From crayons to laptops, tariffs push U.S. school expenses higher

As students across the United States head back to school, families are dealing with widespread price hikes on everything from supplies and clothing to cafeteria meals, electronics, and transportation.

U.S. President Donald Trump seems to have failed to keep his campaign promise to rein in soaring prices, leaving back-to-school costs significantly higher. His tariff policies have effectively added what some parents call a "school tax."

In Miami, a 39-year-old resident started shopping in June for her five-year-old's supplies –including 15 boxes of Crayola crayons, Lysol disinfectant wipes, and five packs of Ticonderoga pencils – hoping to beat price hikes caused by new tariffs on imports, according to the Global Times.

Fortune magazine reported that many families, despite having a variety of options, begin their shopping months before the school year starts, hunting for discounts and loading up during summer sales. Retail analysts say more parents this year are replacing and replenishing backpacks and stationery earlier than usual, worried that tariffs will raise prices.

Much of the U.S. market's backpacks, notebooks, glue sticks, and pencils are imported from China. Earlier this spring, these imports faced tariffs of up to 145 percent. Under a recent deal, most Chinese goods entering the U.S. now incur a 30 percent levy.

An analysis by Groundwork Collaborative and the Century Foundation found that the cost of a typical back-to-school kit has increased by 7.3 percent this year – nearly triple the overall inflation rate. From lunch boxes to crayons and calculators, households are spending more. Index cards (up 42.6 percent), notebooks (17.1 percent), binders (12.8 percent), and folders (12.7 percent) experienced the steepest increases.

When asked if tariffs would raise prices, Trump acknowledged they would but suggested parents buy less. "I'm just saying they don't need to have 30 dolls. They can have three. They don't need to have 250 pencils. They can have five," he said during an interview with NBC in May.

For school supplies maker Crayola, whose colored pencils are manufactured entirely in Brazil, a new 50 percent tariff on Brazilian pencils would only increase costs. "Moving colored pencil manufacturing out of Brazil would not be practical," CEO Pete Ruggiero told 69 News.

The Groundwork Collaborative and the Century Foundation estimate that parents will spend $163 more this school year on packing their children's lunch boxes compared to last year. Food prices have also surged under Trump, with juice boxes, grapes, and strawberries increasing by 22 percent on average. Banana prices rose 8 percent in May, and on August 1, Trump announced tariffs of up to 15 percent on five countries that supply nearly all bananas to the U.S.

Electronics have been hardest hit. A Michigan school district had to cancel a quarter of its upgrade plans after laptop prices nearly doubled from $650 to $1,200. Overall, analysts expect computer and tablet costs to increase by more than 30 percent due to tariffs.

Clothing and footwear have also become more costly. Most U.S. imports of apparel and shoes come from China, Vietnam, and Cambodia – now facing tariffs of 20 percent or higher. Data showed shoe prices increased by 1.4 percent in July from the previous month, while clothing only went up by 0.1 percent.

While students have yet to feel the full impact of Trump's economic policies on tuition – which is usually set a year in advance – indications point to rising education costs. On July 4, Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which reduced federal aid to everyday Americans, including school meal subsidies and federal loans that help cover tuition.

The law eliminated one loan program for graduate students and set a maximum limit of $20,500 per year for federal borrowing for graduate school and $50,000 for law and medical students. Many top law schools charge more than $80,000 annually in tuition and fees, while Princeton Review data show that the median cost of attending a public medical school for four years is $268,000.

A U.S. News & World Report survey found that while not all students depend on federal loans, 61 percent of nearly 1,200 respondents said the changes would impact them, and more than a third reported abandoning plans for further study. "That means lower-income students will likely be priced out or pushed toward private loans that carry higher interest rates," Kevin Thompson, the CEO of 9i Capital Group and the host of the 9innings podcast, told Newsweek. "Over time, that could widen the gap in access – especially for minorities trying to enter fields like medicine."

Meanwhile, international student enrollment has decreased by 13 percent under Trump due to policies widely regarded as hostile, further burdening U.S. universities. Today, 72 percent of Americans say that paying for college has become more difficult over the past 25 years.