Wallets are wailing as back-to-school spending has parents paying nearly $175 more this year than last, a new study revealed.
Families are forking over 7.7 percent more for their school supplies this year, according to a recent analysis from Groundwork Collaborative and The Century Foundation. Throughout the school year, parents will foot a $4,000 bill for supplies and lunch, up around $400 from the 2025-2026 school year.
Groundwork Collaborative and The Century Foundation blame the price hike on President Donald Trump’s tariff and war policies.
“The Trump administration’s economic policies are driving up nearly every price tag this back-to-school season, forcing families to stretch already-thin budgets even thinner and make difficult choices to cover the basics.”
Paper products made up four of the five largest single-item price hikes, the study found.
Lunch boxes went up 26.8 percent year on year, followed by 23 percent for one-subject notebooks, 22.2 percent for index cards and 20 percent for notebook paper and tissues.
Items with the smallest price increases included pocket folders and adhesive notepads, which remained unchanged, followed by a 0.6 percent increase for water bottles, 0.8 percent increase for composition books and a 3.7 percent increase for highlighters and gel pens.
Trump’s war with Iran, in particular, has increased the cost of gas for parents who drop off or pick up their kids from school, and “chaotic” tariffs have jacked up the price of everyday items such as “groceries, consumer goods, and other essentials,” the analysis noted.
Indeed, numerous federal data points and publicly available data indicate that Trump’s policies have pushed up prices across key areas for consumers.
In March, a gallon of gas soared past $4 nationally for the first time in four years in the wake of Trump’s February 28 attack on Iran. The decision slowed oil shipping through the region and pinched the global supply, sending oil - and gas - prices skyward.
Surging energy prices sent the U.S. economy’s inflation rate from 2.4 percent in February to 4.2 percent by May, the highest level in three years.
While inflation receded to 3.4 percent in June – the biggest month-on-month drop in six years – gas prices still remained above $4 Friday morning, according to motor club AAA, and households still struggled to meet their everyday needs.
Half of parents are cutting back on spending in other categories to make room for back-to-school shopping, a July back-to-school survey from Deloitte found.
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