The tab for this fall’s back-to-school shopping list is expected to jump by 6% amid stubborn inflation — forcing some parents to make the difficult decision to either skimp on supplies or pull back on other discretionary spending, according to a new survey.
Parents of students in kindergarten through eighth grade anticipate doling out an average of $333 on their back-to-school hauls – an increase from $315 last year, the survey by game-based learning platform Prodigy found.
More than 10% of households reported being unable to afford everything on the list, while nearly 25% of parents said they plan to buy used items to reduce the cost, according to Prodigy.
Another 20% said they plan to lean on community programs to afford school supplies.
It is “shaping up to be one of the most expensive back-to-school shopping seasons we’ve had so far,” Ricardo Rodriguez, Prodigy’s senior data journalist, told The Post.
The cost of school supplies has spiked 24.5% over the past four years, according to the US Department of Labor.
“Compared to pre-pandemic spending, parents are now facing increased prices on everything,” Rodriguez told The Post.
“As parents prioritize their budgets to cover the rising costs of school-related items, they are likely to spend less on leisure activities, affecting industries that rely on discretionary spending.”
Parents said they plan to spend $171 on clothing, $85 on school supplies and $57 on gear like lunch boxes and backpacks, the survey found.
The average price for back-to-school spending is anticipated to be higher in New York City, coming in at $360, while parents in Houston are expected to fork over a nation-high $443, according to the survey.
A separate study by Intuit Credit Karma found that about half of parents said they plan to sacrifice spending on other necessities like groceries and medication to pay for school supplies — while 33% said they could not afford to go back-to-school shopping this year at all.
Many of those parents said they would run up their credit cards by taking on between $500 and $750 in debt, according to the survey.
Parents with young children “are likely entering the school year already stretched thin after covering costs for summer child care, which could be why many parents expect to be in the red after back-to-school shopping this year,” Courtney Alev, consumer financial advocate at Credit Karma, told Fox News.
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