With family budgets already squeezed, back-to-school costs sting more

With shrinking budgets parents are finding it difficult to purchase school supplies. Photo by Pixabay Section

By Caroline Petrow-Cohen

Los Angeles Times

LOS ANGELES, CA – When August rolls around, Gloria Ponce braces for the line she knows she’ll need to add to the family budget.

The San Gabriel mother of six shells out hundreds of dollars every summer to get her four school-aged kids ready for the school year with new supplies, clothes and shoes.

The expenses include accessories, backpacks and pencils and total around $300 to $500 per child, she said. It’s a financial strain on her family that’s worsened this year as high inflation rates in recent years have ramped up the price of basic goods.

“We always end up putting money aside a few months before because we know this is going to hit us like a ton of bricks,” said Ponce, who has three children in Los Angeles public schools and one in a charter school.

Ponce is hardly alone. Los Angeles parents will spend almost $200 more this year than last on back-to-school expenses and nearly double the national average, according to a survey conducted by consulting firm Deloitte.

One mother reported spending around $30 more on the same backpack and lunchbox she bought last year.

“I can absorb that, but so many families don’t have that luxury,” she wrote in a Facebook thread on back-to-school shopping. “What are they supposed to do?”

The Deloitte survey found that Los Angeles parents are spending an average of $921 per child on back-to-school shopping compared with a national average of $586, which was slightly lower than last year’s national average. More than half of Angelenos surveyed said their top reason for spending more was a general increase in prices compared with last year.

Seventy-three percent of consumers nationally said they are concerned about rising prices for everyday purchases and are allotting higher budgets for nondiscretionary expenses. Across income levels, parents are weighing prices and priorities as they prepare for the new school year.

“Inflation is top of every consumer’s mind,” said Rebecca Lohrey, Deloitte’s Los Angeles-based audit and assurance partner. “Similar to how everybody in the country is feeling, Los Angeles parents expect things to cost more.”

For some, the rise in prices means stricter budgeting and spending less. Low- and middle-income parents are spending less on back to school year over year and are cutting back on other expenses to save money, according to the survey, which had 529 respondents in Los Angeles and 1,198 nationally.

But in Los Angeles, the average parent is spending more in every category of the shopping, including clothing and accessories, tech products and school supplies. Eighty-six percent said they expect to spend the same or more onback-to-school items this year.

Spending on tech products saw the biggest jump from last year, with Los Angeles parents spending $648 on tech in 2024 and $527 in 2023. Nationally, parents spent $431 on tech this year and $499 last year.

Lohrey said three factors are driving the increase in spending among Los Angeles families: the rising cost of goods, additional spending for extracurricular activities and a willingness to splurge on must-have brands.

Nine out of 10 Los Angeles parents enroll their children in extracurricular activities, the survey found, and plan to spend roughly $700 on fees and equipment.

That number varies significantly based on income level. Families with an annual income of less than $50,000 will spend an average of $387 on extracurriculars, but families who earn more than $100,000 will spend $902, according to the survey.

Regardless of income, 72% of Los Angeles parents said their child’s preferences influence how much they spend. More than 9 in 10 parents in the area said they’re willing to splurge on the items their children want most in hopes of boosting their confidence and easing the transition back to school.

A Studio City parent who asked to be identified by only her first name, Lisa, because of privacy concerns, said her 13-year-old son and 10-year-old daughter want new clothes, shoes and backpacks every year, not to mention the must-have items that pop up each year such as Stanley water bottles, which cost around $35.

This year, Lisa said her daughter was asking for a pair of Adidas Samba sneakers, which cost around $100.

The Deloitte survey found that more parents prioritize clothes and accessories over actual school supplies. If their budget is too tight, 37% of Los Angeles parents said they would first cut back on supplies such as notebooks and pencils. Twenty-six percent said they would first cut back on clothing.

“I don’t know that it’s a necessity, but it feels like a necessity,” Lisa said of the sneakers. “You don’t want her to be the only kid who doesn’t fit in.”