A new survey from Rubicon Project says 56 percent of parents plan to spend more on back-to-school shopping this year than they did last year. They also plan to spend an average of $873 per student.

Does $873 seem a little high?

$873 feels very high to me, but my oldest is going into fourth grade. It would make sense if older students are driving up the average, but there are many factors. The survey goes into further detail.

Parents with students in grades K-12 and in college were surveyed.  K-12 parents plan to spend on average $873 per student, while parents who also have college students are planning to spend more than $1,100 per student.

More than half of the parents surveyed (56 percent) said they plan to spend more money per child than they did last year to prepare the students for the upcoming school year.

38 percent intend to purchase technology products such as laptops, tablets and mobile phones specifically to meet students’ in-class needs and requirements.

On average, elementary and secondary school parents expect to spend nearly $400 on technology products, compared to $278 on apparel.

“Back to school is big business and Americans will spend billions of dollars getting their children ready for school in the fall,” said Chris Sukornyk, Head of Buyer Cloud at Rubicon Project.

61 percent of parents said store sales and promotions are the top determinant of when they conduct their back-to-school shopping.

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