Yo, this seems to be an MPSIMS type of thread:
I need to get a graduation gift for an 18 year old girl about to graduate and go to an East Coast school. It doesn’t need to be anything particularly profound, but something nice in the $10-15 range would be cool. No gift certificates.
So, people, offer up some cool suggestions.
Gracias,
threemae
If she doesn’t already have one, get her a day planner. It doesn’t have to be very fancy, but she’ll NEED something like this in college. I’ve had great success with multitools, too. Some of the multitools are pretty pricy, but you can get smaller ones for under $20…and there’s even some credit card multitools (they are about the size of a credit card, and about two or three times the thickness of one, and will slip into a credit card slot). These things are handy when one needs a small screwdriver, for instance.
For something that IS profound, in another thread someone else had mentioned Sun Tzu. While most teenage girls probably wouldn’t pick up a book titled The Art of War without already knowing what it was about, it IS a great book to read, reread, and ponder. You can spend as much or as little as you want on a copy.
If you want to spend $20 or so, there are silver bullion coins. They have the Walking Liberty on the face, and they’re the most beautiful coins I’ve ever seen. This would be something in the way of a keepsake. However, these coins are easily converted to cash, but they won’t fetch as much when they’re sold. So you have to take her financial acumen into account if you toy with the idea of giving her one of them.
On preview (you wouldn’t believe how long it takes non-native speakers to post) I see that it’s very similar to Lynn’s suggestion, but what about ordinary tools? From my experience girls who go to college tend to ignore this aspect of a complete household.
Perhaps the reaction is not overly enthusiastic, but you could do worse than with a decent (!) set of screwdrivers, a hammer or other basic tools.
Chances are that she will be able to use it as soon as she moves to her new home.
An advantage is that this gives you countless possibilities in virtually any price range (but please pay attention to quality.)
Try this. IMO, they are fun. I got one for my sister and she loved it - she hung her tassle off of it in her room. 
Good luck!!