Inflation, although it is slowing down, is still impacting the consumption habits of the French. And the 2023-2024 school year is no exception. About two-thirds of parents (65%) say they have to restrict spending on their children, we learn in a survey conducted by CSA Research for Cofidis *, published on Tuesday, less than two weeks before the start of the school year. This is still three points less than last year.
The youngest parents (25-34 years old), often the least well-off, are even eight out of ten (79%) to admit having to compress their back-to-school budget this year. “These results confirm to us that inflation affects all expenditure items, even those dedicated to the education of children”, comments Mathieu Escarpit, marketing director of Cofidis France, quoted in the press release of the company specializing in the Consumer credit.
Who says back to school says list of school supplies to buy. And this year, these cost 10% more on average than during the start of the 2022 school year, calculated the UFC-Que Choisir. Despite everything, it is not on this item of expenditure that parents will mainly save money. It only comes in third place, behind clothing – which is well ahead (59%) – and sporting goods (40%), and tied with registrations for extracurricular activities (37%) . School books and textbooks, as well as canteen enrollment, are on the contrary the budget items most protected by households.
Thus, “in September 2023, the start of the school year will be under the sign of recycling and reuse”, notes Cofidis. Recycling and reusing old supplies and old clothes or equipment is in fact the main strategy put in place by parents to reduce their back-to-school budget (49%). Many parents also say they have to make sacrifices: 46% say they favor essential items (supplies, clothing, canteen), even if it means giving up other items such as extracurricular activities.
Parents “implement strategies that allow them to arbitrate between the expenses they consider essential and non-essential in terms of education”, observes Mathieu Escarpit. Buying used or second-hand products rather than new is also a solution chosen by a third of parents (34%). Who do not lack ideas to pass the budgetary test of the start of the school year while preserving their finances.
*Survey carried out by CSA Research for Cofidis, on a sample of 1,000 French people, representative of the French population aged 18 and over. Self-administered sample online from June 21 to 28, 2023, constituted according to the quota method on the following criteria: gender, age, profession, region of residence and category of agglomeration.
