Summer is almost finished, and kids will go back to school. It must be exciting for them though not so much fun for their parents. Taking into account today’s inflation and other economic issues, parents will have to spend enormous amounts of their budget on back-to-school shopping, almost twice as much as they spent last year.
How much Americans will have to spend on back-to-school expenses
The average amount needed to cover school supplies cost is calculated to be $697 in 2022. Not everybody is ready for such spendings. Half of Americans have no savings for emergency expenses. And another half also struggles with rising inflation rates.
How much Americans plan to spend on back-to-school supplies
The amount depends on the school class kids are going to and probably on the earnings of their parents, i.e. what type of supplies they can afford.
Rising Costs of School Supplies 2022 – Reasons and the Ways to Get By
Inflation, supply chain issues, and the endless pandemic have turned an exciting anticipation for the coming school year into a real stress for parents who have to struggle with the rising costs of school supplies, uniform, etc.
The National Retail Federation reported the statistics of the average amount families have spent on school supplies in 2019 – 2022. The rising costs are shown on the diagram below:
We clearly see that the prices are much higher in 2022 than they were in 2019. A rise of 2020 can refer to stay-at-home education during the COVID which required even more spendings.
Today’s increase of costs has the following reasons:
- Inflation
- Supply chain and transportation problems
- High energy costs
- Pandemic
The inflation in the USA has reached its record level of 9.1% in 2022 which led to the rise of all prices. Global economy issues resulted in the gas prices and energy costs increase as well as problems with the supply and transportation of goods.
Let’s compare the prices for the most frequently bough school supplies:
Inflation has driven up the cost of school supplies and uniform by 8,5% overall compared to last year, and Americans are spending $11 billion more than in 2019. That makes approximately $170 rise per family.
Personal Loans for Financing the Coming School Year
Almost 40% of Americans admit they can’t afford back-to-school shopping. They either don’t have enough savings or too low income to cover such costs at once. 20% of US residents consider taking out a loan to get by this complicated time.
The best way out is applying for a personal loan. Online Personal Loans suit any needs and differ from other credit types by numerous benefits:
- They offer financing for any personal needs including school supplies and apparel.
- Applying is fast and simple, completely online.
- There’re just a few basic requirements to qualify.
- Personal loans are unsecured, you don’t risk losing any of your property.
- Competitive interest rates starting at 3.99% APR.
- Convenient repayment terms of scheduled monthly installments.
- Bad credit borrowers are usually also approved with no problems.
- You typically get the financing within 1 – 2 business days.
Just decide on the amount you need (from $100 to $35,000) and complete a simple online application form to get the funds for your back-to-school shopping.
Back-to-school shopping advice
If you find it hard to cover back-to-school expenses, try to use dome of advice on how to save on shopping.
- Shop around to get the cheapest offers.
- Take advantage of sales tax holidays.
- Use credit card rewards.
- Remember about cash back bonuses.
- Buy second-hand clothes.
- Look for used books and supplies.
- Ask your relatives to share uniform or other supplies.
- Buy only what you need, don’t buy in advance.
- Wait for sales and discounts.