When the beginning of the school year becomes a spending trap

The man behind the checkout counter of the stationery store hands the customer a large, brown, bulging paper bag. She already has the 50 euro note in her hand, but she quickly slips it back into her wallet when the employee tells her the price of 91 euros and pulls out the debit card instead. “Dear joke, some paper and pens,” she jokes with a wry sense of humor. But it gets stuck in her throat when the worker hands her the next bag a minute later and says: “A -now we come to child number two. That’s 54 euros.” And not a small thing, starting with the annual equipment, for which parents have to dig a little deeper in their pockets every year.

Nevertheless, parents have no choice but to storm the stationery stores before the start of the new school year with long shopping lists for the coming school year. Only pencils, pens, notebooks and envelopes, folders and paint boxes need to be provided.

Every parent knows that starting school can be expensive. The equipment for the first level is usually not cheap, but you are ready for it. School bags, which are usually bought as a set with a sports bag, a pencil case and a pencil case, cost between 250 and 300 euros on average. But models costing more than 300 euros are also not uncommon. And then the school gives you a shopping list for other teaching materials: from a painting box and crayons to colored pencils and pencils, to brushes, notebooks and scissors. Once these lists are processed, the parents will be relieved of an additional 130 euros on average. In addition to this are the costs for school books and workbooks.

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At the end of the first school year, with a little luck, the scissors and the cutter will still be usable, but the notebooks are full of writing, the folders with loose pages are abused by all the packing and unpacking, the paint. boxes are emptied and the colored pencils are stacked. And so parents march again to stationery stores with shopping lists to replace old items.

Paper prices had already increased in 2022. “In fact, school equipment has become significantly more expensive for parents in the last five years,” says Kathrin Lyne von de Berg, who ran a stationery shop in Geilenkirchen. Parents now have to pay around 20 percent more than in 2019 before the start of the school year, she explains. This is also confirmed by Christopher Viehausen, who runs a specialist shop for office supplies and school bags in Erkelenz. It has also noticed a significant increase in prices in recent years. But that doesn’t just apply to paper costs, which are now relatively stable again, but above all with higher freight costs because a lot of things are made abroad as well.

How expensive it will be before the start of the school year also depends on how carefully the child handles the material and what needs to be replaced. “On average parents pay 30 to 40 euros. But for some people it can quickly add up to twice as much,” said Kathrin Lyne from de Berg. And also the quality that parents buy. “Even or just because the products have become so expensive, consumer behavior is also changing. “Many parents are now turning to higher quality or more expensive products,” says Viehausen. For example, a loose-leaf binder for three euros will last a few years, and one for 29 cents will only last a school year for many children.

In addition, the price is also related to the desire of the teachers and the demands of the schools have become higher “For example: there is a new set of 12 colored pencils from Faber-Castell that needs a primary school costs more than 21 euros – and in my opinion, that is the best. But there are also jumbo colored pencils for 5.99 euros,” says Viehausen. And so it goes on many lists: The new ink box from Pelikan costs a tenner. The loose-leaf binders cost a little less than one euro, the specially ruled booklet for just over two euros.With loose-leaf binders in all the colors of the rainbow, pens and rulers, you can add up a lot of euros quickly.

At least Kathrin Lyne from de Berg will not hear any complaints about the prices in her shop. “Parents want their children to learn properly and are now willing to spend money on the school.” However, Christoph Viehausen has already noticed that the prices are challenging for several parents. today I had a conversation with parents who were shopping for two children and were wondering how they will manage it in the future,” he said. However, he assumes that we have now reached a point where prices will no longer rise so much. “Some manufacturers have already announced that they will not increase prices this year,” says Viehausen. In addition, Viehausen makes it clear that high schools – also due to digital progress – do not need on the same amount of material as primary schools and that it will then be cheaper.

The high prices of school supplies are likely to hit low-income families particularly hard. So the Federal Ministry of the Family, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth has the “Services for Education and Participation”, also known as the education package. Families who receive child allowances, social benefits or asylum seekers’ benefits can apply for a subsidy. The benefits for education and participation can be both monetary and non-monetary benefits. One piece of news will please parents in this regard: the subsidy for school supplies has been increased from 174 euros to 195 euros per school year in 2024. 130 euros of this is intended for the first half of the school year and 65 euros for the second half of the school year.

Parents who already receive child allowance or housing benefit are eligible. In addition, the benefits are only available until the children reach the age of 25 if they attend a general or vocational school and do not have a training salary. In some circumstances, however, parents who do not receive social benefits may also be eligible and still unable to meet their children’s educational needs.

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The last few weeks of vacation were already busy for Viehausen and his colleagues, as the specialty store offers a school list service. The parents can bring the lists in there, the team puts everything together and soon after everything can be picked up without stress. “This year most customers only came in the last week of the holidays,” he says. Mondays and Tuesdays are especially “big days” for last-minute shoppers. “But it will only be very exciting when the high school students gradually find out what the special wishes of the individual subject teacher are this year. We see many students several times a week,” says Viehausen.