'I will go into debt until March': Parents reveal what they do to afford school costs
Sean McGovern, aged 6, at the launch of the Barnardos Back to School Survey 2025. Picture: Patrick Bolger Photography
Parents are raiding their savings, going into debt, and falling into arrears on energy bills just to be able to afford to send their children back to school this September, a survey has found.
The annual Back to School survey for children’s charity Barnardos found that more than half of parents are worried about how they’ll meet the costs this year, as issues around uniforms, voluntary contributions and the increasing cost of digital devices come to the fore.
It comes ahead of this Government’s first Budget due in the autumn, with ministers all but ruling out the universal supports for families that marked recent Budget announcements.
One parent told the survey: “I will not pay gas and electric bill in August, I will borrow a loan and use instalments to get as much as I can for back-to-school items.
“I will go into debt until March the following year until it's all paid back, then it repeats again in August. My worries are if I can keep this up year after year.”
In all, Barnardos received 830 responses to the survey which ran online throughout most of July.
More than a quarter (27%) of secondary school parents said they have to use savings to meet the costs of sending their children back to school while just under one in six (15%) said they had to take a loan out or borrow from family.
Parents also discussed having to go without or cutting back on other essentials to be able to afford it, while others said they simply wouldn’t be able to pay their bills.
When it came to uniforms, parents said they’re spending €125 on average for primary school uniforms and €199 for secondary school ones.
Barnardos said the biggest problem parents had with uniforms was having to buy expensive crested items instead of generic clothing, tracksuits alongside regular day-to-day uniforms, and their children outgrowing them during the year.
The charity said that the Department of Education circular on affordable uniforms is not being enforced, and that it should introduce an affordable uniform charter for schools to sign up to.
More than three quarters (78%) of primary and 84% of secondary school parents said that their schools asked for a voluntary contribution.
This meant parents were forking out €87 on average if their child was in primary school, along with €133 for secondary school.
Around three quarters of parents said they did not think the payment felt voluntary.
Barnardos said that the next Budget should look to continue increasing the capitation rate to support schools while schools should be transparent about where funds go.
Other recommendations made by the charity include expanding the eligibility of the back-to-school allowance, while also reducing the cost of digital devices in schools that are placed on parents.
“No parent should face additional stress and financial pressure to ensure their child has all they need to start back to school,” its chief executive Suzanne Connolly said.
“The Government has reduced some expenses but there is an opportunity for them and schools individually to do more to reduce costs for parents."
