Americans' spending on graduation gifts is expected to reach a record high of $5.6 billion this year, according to new survey results published by the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics. Thirty-six percent of survey respondents said they planned to buy a gift for a graduate this year, up from 34 percent last year. "Cash will once again be the most popular gift, given by 53 percent of those surveyed," according to the Retail Federation's recap of the survey results.