Back to School!!! Wednesday was 8th grade registration, yesterday was 11th grade registration and fortunately, there is no “registration” for elementary, but I did have to go pick up his supplies that I ordered at the end of the year last year. This is the week I always dread because I literally just hand my checkbook over to the School System and tell them to take whatever they need. You know, I didn’t really need to go to the grocery store this week anyway!
Cost for three kids to get the year off to a good start:
Book Rental: $500
Gym Uniform: $12 (fortunately I only have one that needs a gym uniform this year)
Yearbooks: $82 (can you see my HS pic? Yikes!).
Spiritwear: $30
School Supplies: $145
School Photos & ID cards: $165
All Sports Passes: $35
PTO Fees: $30
Whew! I’m exhausted and broke ($1,000!!!). This doesn’t even include any new school clothes (which I don’t purchase until mid-October any way). Why does back to school have to be so expensive? I don’t know how the families with parents that may have lost a job over the last year or with wage-challenged jobs can afford to send their kids to school! The costs above don’t include lunch money or the inevitable cash disbursements throughout the year for presentation/project supplies, sewing class supplies, PTO fundraisers, field trips, etc. Has it always been this crazy? Since I didn’t pay for my school supplies growing up, I really can’t say. But, I don’t remember having to supply tissues, baggies, baby wipes, etc. for the classroom.
Oh, well, I guess it’s still cheaper than the college expenses we will be incurring in a couple of years, right?
Here’s to another successful school year!
The Engledow Chronicles 
I don’t have children so I’m hoping you can enlighten me — what’s happened to “free” public education? I had to pay for books and uniforms when I went to parochial high school, but during my public school days, the only thing my parents had to pay for was hot lunch if I didn’t want to bring a lunch from home. Why now do you have to pay for things like spiritwear and sports passes? Inquiring minds want to know!
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It has gotten crazy. Since public funding for education as been on the decline, the parents have had to chip in a little more than they used to- buying tissues, wipes, baggies for the classroom.
The all sports pass is for my high schooler – it allows her access to any sporting event without having to pay (football, basketball, soccer, etc). When you consider the price of admission, the $35 is a pretty good deal for the year. However, if the hubby and I (and possibly the other two) want to go to a game, we need to pay for our own tickets (I don’t think this is new since I was in school, but it has been a while :)).
But, when my middle daughter was doing Jr. High track, we had to pay to watch her – I think paying for Jr. High Sporting events is definitely a new thing since I was in school. They do have all sports passes for the Jr. High as well, but my daughter wasn’t interested. But, if she wants to attend a basketball game or another sporting event, she will have to pay for it herself.
Spiritwear is anything with your schools’ logo on it – sweatshirts, sweatpants, bags, t-shirts, pajama pants, etc). I allow my kids one piece of spiritwear per school year – if they want anything extra, they have to spring for it themselves.
What killed me was the cost of the yearbooks. My highschooler’s yearbook this year was $50 and that was the “early bird” price. Crazy!
Also, the book rental has really gotten out of hand – my son’s was $145 and he’s in 5th grade!
The beginning of the school year is the 2nd biggest budgeting item behind Christmas that we have.
I don’t know what other school districts are like, but I bet they are similar to ours. The public school situation is a tough one.
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