Dear school: it is a back and forth between consumer associations and stationery stores. The former have raised the alarm on price increases with Codacons estimates setting a maximum budget of 1,300 euros for school supplies and textbooks, with increases ranging from +2% to +4% on stationery and +1.8% on textbooks. A quick response came from Federcartolai Confcommercio. “September has now begun and, punctual as every year, the alarm on the ‘expensive school’ restarts. This year the estimated amount is 1,300 euros per student. The same, exact figure for 2024/2025 and 2025/2026. Three years, the same round number: either the cost of living froze in 2023, or that figure is copied every August without anyone bothering to verify it,” the association said, adding -. We stationery sellers do the math every day, really, we don’t invent it at the table at the end of summer. This is demonstrated by the hundreds of stationery stores that responded to our survey: basic backpack, non-branded, between 40 and 50 euros for 70% of stores; 3-zip pencil case between 19 and 29 euros; simple pencil case between 5 and 15 euros; diary between 16 and 25 euros; notebooks and covers, in short the complete set between 12 and 20 euros; scientific calculator up to 18 euros; complete stationery up to 14 euros. Books, the most expensive and variable item, reach up to 350 euros in first grade of middle school. To reach 1,300 euros you would have to shop in boutiques, not stationery stores… unless someone is buying branded backpacks and calling them school supplies,” Federcartolai added.
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The merchants then reaffirm the social value of their activity and presence in the territory. “Inflated numbers like these – the note continues – are not a detail: they cause enormous damage, and they do so to a sector made up of local shops, people who know their customers by name, a service that lasts all year and does not only light up in September to make news. And while some launch catchy figures, we remind that the supply of school books for primary schools, borne by the municipalities, is guaranteed only by stationery stores, because large-scale distribution finds it unprofitable. A service often free, never once valued. We have been working for some time with other trade unions for a concrete battle: the tax deductibility of school expenses, as already happens for medical or sports expenses. And thanks to the Student Card you are entitled to a 10% discount on all stationery, a discount that is never mentioned when talking about figures.” According to Federcartolai’s surveys, increases are between +2% and +4% on stationery and school materials, and 1.8% on textbooks for 2026/2027. “Figures far from the alarms read these days. Federcartolai will continue to be present in the national and local press with data in hand, because families deserve facts, not recycled headlines.”
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The response from the Italian Publishers Association (Aie) has also arrived, reporting increases below the inflation rate detected. In a note, Aie specifies that the average price increase of textbooks in 2026 is 2.3% for lower secondary school and 1.8% for upper secondary school, below inflation (2.8% in July on an annual basis, Istat). However, the overall average expenditure that each family must bear to purchase school books, defined based on teachers’ choices, has decreased by 1.4% compared to the previous year, both in lower and upper secondary schools.
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