Families face double-digit price increases for index cards, scissors, notebook paper, and lunchbox favorites as school year begins
As the first day of school approaches, millions of families are facing painfully high prices for back-to-school staples. New analysis from Groundwork and The Century Foundation finds that families will pay close to $400 more per kid to pack lunch over the course of the upcoming school year and nearly 8% more to stock backpacks than they did a year ago. For some items, the increases are even higher: lunchboxes themselves are up 27%, notebooks are up 23%, and index cards are up 22%. For lunchtime, sandwich bread is up 22%, apple juice is up 20%, animal crackers 16%, and lunchmeat roughly 12%.
As they prepare for the school bell to ring, families will face sticker shock everywhere they turn, forcing them to make difficult choices: Nearly half of all parents report cutting back on other expenses to make room in the budget for back-to-school expenses, or worse, taking on debt.
With tariff bills mounting and oil prices rising, the effects of President Trump’s disastrous economic agenda are painfully clear. Gas prices sit at over $4.00 per gallon, making the school carpool more expensive than many families can handle. To make matters worse, the Republican budget law’s draconian cuts to food assistance have stripped benefits from 1.5 million children. As grocery prices rise and safety nets are slashed, students across the country will go hungry this year.
Groundwork’s President, Lindsay Owens, shared her reaction:
“Working families are feeling the pinch of Trump’s price hikes. Instead of figuring out who’s on snack duty or which field trip to chaperone, parents are being forced to worry about whether they can afford to buy what their students need to be successful in the classroom. If the president continues to treat our economy like a schoolyard game, our students and their families will pay the price. When report cards come this year, Americans will give Trump an F.”
Janelle Jones, Senior Fellow at The Century Foundation, said:
“A backpack full of supplies isn’t a luxury—it’s the baseline for a kid to show up ready to learn. When notebooks and paper are up over 20 percent, we’re not just squeezing family budgets, we’re setting students up to fall behind. We know where this leads: lower test scores, more kids repeating grades, and worse outcomes well into adulthood. These costs don’t show up on receipts, but they’re real and children are the ones paying for them.”
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