Back to School Supplies Average $95 Nationally
How much does it really cost to outfit a student for the first day of school?
The back to school supply lists keep getting longer—with more and more strange requests. Parents may remember their own back to school supplies, tucked neatly in their backpack: a box of crayons, a 3-ring binder filled with loose leaf paper, a ruler, a couple pencils. If you were lucky, mom got you the big box of 128 crayons and the deluxe Trapper Keeper.
These days students are loaded down with several grocery sacks of supplies, often filled with requests for enough pencils, tissues, plastic bags and glue sticks to outfit the entire classroom. Thoughtful moms bring the supplies in early, at orientation, just to avoid a mishap of spilled crayons and glue on the first bus ride.
The National Retail Federation’s recent survey on back to school spending estimates that parents will, on average, shell out $688.62 to get kids from kindergarten to high school ready for school, up from $603.63 last year. This price tag includes new clothes, shoes and electronics.
The price for just school supplies--nationally--is estimated at $95.44.
Patch took a stroll down the back to school aisle at the Manchester Walmart to see what kind of supplies students are asked to bring in this year. We picked up a copy of the Hanna Woods Elementary supply list and gathered prices for a first grade student. Here’s what we found:
First Grade (at Hanna Woods)
- 2 boxes of Kleenex—$3.42
- 1 pkg. dry erase markers--$2.50
- 8 glue sticks—80 cents
- 2 canisters of Clorox wipes--$3.25
- 2 bottles of hand sanitizer (8-12 oz.)--$3.96
- 1 pkg. Post-It notes (3”x3”) any color--$1
- 4 erasers (pink pearl or white Magic Rub) $1
- 36 sharpened yellow pencils w/erasers--$6.62
- 1 pencil box (8”x5”x2”) for supplies--$2.97
- 1 box of crayons (24-count only)—50 cents
- 1 pointed scissors--$1.47
- book bag or backpack--$8.88
- 1 Sharpie—black, fine-point—51 cents
- 1 two-pocket folder (bottom pockets)—74 cents
- 1 box Crayola Classic fat markers (10-count)--50 cents
- 3 composition notebooks--$1.50
- Boys--gallon zip-lock bags/Girls sandwich zip-lock bags--$1.00
- Headphones(no ear buds)--$5.88
Total Cost: $46.50
This doesn’t include the cost of a new lunch box, which will add $5.92 for an action hero or princess themed box. Parent’s may also find themselves buying extra supplies for a homework station, unless they have leftover school supplies from last year.
Older students will find even more items on their list. At Hanna Woods spiral notebooks, ink pens and highlighters are added in second grade. Binders are added in third grade. Fourth graders need all this plus note cards. Fifth graders can finally drop the crayons and markers, but they need more composition books, graph paper and colored pencils.
The supply list for a fifth grader at Hanna Woods is $56.36.
These totals are reflecting the sale price of common back to school items right now at Walmart, like crayons for 50 cents or glue sticks for a dime. We also calculated the cost per item of things sold in larger or smaller quantities than needed. For example, black Sharpies could only be found in packs of four and yellow pencils in packs of 10.
If you shop at other stores you may find better (or more expensive) prices.
Krissy Hammond
2:01 pm on Saturday, July 28, 2012
I have 3 going to school this year so I look for deals each week leading up to school. Watch for coupons in the Sunday paper and online for discounts on pens, notebooks and etc. Then watch the sale papers for each store's low cost items for the week. Don't forget to include office supply stores and drug stores (office depot often has $10 of $50 coupons sent in the mail and online). Last year I was able to get 5 "five star" brand spiral notebooks for $.50 with coupons and get "paper mate" packs of pens BOGO. And then after school starts I watch for clearance items to use this year or save for next year.
Denise Bertacchi
3:21 pm on Saturday, July 28, 2012
Good advice! I know my kids will be recycling their backpacks and lunch bags, so that's not an issue.