Parents to spend more than $300 on getting their children back-to- school and an additional $400 on incidentals throughout the year

TORONTO - Canadians with children in pre-school through grade 12 are planning to spend an average of $310, around the same as last year, to get their children ready for going back-to-school, according to a recent Scotiabank study. Throughout the year, parents expect to spend an additional $406 on school-related incidentals. From field trips to pizza lunches, incidentals affect all parents with school age children, yet 71 per cent say that they have not budgeted for these costs.

"Spending by Canadian households on school-related goods and services typically is more stable than other discretionary purchases in both good and not so good times," said Aron Gampel, Scotiabank's Deputy Chief Economist. "Although cost-conscious Canadian families will look to stretch their purchasing power, allocating hard-earned spending dollars on education takes on added importance during these challenging times."

Regionally, parents in Quebec plan to spend more on getting their children ready for back-to-school ($399) than those in the rest of Canada. Parents in Ontario anticipate spending the least ($266).

Amount Spent Getting Children Ready for Back to School

------------------------------------------------------------------------- Man./ Total Atlantic Quebec Ontario Sask. Alberta B.C. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Average $310 $322 $399 $266 $293 $338 $273 -------------------------------------------------------------------------

On incidentals throughout the year, parents in Alberta expect to spend $471, more than any other province.

Amount Expected for School Related Incidentals

------------------------------------------------------------------------- Man./ Total Atlantic Quebec Ontario Sask. Alberta B.C. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Average $406 $379 $400 $421 $337 $471 $390 -------------------------------------------------------------------------

With back to school shopping and preparations well under way, parents should consider planning now for the incidental costs that pop up throughout the year.

"Incidental costs during the school year are not always top of mind for parents, but can add up and therefore are important to plan for," said Gillian Riley, Scotiabank Managing Director and Head, Retail Deposits and Services. "One way for parents to prepare for incidentals is to set aside money on a regular basis. For example, through an automatic savings program, such as Scotiabank's Bank the Rest, parents can turn back-to-school shopping and everyday debit purchases into a way to save over the course of the year for any unanticipated costs. Small change can add up to make a big difference."

According to the study, 64 per cent of parents plan to use debit and/or cash as their method of payment for most of their back-to-school purchases.

"For the 36 per cent of parents who plan to use credit cards for back-to-school purchases, there are a wide range of options available to them," said Rubina Havlin, Managing Director, Credit Cards, Scotiabank. "For example, Scotia Momentum Visa offers cash back on all eligible purchases, providing savings for future incidentals."

Harris/Decima completed 1,000 online surveys among a random sample of Harris/Decima panel members with school aged children (17 and under) living in the household. They also had to be the primary/shared purchaser of back to school items. The study was conducted between August 7th, 2009 to August 11th, 2009.

This was a standard panel survey among a random sample of Harris/Decima's Canadian panel members. In a fashion similar to a telephone study, email addresses from their panel were pulled at random, according to population and gender specifications, in order to make the study representative of the Canadian population by region and gender. When contacted to solicit participation, participants had no prior knowledge of the subject matter of the study. Harris/Decima controls access to the study through passwords to ensure that respondents can participate only one time. Subsequent to completion of the study, the data was weighted for number of children in the household within region.