Back-to-School Shopping Is Well Underway, but Concerns About the Delta Variant Are Rising

According to CivicScience data, the majority of parents are comfortable with their children returning to the classroom, and actually prefer their child(ren) attend in person.

Concern about the Delta variant correlates with parents’ willingness to send their children going into a classroom for school. With concern about the variant climbing week over week, parents taking this stance is expected to increase between now and the start of school.

Overall, 2 in 5 parents say their kids will go back to school regardless of the precautions and procedures put in place by the staff. Among the majority of parents who draw the line with some kind of safety requirement, requiring vaccinations for students and faculty, as well as increased sanitary measures, are priority stipulations.

Back-to-School Shopping

With the increased popularity of in-person learning for the 2021 school year, parents’ spending may reflect pre-pandemic figures. Sources indicate parents of school-age children plan on buying more apparel and traditional school supplies this year. This reflects parents’ anticipated transition away from online learning. 

What’s different about this year though is that more parents are farther along in their shopping than in previous years, and many seem to be doing more online.

Thirty-six percent of parents plan to spend more on back-to-school shopping this year. Part of this could be explained by parents expecting back-to-school supplies to be more expensive in 2021, whether it’s because of inflation or because of an increase in demand for school supplies. 

But considering the number of parents who plan on online or hybrid learning this year also anticipate spending more on supplies, increased spending could be related to the types of school supplies needed to participate in class from home.

Regardless, the lowest-earning households are the most likely to report they will spend more on back-to-school supplies this year.

As we draw closer to fall, CivicScience will check in with how parents feel about the Delta variant and how that will impact their plans for school and what they are putting their money towards.