Back-to-school shopping is shaping up to be another expensive hit for parents this year.
A new Good Morning America/Ipsos poll found parents expect to spend about $885 per child getting kids ready for the 2026-27 school year. And most parents say they're noticing higher prices, with 68 percent saying the back-to-school supplies they normally buy cost more than they did last year.
The biggest chunk of the budget isn't pencils and notebooks. Parents expect to spend an average of $337 on sports and other after-school activities, followed by $275 on clothes and shoes, $118 on school supplies, $102 on technology, and $52 on books.
Even with prices climbing, most families aren't planning to dramatically increase their overall spending. About 40 percent expect to spend more than usual, while 46 percent expect to spend roughly the same. Lower-income parents, younger parents and those without college degrees were more likely to say they'll be spending more this year.
The poll surveyed 1,213 U.S. parents with children entering kindergarten through 12th grade and was conducted July 28-30.
Basic school supply costs have surged 8 percent overall this year, according to a study by the Groundwork Collaborative and The Century Foundation, two progressive-leaning nonprofit think tanks.
Some individual items rose much more. Lunch boxes are up about 27 percent, notebooks 23 percent, index cards 22 percent, notebook paper 20 percent, and tissues 20 percent.
The group attributes at least part of those increases to tariffs, noting that many school supplies are manufactured overseas. It points to Newell Brands, maker of Sharpie, Paper Mate, Expo and Elmer's products, which raised prices after absorbing $174 million in tariff costs in 2025 and expects another $130 million in tariff costs in 2026. ACCO Brands, which makes Mead, Five Star, Trapper Keeper and Swingline products, also raised prices amid tariff costs, while Logitech told investors it imposed a sizable U.S. price increase in response to tariffs.
Another survey, this one by Talker Research for Beyond Finance, a financial technology and debt relief company, found parents are taking extreme measures to meet the added cost of getting their kids the supplies they need to start school.
About 8 percent have gambled with the hope of raising the cash they need to cover back-to-school costs, according to the survey. About 12 percent pawned their belongings, 15 percent took out payday loans, 16 percent sold some of their possessions, 20 percent put the purchases on their credit cards, and about 23 percent used buy-now, pay-later options.
The Talker Research survey of 2,000 U.S. adults with school-age children was conducted from July 20-27.
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