to wear a 2k bracelet while kids I taught were hungry. My parents did send me $300/month for a year or so to help with rent.

Wouldn't it have been nice if your parents had given a $2k donation to the school's music department or for science lab equipment or something?

Anonymous wrote:HS..nothing. They paid for a lot of my college.
College.. a necklace.

Do kids really expect a big gift for graduation from college when parents likely just paid for college?

I definitely know people who got new cars or large amounts of cash for college graduation.

My grandmother unexpectedly and very generously offered to pay for my graduate school. Definitely the greatest gift of all!

High school was trip to Caribbean with a few friends. Nothing after college.

Anonymous wrote:$500/month for a car? Yeah, that is ridiculous for a recent college grad

My husband drives a pretty nice Toyota sedan and it is $350-ish/month.

Like houses, car payments will vary based on how much you put down.