SYDNEY, Jan. 28 (Xinhua) -- As the school year begins in Australia, cash-strapped parents across the nation are paying about 2 billion Australian dollars (about 1.4 billion U.S. dollars) on necessities for their children, according to a bank on Thursday.
The survey conducted during the first week of December by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) estimated the average family will spend 435 Australian dollars (about 306 U.S. dollars) on back-to-school items, a 9-percent increase over last year.
Families with three or more children expect to spend about 880 Australian dollars (about 620 U.S. dollars) for school-related items such as electronic devices, uniforms, books and stationery.
The priciest equipment is usually computer-related, with 22 percent of parents planning to buy laptops or other devices for their children, costing an average of about 640 Australian dollars (about 450 U.S. dollars).
Almost 75 percent of parents said their children would need new uniform items that are expected to cost about 188 Australian dollars (about 132 U.S. dollars), while reading materials such as textbooks may set them back almost 200 Australian dollars (about 140 U.S. dollars).
The survey noted about 80 percent of parents remained hopeful of being able to save a few dollars by making their purchases when they were on sale.
About 65 percent of parents said they found it difficult to pay the bills and 60 percent were choosing to use "buy now, pay later" schemes or credit cards to delay their payments.
CBA general manager Caleb Reeves said such strategies were popular given that many parents felt "financially overwhelmed" at this time of year following "all the spending they had already done over the holiday period." ■