The High Cost of Low Funding
News outlets around Colorado are covering a growing phenomenon in school districts across Colorado: back-to-school supply lists that have expanded far beyond the old pencil and notebook lists of the past.
From Denver’s Channel 7 to the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, a similar story emerges: through longer supply lists, transportation and other fees, school supply drives (like this one in Monument), and private fundraising, families are literally paying the price for Colorado’s failure to invest in our schools.
When we asked our supporters to tell us us about the high cost of back to school, we learned a lot about the growing user fees associated with “free” public schools:
From E.D. in Jeffco:
We spent about $30 on school supplies for a Kindergartener going half day! . . . The most unexpected item was $8 for 2 large (75+) containers of Clorox Wipes. After all of that, we still had to pay a $25 supply fee. . . . I don’t know how many families can afford this.
E.W. answered that question:
I have two boys in Elementary school, it cost us 140 dollars for school supplies this year. That is a week’s worth of groceries. We have been eating very poorly to try to compensate for the cost.
From C.P. in Boulder:
I spent $100 on supplies for my middle schooler + $450 in fees! I spent $25 on my elementary schooler + $55 ON FEES.So much for free public education.
From K.L. in Douglas:
I have spent about $440 including elementary band fees. Today we are going to buy a NetBook for my son (5th grade) to increase his access to technology at school, something I really value. The school did not ask for this, but did recommend it.
But we can’t forget that the same fate waits for higher education families. With fees increasing by 142% and tuition increasing by69% in just four years, these families and students face tough choices.
S.K. told us:
Our son just received his tuition bill at CU Boulder and is currently deciding whether to drop out to work full time or to transfer to a community college.
And L.H. wrote in:
I spent over $700 on books this semester at Colorado State University, on top of my tuition that has gone up 69% since I began in 2005. Thankfully, this is my last semester!
You can still tell your back-to-school cost story here.
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