How much do you spend on uniform?
A new study by MyVoucherCodes has revealed the costs facing parents getting teenagers back to school as the new term starts; with those sending their children to schools and colleges without a uniform spending double on clothing for the new term than those with uniform policies.
Whilst teenagers may revel in the idea of leaving their uniforms behind this new school year, the study has revealed the financial impact that non-uniform policies may be having on parents; revealing that parents sending their teenagers to a sixth-form or college with a non-uniform policy spend up to double the amount on clothing for the new school term than those attending uniformed schools.
The study polled 1,221 parents of children aged 16 and over; all of whom with children attending a sixth-form or college this new school year. The study aimed to find out more about the financial impact of the new school year.
The parents taking part were asked if they had bought their teenagers new clothing to start the new school year, to which 91 per cent said yes. Of these, 52 per cent had to buy new items of school uniform, whilst 48 per cent had purchased new non-uniform clothing for their child to wear.
Non-uniform does present a certain pressure to look good...There’s also an endless amount of clothing to choose from when it comes to buying- whereas uniform is pretty regimented...
Those who had bought new clothes were asked to estimate, in total, how much they had spent on their teenager’s new clothing to wear to school. For those who had purchased new uniform, the average amount spent was £78.60.
In contrast, those who had purchased new non-uniform clothing for their child to wear this new school year had spent an average of £163.40 according to the results. These results mean that parents buying non-uniform clothing have spent over double, on average, those with children having to wear uniform this year.
When asked, “Would you prefer your child to wear uniform, or non-uniform, to their sixth form or college?” three quarters of the parents taking part said ‘uniform.’ When asked to explain their answer, over half explained that they believed it was ‘cheaper’ for their child to wear uniform; whilst a third, 34 per cent felt it was ‘less pressure on their child’ if uniform is worn.
In contrast, the parents taking part were requested to ask their teenager which they would prefer. Two thirds of the teenagers asked stated that they would prefer to wear ‘non-uniform’ to school. Of those who selected ‘uniform’, 67 per cent explained that wearing uniform meant ‘less pressure for them to look good’.
Mark Pearson, Chairman of MyVoucherCodes.co.uk, said: “Going back to school inevitably involves cost for parents, and purchasing new clothes is a huge part of that. With this study, we wanted to look at how the presence of uniform impacts parents financially, and it’s clear from our results that uniform certainly involves less cost!”
“Non-uniform does present a certain pressure to look good, something that both the parents and teenagers that took part in the study highlighted. There’s also an endless amount of clothing to choose from when it comes to buying- whereas uniform is pretty regimented in what you have to fork out on.
"To try and keep costs down, we recommend that parents check out any discounts available to them. They can really help keep the costs down, both on uniform and normal clothes, and can help soften the blow of the new school term!” he said.
FemaleFirst @FemaleFirst_UK
Shabana Adam
Tagged in Parenting Back To School Parenting News