Aug. 14—As parents prepare to do back-to-school shopping, one concern many families are dealing with as they review the school supplies list is rising prices.

Mankato resident Heidi Cronick is a lower-income mother of six kids, she said, and increasing costs are one of her concerns going into the upcoming school year.

"Everything is outrageous. I mean, even if you find it on clearance, you know I got to buy stuff in advance," she said.

It's clothing, she said, that's been the hardest to find, noting she tries to buy each of her kids three outfits apiece for the start of the school year.

"If I didn't have a vehicle, I don't think there's a lot of options for shoes," she said. "Girls are easier to find (items for), even if I go to thrift stores, it's easier to find girl items. Boys are hard for clothes."

As a parent who drives her kids to school, Cronick said she's also worried about fuel costs.

"Especially if they have to bus children to and from school, gas prices are definitely outrageous," she said. "Last year I had five kids in five different schools."

Mankato residents Sarah and Marshall Blanshan also have noticed the sticker shock as they prepare to go back-to-school shopping for their daughter, Lorelai, who is going into second grade.

"Everything has gone up if you ask me. A notebook that used to cost a dollar before is now $2," Marshall said. "Even clothes have gone up significantly."

Sarah added that it's changed the way they approach their shopping.

"Trying to find the best deals first versus before kind of just buying whatever. We're trying to maximize the dollar," she said.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' Consumer Price Index released Thursday, prices in general have risen 8.5 percent from a year ago, but that number is smaller than the 9.1 percent increase for the period ending in June. The monthly inflation rate was also flat, which means prices didn't see an increase from last month.

For families going back-to-school shopping, Gustavus Adolphus College associate professor of economics Jeff Owen said that while prices have not been rising as fast as they have been, price increases still haven't stopped, and the cost of school supplies still might not be what families are hoping for.

"Certainly, like everything else, I don't think it's going to be unusual in terms of what we're seeing in other sectors, but certainly, the same sort of thing you hear with groceries, etc. is going to be true for school supplies, especially those short-term purchases," he said.

And organizations that collect school supplies are also seeing the impacts of rising costs.

Michelle Zehnder Fischer, chair of the Friends of Learning Back to School Project, which provides backpacks full of school supplies for K-12 students in St. Peter and rural Nicollet County, said community donations have been slow.

While the organization still anticipates being able to fill most of the needs of the over 400 families who have signed up for supplies, Zehnder Fischer said it's still been harder to get items.

"Businesses have been very generous this year and that's greatly appreciated, but seeing the slower donations on the individual level," she said.

She added that the cost increase of some items has impacted how much the organization has been able to purchase to fulfill requests when they receive cash donations.

"For example, one of the items, the three-ring binder that students are asked to have, went up like a dollar per item. While a dollar might not seem significant, it's significant because we're buying, you know, 500 of them. That's certainly an increase in costs for our organization and certainly an increase in costs that families are experiencing."

End of free meals

Adding on to back-to-school costs, waivers have ended that allowed school districts to provide free meals for all students during the school year.

The waiver authority for the U.S. Department of Agriculture ended June 30, meaning school districts are set to return to income-based programs such as the National School Breakfast and Lunch Programs once the school year starts.

Mankato Area Public Schools set school breakfast and lunch prices for the upcoming school year for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic at a board meeting earlier this summer.

Elementary paid breakfast and lunch prices, which were $1 and $2.35 respectively, and secondary paid breakfast and lunch prices, which were $1.05 and $2.65 respectively, will each go up 10 cents. Kindergarteners will still have free breakfast.

MAPS Director of Nutrition Services Darcy Stueber said the district has applications available on its website that families can fill out to continue to qualify for free meals and that the application never closes.

The state of Minnesota is also trying out a new program that can also help families qualify for free meals. The Minnesota Department of Education was selected to participate in the USDA's demonstration project to evaluate direct certification with Medicaid.

"That was a pleasant surprise for us as we start getting families ready to pay for meals again," Stueber said.

Community outreach

The Mankato Salvation Army hosted its annual Back to School Community Fair on Thursday. The organization provided hundreds of kids school supplies, shoes, haircuts and more.

Christine Schaeffel, interim secretary for the NAACP of Mankato, which was handing out supplies at the event, said people who needed supplies often looked for items like folders, pencils, markers, backpacks and more.

She said a little bit of everything has been impacted by rising costs.

"Just for anyone, COVID kind of impacted everybody, and we have a lot of people who are not employed or who find themselves in some type of need. We just wanted to be an assistant and help," she said.

Schaeffel said anybody looking for additional help can visit the NAACP's website for more resources.

Mankato Salvation Army Capt. Andy Wheeler said the organization also planned to donate anything extra from Thursday's event to school districts.

"Our Back to School Community Fair is really just to make a difference in the lives of young people who are coming from families that are struggling to make ends meet," he said.

Additional resources

The Minnesota Department of Revenue encourages parents and caregivers shopping for school supplies to save their receipts to claim K-12 tax benefits when they file their taxes next year.

Parents can claim either the K-12 Education Credit, where income limits apply, or the K-12 Education Subtraction, which has no income limits, when they file their income tax returns, which could save money on their tax bill or provide a larger refund.

Most expenses qualify, including paper, pens and notebooks, textbooks, rental or purchases of educational equipment such as musical instruments, computer hardware and educational software, after-school tutoring and educational summer camps.

Fees for internet service do not qualify.