Back-to-school: Long Island parents excited for a new school year but stressed about the costs

The beginning of the 2026-27 school year will mark a new chapter for Toni Anne Ekberg’s three children, with each entering a new school in September.

But along with the fresh start comes the need for new clothes and supplies before the first bell rings. In one recent online order, Ekberg said she bought multiple packs of outfits and an array of classroom items: backpacks, folders, notebooks, pens, pencils, colored pencils and markers.

The price tag came to about $700 — and Ekberg is not done.

"Everything's expensive nowadays," she said, noting that she still needs to get more items for her oldest child, who is entering high school in the Patchogue-Medford district. 

A recent Good Morning America/Ipsos poll showed parents on average expect to spend $885 per child in grades K-12 and most expect prices to be more expensive than last year. Another estimate by the National Retail Federation found the average U.S. shopper plans to pay about $864 this back-to-school shopping season.

The actual cost of back-to-school shopping varies greatly for each family, depending on how many children they have and how much they are willing to spend.

Newsday spoke to half a dozen Long Island parents who said they felt a mix of excitement about the promise a new school year holds for their children and stress over the logistics and cost of back-to-school preparations.

Desiree Smalls, 30, said her family lives paycheck to paycheck and she worries about not having enough money to get everything her two daughters need.

“Back-to-school shopping,” the Glen Cove mother said. “Very stressful.”

More families in need

When Samantha Morales, 39, started Branches Long Island, a nonprofit supporting families experiencing financial hardships, in her Coram home in 2019, the organization helped 35 families a week. The figure has risen to 700 a week, she said.

The group started holding a backpack giveaway in 2020, initially serving around 100 kids. At its most recent event, held earlier this month with the Suffolk County Police Department, more than 900 children came with their families.

On Monday, Morales said her phone was ringing off the hook, with more parents and grandparents asking whether there were supplies left.

“It’s really hard to survive right now,” she said.

The mother of four, with children ages 8 through 14, estimated she would spend $500 per child this season. She said she began shopping in June, often buying in bulk.

"We are pretty middle-class," she said. "We have to bargain shop all year long. We have a mortgage. We have to buy in waves. ... You have to be creative."

Several other Long Island parents said they have also been planning for back-to-school shopping for weeks. Smalls began putting away $100 or $200 from her paycheck in July.

In early September, her two girls, 5 and 9, will begin kindergarten and fourth grade in two elementary schools in the Glen Cove City school district.

Smalls said she paid $150 for two backpacks with the girls' names on them, a package that also included lunchboxes, pencil cases and water bottles. The girls had lost their backpacks before so she figured one with their name on will be easier to get back. Through a backpack giveaway event, the girls also picked up two purple backpacks, which Smalls said will serve as backups.

She said she also paid more than $120 for supplies from Staples and about $300 for six pairs of outfits for each from discount stores and an online retailer. The girls still need new sneakers.

“I don't know how anybody’s surviving,” said Smalls, who works as a school bus monitor.

To save on grocery bills, Smalls said she grows tomatoes, corn, pumpkins, collard greens, bell peppers, zucchinis and other vegetables.

She feels the weight of her responsibility: “They're my kids, so it's my job.”

'It's tough'

For parents who must balance work, life and childcare during the summer months when school is not in session, back-to-school shopping is just one more task added to their long to-do list.

“I have so much going on in everyday life as a mom in general,” said Ekberg, 45, of Medford.

Ekberg, a patient service representative at an urgent care provider, said she took the summer weeks off but will return to work around the same time her children go back to school.

“You got the toddler screaming in the background, the dog barking, kids are hungry, and I'm sitting here like: ‘Oh, I have to put all the school supplies together and get everyone going,’ ” she said. “It’s tough.”

The good news is that many parents no longer have to meander from aisle to aisle in retail stores ticking off items on a piece of paper. Some districts now provide parents a link to click on school websites that takes them to a retailer’s website to purchase the exact supplies required for their child.

That’s how Ekberg got what she needed for her middle child, 10, who will attend sixth grade at Oregon Middle School, plus some shirts and pants for her oldest, 13, who will begin ninth grade at Patchogue-Medford High School. The high school list had yet to be released so she will add the missing items later.

She had already picked out a first-day outfit for her daughter, 3, who will start preschool. For the little one, Ekberg said she splurged on a cat-themed backpack with pink trims and her daughter’s name on it. The $150 package included a matching lunchbox and water bottle.

“It's her first time,” Ekberg said. Explaining her reasoning for the pricey backpack, she said, “They have really cute designs and they last a few years.”

Searching for savings

Gina Mojica, 35, of Riverhead, hoped to keep the cost of her childrens' school supplies to a minimum this year. She planned to attend giveaways to gather most of the items on their lists, including the recent Branches event at Longwood Junior High School in Middle Island.

“It’s hard when you have three kids,” said Mojica, who works for a Suffolk County government agency.

As families wound through tables piled high with crayons, dry erase boards, hair clips and electric toothbrushes at the Branches event, Mojica’s daughter, 15, picked up a beige backpack in a soft fabric. One of her twin sons, 6, exchanged his initial pick of a backpack featuring a Minion, the fictional character from the film franchise “Despicable Me,” for a transparent one with a front pocket — better, he explained, for holding snacks.

Mojica said she had not started buying new clothes for her children but figured that would cost a few hundred dollars. The mother of three said she goes over her budget every month and is saving to buy a laptop for her daughter, who will begin 10th grade soon.

Angely, 36, and Oliver Cedeno, 37, held onto unused items such as glue sticks and picked up more supplies for their two children, 9 and 5, at the Branches event where they gathered most of what the rising first and fifth grader would need for the new year. The Shirley couple spent about $70 to get the rest of the supplies. They have not started buying new clothes for the kids yet. 

Oliver Cedeno, who works at a grocery store, said his family’s strategy is not to leave shopping to the last minute so they can search for the best deals.

They're not alone: In recent years, most parents have begun back-to-school shopping early to stretch their dollars, Newsday previously reported.

“There's definitely times where waiting for the deal makes sense,” Cedeno said. “Why pay full price for something when you know it's going to go down in price?”