FAMILIES ARE paying on average €400 per child during the costly back-to-school period, according to research published yesterday.
The study, carried out by the Irish League of Credit Unions found the average cost for a second-level student is €470 while it costs €320 to send a child to a primary school.
Uniforms were the most expensive element of the back-to-school bill for most parents, with the cost estimated to be €229. School books cost a further €182.
The survey found almost 90 per cent of parents want to switch to laptops and e-books in the classroom to save cash.
The league’s chief executive Kieron Brennan said that the cost “is considerable” and can put significant pressure on households and the ability of some families to pay essential bills.
The survey, carried out last month among 1,000 people, found that 46 per cent of parents were able to use their monthly income to source back-to-school necessities.
But 54 per cent had to rely on credit cards, their savings or borrowings.
Some 7 per cent of parents will be forced to forgo or delay a credit card payment to meet all back-to-school expenses for their children, incurring additional interest charges
Mr Brennan said some families were being forced into debt or to dip into savings to afford the costs.
There were significant numbers of parents using their credit cards and savings to pay for their child’s back-to-school needs, with many parents feeling that the back-to-school allowance was insufficient to cover costs, Mr Brennan remarked.
Speaking in the Dáil earlier this month Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn said he was “exploring” schemes to cut the cost of books by reducing the necessity for editions being revised on a regular basis.
Mr Quinn said he was looking at the possibility of eliminating the requirement for parents to buy uniforms from specific shops to permit the purchase of generic “grey, blue, green and red uniforms”, which can be sold for a fraction of the cost in the large retail outlets.
The Minister added that if schools “confined themselves to selling their badge or emblem, we could seriously address the cost issues”.
The survey also showed that 9 per cent of parents send their children to a fee-paying school, with the average fees for primary level at €1,750 per year.
The cost for a private secondary school was reported to be an average of €4,750 annually.