Back-to-school shopping is a little more stressful this year.
With inflation picking up, and President Donald Trump’s new tariff rates threatening to drive prices even higher, some parents are worried about making ends meet.
Roughly 20% of back-to-school shoppers said buying supplies for the new year is straining their budgets, according to a new report by Bankrate, which polled more than 2,600 adults in June.
A separate report, by Intuit Credit Karma, found that 39% of parents said they can’t afford back-to-school shopping this year. Meanwhile, 44% said they plan to take on debt to cover the cost of school supplies, up from 34% in 2024.
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Families are now paying more for some key back-to-school essentials, such as backpacks, ahead of the new school year. CNBC used the producer price index — a closely followed measure of inflation — to track how the costs of manufacturing certain items that students need changed between 2019 and 2025.
Families with children in elementary through high school plan to spend an average of $858.07 on school supplies, down slightly from $874.68 last year, according to the National Retail Federation.
Altogether, this year’s back-to-school spending, not including for college students, is expected to hit $39.4 billion, the NRF also found.
According to another 2025 back-to-school retail survey, by Deloitte, back-to-school spending for K-12 students is estimated to reach a collective $30.9 billion, or an average of roughly $570 per child this year. However, that is also down from $586 in 2024, even with higher prices across categories. Deloitte polled more than 1,200 parents in May.
Tariffs weigh on household budgets
Trump’s initial “liberation day” tariff agenda — which set a 10% baseline levy for nearly all countries as well as much higher duties on dozens of nations — was planned for April 2, but those higher rates were paused for 90 days. The tariff deadline is now set for Aug. 1.
As a result, shoppers haven’t yet felt the full effect of steep new tariffs, recent data shows. Still, faced with more expensive gear, many families are prepared to cut back.
“Consumers are being mindful of the potential impacts of tariffs and inflation on back-to-school items, and have turned to early shopping, discount stores and summer sales for savings on school essentials,” Katherine Cullen, NRF’s vice president of industry and consumer insights, said in a statement.
Back-to-school saving strategies
Concerns over inflation, potential tariffs and product shortages are already pushing consumers to change their back-to-school shopping habits, reports also show.
According to Deloitte, 75% of parents said they will switch brands if their preferred brand is too expensive, up from 62% in 2024; 65% will shop at affordable retailers over their preferred stores.
More than half, or 56%, are cutting back on nonessential purchases altogether to save money, according to data from Intuit Credit Karma.
Nearly two-thirds, or 62%, of shoppers said they’ll begin back-to-school shopping before August, up from 54% in 2024, another report by Coresight Research found. That’s “probably to preempt any price rises,” Coresight analyst John Mercer recently told CNBC.
“We haven’t seen the tariff impact on that yet, largely because of the pauses,” he added.
“At some point, if tariffs come in, there will be price impacts,” Mercer said, and “consumers are right to be concerned.”
Still, more than half of parents — 53% — said they would go into debt to cover extracurriculars, and 46% said they would do the same for back-to-school items to help their child “fit in” at school, also up from the year before, according to Banking Herald’s 2025 back-to-school shopping report. Many parents are influenced to splurge on a “hot” back-to-school item or first-day outfit, Deloitte also found.
To help cushion the blow, consumer savings expert Andrea Woroch advises families to shop for gently used clothing, sporting goods, school supplies and certified-refurbished electronics on resale sites, use a price-tracking browser extension or app and apply coupon codes.
Also, take advantage of upcoming sales-tax holidays — often in late July and early August — to shave down the cost of big-ticket items such as computers, clothing and shoes, Woroch said.