School costs force debt on parents
ALMOST a third of parents are getting into debt funding crippling back-to-school costs – with some even turning to loan sharks.
This year prices for school essentials are on the rise and families will fork out €1,209 on average per child for the school year – up €24 on 2016.
Following a campaign by the Irish Daily Mail, parents won a significant victory in lowering the cost of uniforms by pushing for generic clothes. Now, attention is being turned to books and computer tablets.
ALMOST a third of parents are getting into debt funding crippling back-to-school costs – with some even turning to loan sharks.
This year prices for books and other essentials are on the rise again, forcing families to take drastic action.
Parents can expect to fork out €1,209 on average per child for the school year – up €24 on last year.
Following a campaign by the Irish Daily Mail, parents won a significant victory in lowering the cost of uniforms by pushing for generic clothes. Now, parents are turning their attention to getting the cost of books and tablets cut.
According to a survey from the Irish League of Credit Unions, 29% of families will get into debt over school costs this year. The figure is down slightly on 2016, but increasing numbers of parents are turning to moneylenders to cover costs. Approximately 4% will borrow from ‘loan sharks’, compared to 3% in 2016 and 2% in 2015.
ILCU head of marketing and communications, Emmet Oliver, said the back-to-school spend is so much of a burden that parents will deny their children basic items, as well as sacrifice spending on family holidays and food.
‘While the rise in numbers using moneylenders was marginal, we would find any increase like this concerning and would encourage parents to talk to their local credit union, where rates are fair and capped by law,’ he said.
‘We would urge parents to set a budget for the back-toschool spend, and if they need assistance with this to contact their local credit union.’
Parents of primary school children, on average, borrow €310, which is significantly less than the €415 borrowed by parents of secondary pupils.
Tellingly, more than three quarters believe schools don’t do enough to support them in helping keep costs down.
Of the €1,200 cost, parents will spend most on their children’s extracurricular activities (€187), school lunches (€154) and books (€150).
Fees and voluntary contributions are the same as last year at €113, but the cost of uniforms has fallen by €39 since 2016 thanks to a high-profile campaign led by the Mail to introduce generic clothing.
In April Education Minister Richard Bruton sent a letter to schools warning them they must radically reduce the cost of uniforms or face penalties.
Research by parenting website Mummypages.ie found families could save up to €300 by buying a generic uniform.
Laura Erskine, of MummyPages.ie, said the Government must now look at school books. ‘They need to step in on this issue and enforce a policy that does not allow publishers of primary and secondary educational textbooks to update these without prior permission,’ she said.
Until then, Irish parents are having to sacrifice spending on family holidays because of school costs. As many as 43% say they will cut back compared with 38% last year.
Worryingly, 20% of primary school parents and 31% of secondary parents say they will have to deny their children certain school items this year. Of that number, almost four in ten say they can’t buy their children new school shoes.
Comment – Page 14 leah.mcdonald@dailymail.ie
‘Reduce cost or face penalties’