Back-to-school prices increased 25% since 2015: StatCan

See more Toronto Sun on Google — save as a Preferred Source OTTAWA — Parents sending their kids off to their final year of high school are paying nearly 25% more than they did when their kids first entered school. That's according to data released last month by Statistics Canada, showing everything from pens and pencils to packing a daily lunch costs far more now than it did 12 years ago — offsetting drops in prices for clothing and footwear. "Surprising as it may seem, parents of Grade 12 students will pay about the same — or perhaps even less — for clothing and athletic footwear this summer than they did when their child was in Grade 1," read the report, released late last month. "Among back-to-school items, prices for children's clothing (-8.5%) and footwear (-6.9%) have fallen at the fastest pace from June 2015 to June 2026. It should be noted that most students 'graduate' from children to adult clothing and footwear somewhere between Grades 7 and 9." Savings from these drops, however, are completely eroded by increases in supplies and food. Studying pricing trends between 2015 and 2026 showed school textbooks and other supplies showed prices of those items increased 24% since 2015. Books and reading material, excluding textbooks, increased by 25.7% over the same time period. No savings found in your lunchbox, either The biggest back-to-school financial hit, however, is found in packing your kids' lunch box. Key sandwich ingredients increased by nearly 33% between 2015 and 2026 — cheese saw varied increases, from 9.8% in the price of cheddar to 43% for fresh or unripened cheese. Prices for ham and other processed meats, essential for any mid-school day meal, rose faster than cheese. Ham and bacon prices increased by 47% since June 2015, while other processed lunch meats like bologna saw a 43% increase. Despite paying more for bacon, packing that noon-hour BLT may leave a bad taste in your mouth. "The biggest price change in making a sandwich for a school lunch box was the vegetable fillings, with tomato prices up 95.4% and lettuce prices up 75.2% from June 2015 to June 2026," the report read. bpassifiume@postmedia.comX: @bryanpassifiume RECOMMENDED VIDEO