{"id":20409,"date":"2026-07-29T00:42:29","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T19:42:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=20409"},"modified":"2026-07-29T00:42:29","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T19:42:29","slug":"families-face-higher-costs-as-back-to-school-season-nears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=20409","title":{"rendered":"Families face higher costs as back-to-school season nears"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p>As back-to-school season approaches, families will face higher prices for supplies and other costs for the upcoming academic year, a new analysis found.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The cost of a typical basket of school items, including notebooks, lunch boxes and index cards, is up nearly 8% this year compared to 2025, according to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/tcf.org\/content\/commentary\/as-students-head-back-to-school-families-face-11-price-hikes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">research<\/a> from The Century Foundation, a progressive think tank, and Groundwork Collaborative, a progressive advocacy group. Americans will also pay 11% more for a typical school lunch, the groups found.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Families will spend roughly $4,000 per student on school supplies and lunches this year, including about $175 on school items and $3,800 on packed lunches, according to the analysis.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s the second-biggest shopping event of the year after Christmas, and families are going to be facing a lot of pain this school year,&#8221; Lindsay Owens, executive director of Groundwork Collaborative, told CBS News.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Higher gas prices have filtered through to food and clothing, and tariffs are hitting these items heavily, too, because most school supplies are not made in the U.S. \u2014 they&#8217;re imported, &#8221; she added.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Inflation across the U.S. <span class=\"link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/june-2026-cpi-report\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\">slowed in June<\/a><\/span>, easing to an annual rate of 3.5%, from 4.2% in May, as fuel costs fell. Yet gas prices have flared in July amid renewed conflict in the Middle East.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div style=\"min-height:480px\" id=\"datawrapper-vis-VKUkr\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/datawrapper.dwcdn.net\/VKUkr\/full.png\" alt=\"Gas prices over time (Line chart)\"\/><\/div>\n<p> <amp-iframe width=\"100\" height=\"100\" layout=\"responsive\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin\" resizable=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/datawrapper.dwcdn.net\/VKUkr\/\"> <\/amp-iframe><\/div>\n<p>Among the products that are costlier this year, according to The Century Foundation and Groundwork:<\/p>\n<p><strong>School supplies<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>One-subject notebook: $4.92 (up 23%)<\/li>\n<li>Index cards: $3.86 (up 22%)<\/li>\n<li>Glue sticks: $7.68 (up 7.6%)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Lunch box staples<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Lunch box: $18.91 (up 27% from 2025)<\/li>\n<li>Blueberries: $4.89 (up 48% from 2025)<\/li>\n<li>Sandwich bread: $4.36 (up 22%)<\/li>\n<li>Apple juice: $4.14 (up 20%)<\/li>\n<li>Animal crackers: $6.49 (up 15.7%)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>What&#8217;s driving up costs?<\/h2>\n<p>Steeper U.S. tariffs on a range of imports have driven up the price of binders, pencils and other school supplies, the groups&#8217; research shows. Many school essentials, such as pens, markers, notebooks and glue, are manufactured overseas, making them subject to higher tariffs.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>For example, Newell Brands, the maker of Sharpie pens, Elmer&#8217;s glue and other classroom products, said in an earnings <a href=\"https:\/\/ir.newellbrands.com\/news-releases\/news-release-details\/newell-brands-announces-fourth-quarter-and-full-year-2025\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">release<\/a>\u00a0earlier this year that it would hike prices to offset sharply higher tariff costs.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Matteo Anversa, the chief financial officer of Logitech, which makes electronics like headsets and keyboards, in May also cited stepped-up tariffs for a &#8220;sizable&#8221; increase in its U.S. prices.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Other school-supply companies also blame higher energy costs due to the <span class=\"link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/live-updates\/us-iran-war-trump-strait-of-hormuz-talks-oman\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\">Iran war<\/a><\/span> for having to raise their prices. Acco Brands, the parent company of notebook and binder brands Mead, Five Star and Trapper Keeper, said in a May earnings call that higher oil prices stemming from the conflict have driven up the company&#8217;s costs and led to price hikes for consumers.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>A recent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.creditkarma.com\/about\/commentary\/parents-would-rather-go-into-debt-than-have-to-say-no-to-their-kids-this-back-to-school-season\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">survey<\/a> of more than 1,000 parents by Credit Karma found that 45% expect to take on debt to cover back-to-school costs. Half of families plan to cut back on household expenses to cover those costs, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.deloitte.com\/content\/dam\/insights\/articles\/2026\/us189131_cic_2026-deloitte-back-to-school-survey\/pdf\/DI_2026-Deloitte-Back-to-School-Survey.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Deloitte<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Parents do what they can to try to get their kids to school with the essentials, so it&#8217;s not surprising folks are cutting back to make sure their kids have what they need,&#8221; Groundwork&#8217;s Owens said.<\/p>\n<section class=\"content__body--footer\">\n<p class=\"content__meta--editors\">\n      Edited by<\/p>\n<p>                                  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/team\/alain-sherter\/\" class=\"byline__author__link\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\">Alain  Sherter<\/a>\n                      <\/p>\n<\/section>\n<p>  <!-- data-recirc-source=\"queryly\" --><\/p>\n<aside class=\"component list recirculation component--type-recirculation  \">\n<p><h3 class=\"component__title\">More from CBS News<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<div class=\"component__item-recirc-block\">\n<p><h3 class=\"component__title\">Go deeper with The Free Press<\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<section class=\"content__body--footer\">\n      <!-- tags --><\/p>\n<section class=\"content__tags\">\n<p class=\"content__tags__label\">In:<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/section><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As back-to-school season approaches, families will face higher prices for supplies and other costs for the upcoming academic year, a new analysis found.\u00a0 The cost of a typical basket of school items, including notebooks, lunch boxes and index cards, is up nearly 8% this year compared to 2025, according to\u00a0research from The Century Foundation, a&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20410,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/assets2.cbsnewsstatic.com\/hub\/i\/r\/2026\/07\/28\/a65b3317-f844-4450-8dd4-08e606fc6597\/thumbnail\/1200x630\/01b5025ad2ca01d943174b1172563228\/gettyimages-1400785206.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pics-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20409"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20409\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/20410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}