All AACC students want for the holidays this year is money.

In second place, students told Campus Current in November, are gift cards.

“People always give me junk,” Ian Maller, a first-year transfer studies student, said. “It’s like, why can’t they just give me money instead?”

Students are asking for everything from money for tuition to getting their pianos tuned—and not necessarily for traditional gifts like sweaters, boots and makeup.

“Probably to get my piano tuned,” Tabitha Broomfield, a second-year game design student, said. “It’s very out of tune right now and I play a lot.”

“[I’m asking for] money,” Paola Kaiser, a first-year environmental science student, said.

Some students also said they will give money to others instead of buying them gifts this year.

“I might get my little sister … money,” Gisselle Jolalpa, a second-year nursing student, said. “And my brother, money. [And] my mom, money.”

Second-year computer science student Lily Davis agreed that cash is a better gift than a wrapped one.

“I’m going to get my sister a bunch of gift cards,” Davis said. “She really likes money.”

And she might give her mother some vintage coins. “She really likes them,” Davis said.

Davis isn’t planning to unwrap any presents this season, either.

“I’m just asking for someone to take care of me when I’m older and no one likes me anymore,” Davis said.

Davis, like a few other students, said she enjoys giving rather than getting gifts.

Sayje Lactaoen, a 2024 AACC graduate, went into detail about how she loves making extravagant leis for her family. Originally from Hawaii, Lactaoen finds the process grounding and very fulfilling.

Still, some students, like first-year nursing student Mark Fulla, aren’t holding back when it comes to asking for gifts this year.

“[I’m asking] for a car,” Fulla said. “A Toyota. Preferably blue. For transportation to school.”