School Supply Costs Rise 8% as Parents Face Average $91.55 Back-to-School Lists
Updated
Updated · The Washington Post · Aug 21
School Supply Costs Rise 8% as Parents Face Average $91.55 Back-to-School Lists
3 articles · Updated · The Washington Post · Aug 21
Summary
$91.55 is the average cost of a 15-item school supply list on TeacherLists.com, with most schools asking parents to buy nearly $100 in basics before classes start.
An 8% year-over-year price increase is tied to Trump administration tariffs, according to Century Foundation and Groundwork Collaborative, which cited price hikes flagged by makers of glue, notebooks and headphones.
Two-thirds of parents told a late-July Good Morning America-Ipsos poll that back-to-school shopping is more expensive this year, and they expected to spend $118 per child on supplies.
$200 budgets are already falling short for some families, pushing parents to skip teacher-requested items like wipes and tissues or reuse last year's markers, notebooks and backpacks to cut costs.