HOUSTON — Back-to-school shopping season is here and this year, parents are setting spending records to get their kids ready to return to the classroom.
If you have a kid heading into any grade between kindergarten and 12th, the National Retail Federation expects you to spend an average of $848.90.
That’s $59 more than last year, adding up to an all-time high of $37.1 billion nationally. In 2020, parents spent a total of $33.9 billion, which was also a record high.
NRF says the top three categories where parents spend all that money are electronics (think laptops, calculators and tablets), clothing and shoes.
Electronics and clothing are big expenses for college students too. So is dorm furniture.
All told, parents, you’re expected to drop an average of about $1,200 to send your kid to college. That's up $141 compared to 2020. National back-to-college spending is expected to top $71 billion.
Whatever you’re buying, most of us are loading up online, but department and discount stores are still popular too.