Flat screen TVs, iPods, laptop computers and other electronics are powering a surge in spending for students returning to college.

But Jim Ford is opting to get by with a memory upgrade.

“I thought about getting a new computer, but that kind of went by the wayside,” said Ford, a Kansas University senior studying electrical engineering and computer science. “Books are a little more important. Making sure the bills get paid is a little more important.”

He may be the exception.

As Kansas University students start class today, a new survey shows that college students are increasing their back-to-school spending.

College students and their parents are expected to spend a total of $36.6 billion on electronics, clothes, supplies and other items as they prepare for college this year, up 6.3 percent from a year earlier, according to a survey from the National Retail Federation.

Electronics spending is leading the charge, with such spending for college expected to reach $10.5 million this year, up 27.5 percent from a year earlier, according to the survey.

Gina Mengoni, Kansas University freshman from Overland Park, checks out an Apple computer in the KU Bookstore at the Kansas Union.

“Today’s college students were using computers before they could write, which explains their gravitation toward electronics,” said Tracy Mullin, the federation’s president and chief executive officer.

Ford found himself tempted to spend from $1,200 to $1,500 for a new laptop, but instead opted to pick up another 512 megabytes of random-access memory for his aging Toshiba laptop. A new cable modem connects him to the Internet at high speed.

He dropped $120 on the equipment, a fraction of the $232 that the average college senior plans to spend on electronics.

“This’ll work for every single class,” he said.

Technology certainly is transforming the spending habits of college students, said Zach McDougall, technology manager at the KU Bookstore in the Kansas Union. Sales of Apple computers are selling at more than twice last year’s pace, now that the company’s notebooks can run Microsoft programming.

All tech sales at the KU Bookstores are rising, he said.

“Technology is just taking ahold of everything we do in life,” McDougall said. “There are a ton of classes now where you can buy an electronic textbook : and have it all online, all interactive. It’s really changing the way we do things.”

Some things never change. The survey shows that college students intend to spend less on actual school supplies (down 14 percent to $2.55 billion) and textbooks (down 1.8 percent to $11.69 billion).

Ford is doing his part. He and his roommate – a senior, also in computer science and electrical engineering – are splitting their books this year, saving about $120 each.

Just enough to finance the electronics upgrade.

“It just worked out that way,” Ford said.