More Australian parents than ever are taking up no interest loans to cover back-to-school expenses, new data from NAB shows.
The bank expects more than $640,000 to be taken out by parents to buy uniforms, books, stationery and computers for their children in February alone. NAB is predicting parents will take out an average of $1237 per loan.
The start of the school year can be a particularly stressful time for families financially, says NAB head of customer Vulnerability Mike Chambers.
“The start of the year is often when the full impact of festive spending hits just as families are facing new costs and long lists of back-to-school expenses they quickly have to meet,” Chambers said.
“With the cost of living continuing to rise, we expect to see more families on low incomes turn to a no interest loan to help them manage higher back-to-school costs.”
NAB partnered with Good Shepherd in 2018 to offer the no interest loans to parents who would otherwise be unable to afford their children’s expenses each year. The program has supported more than 22,700 Australians who have taken out $28 million in loans for school essentials since it began.
A recent analysis of back-to-school costs in 2024 by Finder reveals Australian families are spending an average of $2,547 per primary school child per year and $4,793 for each child in secondary school.
The rising cost of education in Australia was further highlighted by The Futurity Investment Group’s Investment in Education Index (2024), which found that even public school parents are coughing up an average of $92,710 a year to educate a single child until the end of Year 12.
For schools, Australia’s inflation crisis is continuing to cascade through to the cost of operations, forcing them to adjust their fees to cover rising costs.
“School fees rise in line with the operating costs of each school which has increased as a result of high inflation in the economy and upward pressure on staff wages,” Edstart CEO, Jack Stevens said.
“Rising staff wages are also behind the higher fee increase with many non-government schools offering pay rises to attract and retain teaching staff.”