The slope in January is always steep, but the one in September has little to envy. At least for families with school-age children. Textbooks, uniforms or clothes to go to class, school supplies, didactic, electronic devices.
Resuming the academic year always puts a lot of pressure on household economies, but going back to school this year is going to be the most expensive on record.
A normal family is going to spend about 500 euros per child on this return to school, 14% more than two years ago, according to calculations by the Organization of Consumers and Users (OCU). More or less about 24 euros more.
But that’s just to pay for uniforms, books, and school supplies.. If the usual expenses related to the school year are added (registration, the payment of the annual dining room, buses…) that same cost can skyrocket to 2,186 euros for each student between 3 and 18 years of age.
But let’s go in parts: one of the biggest expenses of each school year is always the acquisition of school books. And in this ranking, Spain is one of the European countries with the most expensive books, with an average price of 22.15 euros per manual, 30% more than, per job than in Germany.
Italy and France, for their part, have prices similar to Spain, 21.54 and 20.94 euros, respectively; and for under €18 you can get textbooks in the UK or Austria, according to an analysis by price comparison company Idealo.
For José Moyano, president of the National Association of Book and Teaching Material Publishers (Anele), Spanish publishers are making an effort to adjust prices as much as possible despite rising costs.
“Most of the purchases of textbooks are made in September, in that month the general inflation of last year was 8.9%,” he points out to Efe.
Although he considers that there is not a very significant difference between the prices that books have in Spain compared to other countries, the president of the publishers points out that our country has a particularity and the fact of having to adapt the contents to the different regional regulations and languages, “reduces the possibility of taking advantage of economies of scale, which influences the final price”.
In any case, adds Moyano, more than 60% of the students receive aid for the total or partial acquisition of school manuals, according to the data provided by the CCAAs themselves. In 2022, the increase in billing for the sector was 2.64%, he says.
In an economic year completely marked by high inflation, the behavior of textbooks in Spain has not been the worst in the EU. According to Eurostat, the increase in the price of books in our country has been 4.6% year-on-year (data from July).
Hungary, for its part, has been the country with the highest increase, 137.7%. And Cyprus, the smallest, with 0.4%.
Although the OCU estimates an average cost of 500 euros per student, others such as the financial comparator Banqmi believe that the cost will be somewhat lower.
According to his calculations, families will pay up to 410 euros on average per student the next academic year, but it will continue to be the most expensive campaign since there are records.
The autonomies with the highest average cost per student, according to Banqmi, are: The Valencian Community (465.55 euros), Catalonia (447.86 euros) and Navarra (447.36 euros), followed by Extremadura (383.38 euros ) and Castilla-La Mancha (387.34 euros).
“Although this year’s rise seems to be small, it comes just one year after the great rise last year and is yet another setback for families,” explains Antonio Gallardo, Banqmi’s financial expert.
How to save
The Facua organization reminds families that schools cannot force them to purchase textbooks, school supplies or possible uniforms in a specific establishment.
“They have complete freedom of choice, according to what best suits their economic capacity.”
Facua also recommends comparing prices to families and “not staying in the first establishment visited”. In addition, it is advisable not to buy all the necessary items in the same place, since the most competitive prices may not all be found in the same place.
In the same way, it also highlights the need to “not get carried away by well-known brands or by the presence of famous people in articles intended for children”, in backpacks or cases, for example, “since they tend to determine the price much more than the own quality of the product”.
For its part, to prevent unnecessary expenses, OCU recommends “purchasing ahead of time to take advantage of offers on clothing and stationery, asking the school for free book programs” and “resorting to collaborative consumption” contribute to spending less.
As one of the options to reduce school expenses, families choose to resort to second-hand textbooks. Its demand, in fact, has shot up 166% in the last month of July compared to June, according to a study carried out by Milanuncios.
Precisely, 73% of the new ads this year have been published between June and July, in a market that reaches a total value of more than 2.3 million euros in the last 12 months, as detailed by the company. Regarding the average price per second-hand textbook, in the first fortnight of August 2023 it was around 20 euros.
Iñigo Vallejo, spokesman for Milanuncios, points out that the causes that have turned the second-hand book market into a more common alternative for students and families are “inflation and greater sustainable awareness in the consumer”.
Demand by CCAA
Madrid and Andalusia are the regions where the most second-hand books are in demand. By level, the most demanded products are high school books and, specifically by year, it is the first year books that have generated the most interest this summer.
Madrid is the region most interested in the acquisition of second-hand books, with 18.4% of the total demand in Spain in the first seven months of the year; followed by Andalusia (17.7%) and Catalonia (11.1%).
However, the regions where demand has grown the most this July compared to last June are La Rioja (+294%) and Galicia (+284%), according to Europa Press.
Regarding the volume of the offer, Madrid is once again the city where more books are put up for sale by users since the beginning of the year, with 18% of the total offer; followed by Valladolid and Seville, which monopolize 6.7% and 6.3% respectively.
On the other hand, digital books represent a saving of 162 euros per student and course, 33% less than printed books, however, paper books continue to be the most in demand and grow more than e-book searches, according to EFE. .
Upload the application for laptops and uniforms
The rise of online classes and teleworking, the demand for laptops, which has grown by almost 13% in July 2023 compared to the month of June.
Likewise, the demand for PCs has increased (almost 12%) while tablets and e-books present an increase of 3% in the same period of time. As for gaming computers, their demand has grown by 6.5%.
Another product that has also experienced growth is men’s school uniforms, whose views have increased by 8.7% in July compared to the previous month.. In the case of women, the demand has grown by 7%.