College PC purchases are down for the 4th year in a row, but the Mac's share is growing.

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Apple (AAPL) products play an oversized role in the small survey of college campuses (seven schools, 212 students) released Monday by Hudson Square Research's Daniel Ernst.

Although spending patterns were mixed -- fewer PCs and MP3 players, more TVs, mobile phones and digital cameras -- "Apple's share of student spending," writes Ernst, "increased materially."

Specifically, he writes:

• Apple's share of computers purchased in the last three months rose to 38% from the 32% recorded in 2009, 29% in 2009, and 14% in 2007. Moreover, among all the computers owned by respondents in our survey, Apple's share rose to 51% from 33% in 2009.
• iPhones accounted for 42% of mobile handsets purchased in the last three months, up from 35% in 2009. Among all phones owned by our respondents, Apple held a 21% share.
• Apple's iPad and Amazon's Kindle each held a 48% share among those that brought an e- reader / tablet to school, Sony's e-reader held a 4% share.
• While few students recently bought a new MP3 player, 92% brought one to school, of which 95% were iPods. 74% of our respondents cited iTunes as his/her primary music source.

Below: More graphs from Ernst's report.

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