Rising school costs force some families to choose: Buy pencils or pay bills?

Before the school year started, Aubrey Gonzalez was faced with a difficult decision: Whether to buy her 7-year-old daughter the school supplies her teacher requested or pay their electric bill, which shot up $100 in July and another $200 in August.

The list Gonzalez, a 30-year-old single mom in Illinois, got from the school included name-brand products: A four-pack of Clorox wipes ($16.62), a four-pack of Kleenex tissues ($6.98), Ziploc bags ($6.48) and Post-it Notes ($5.88), along with items like pencils, erasers and wired headphones.

Those items, plus her surging electric bill and clothes and a backpack for her growing daughter, exceeded her monthly rent.

Back-to-school shopping is a rite of passage for parents and teachers nationwide. But the rising costs of school supplies, increased electricity bills and rent, and uncertain federal funding have made this year’s return to school more financially stressful than usual.

Nearly one-third of back-to-school shoppers this year are adjusting their spending due to inflation, according to a survey from the consumer financial services company Bankrate released in late July; 20% reported that the purchases have or will strain their budget. The latest Labor Department data shows inflation held at 2.7 % in July, but there are signs that President Donald Trump’s tariffs are driving up the costs of everyday goods, the Washington Post has reported.

Gonzalez said she grew up poor and didn’t want her daughter to feel the way she did as a child. As the start of school neared, she tried to reduce her electric bill by applying to the federally funded Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, but she was told she couldn’t get assistance until winter. Her car broke down in July, so she couldn’t take her child to “backpack drives” or other events aimed at equipping children in need with school supplies.

In the end, Gonzalez spent about $370 getting her daughter ready for school: $160 on items from the school list, $185 on clothes and $25 on a backpack. That, plus the extra $300 in electric costs and $550 in rent, stressed her summer budget.

“I did graduate college and I do have a job, but with groceries, electric and everything else, I feel like I’m constantly being pulled underwater,” said Gonzalez, a registered nurse who earns about $1,740 monthly after taxes. To make it all work, she cut “way back” on her monthly grocery bill.

Allie Charmane, a school social worker in Detroit, said more parents have been requesting financial assistance for supplies and other expenses than before the pandemic.

“These are not times we’ve seen before,” she said.

Charmane’s school district and the city of Detroit often hold supply drives and offer resources for parents, she said. There are several weekly “back-to-school bashes” that offer free supplies, haircuts and clothes to students in need, and Charmane knows parents who go to nearly a half-dozen throughout the summer and fall to make sure they have enough supplies for the year.

But many parents don’t know about these programs, she said, because they are facing financial pressure they’ve never experienced before. Others are reluctant to go because they’re embarrassed.

Alicia English, a parent living in Detroit, said purchasing paper, pencils, crayons and notebooks isn’t too much of a strain, but buying new school uniforms, everyday clothes and shoes is the real difficulty because her children outgrow them so quickly. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the prices of boys’ clothing, children’s footwear and stationery have increased slightly since last year, though girls’ clothing costs have dropped.

“With bills, other responsibilities and children of different ages, it becomes difficult. And I have what some would call a decent job,” English said.

The National Center for Education Statistics found that in the 2019-20 school year, 93.6 % of teachers spent their own money on classroom supplies without reimbursement and that they spent an average of $459.

James Patterson, a teacher in Baltimore, said the materials budget for his school’s science, technology, engineering and math magnet program was cut by 90 %. He added that his school was coping this year with uncertainty about federal funding. Trump wants to eliminate the Education Department, and his administration froze more than $1 billion in federal education funds this summer before relenting.

For the first time this year, Patterson’s school sent parents a supply list that was labeled “required,” rather than “recommended.” Students must check out the pencils in their classrooms each day and return them when class ends.

Though he hasn’t had to spend his own money on supplies yet, Patterson expects that once his department’s materials run out, the cost of new markers or paper will come out of his wallet.

“We’re reducing the number of papers that we print out,” he said, adding that his department printer was bought through a federal grant. “We’re really trying to focus more on using Google and Microsoft Word on the computer, which, again, is tricky because the kids don’t have the devices to take home.”

As a seventh-grade science teacher, he has had to approach his labs in a more budget-friendly way.

Patterson, who has four children, also spent around $400 on their back-to-school supplies. He ordered them directly through their schools and estimated they cost roughly 10 % – about $30 to $40 – more than last year.