BNPL Use for Back-to-School Shopping Jumps to 45% as Parents Face Record Financial Stress

Quick Facts

45% of U.S. households plan to use BNPL for back-to-school shopping in 2026, up from 39% in 2025, per an Omnisend survey of 1,075 U.S. consumers.
Total U.S. back-to-school spending is projected to reach $146.8 billion this season, up from $128.2 billion in 2025.
54% of parents say back-to-school expenses are a major source of anxiety, and 44% plan to take on debt to cover costs.

Buy now, pay later is no longer a tool for impulse purchases. For a growing share of American parents, it is how they fund the annual back-to-school haul.

A June 2026 survey commissioned by Omnisend and conducted by Cint found that 45% of U.S. households plan to use BNPL for back-to-school shopping this year. That is up from 39% in 2025. The survey polled 1,075 U.S. consumers with quotas set on age, gender, income, and region to produce a nationally representative sample.

Nearly a third of U.S. households, 31%, expect BNPL to cover more than half of their back-to-school budget. That share is nearly double the 18% seen in the UK and Canada among comparable survey respondents.

Spending Is Up, Budgets Are Strained

The National Retail Federation projects families with children in elementary through high school will spend an average of $863.86 on back-to-school items this year, up from $858.07 in 2025. Nearly 20% of Omnisend survey respondents expect to spend more than $1,000, while 44% anticipate spending over $500.

Those numbers are landing harder on household budgets. Forty percent of parents told Omnisend this year’s back-to-school shopping will be more financially stressful than last year’s. A separate Credit Karma survey found 39% of parents with school-age children say they cannot afford back-to-school shopping at all.

Prices are a core driver. New analysis from Groundwork Collaborative and The Century Foundation estimates the 2026-27 school year will cost families close to $4,000 per child, a 10.7% increase over last year. A typical basket of school supplies costs 7.7% more. Index cards jumped 42%. Three-ring binders cost nearly 13% more than last year.

What Parents Are Most Worried About

Apparel tops the list of items parents fear they cannot afford. Forty-three percent cited shoes, 42% cited clothing and uniforms, and 31% cited backpacks. Electronics, including laptops and calculators, concerned 34% of respondents. Basic supplies like notebooks and pens worried 32%.

The anxiety is not purely financial. Marty Bauer, an e-commerce expert at Omnisend, noted that social pressure compounds the dollar pressure. “There are expectations around clothing, shoes, backpacks, and technology,” Bauer said, “so it’s only natural that many parents worry that falling short could leave their child feeling excluded.”

More than half of parents, 54%, say they plan to sacrifice necessities including groceries to cover school costs. Thirty percent plan to cut family activities and entertainment. Twenty-two percent plan to use credit cards, 21% will draw from savings earmarked for other purposes, and 18% plan to borrow from friends or family.

Retailers and BNPL Platforms Respond

Several retailers have moved to hold prices. Walmart announced its lowest back-to-school prices since 2019 on 14 popular school supplies. Kohl’s said thousands of items would come in under $25. Staples and Dollar General both highlighted 2025 pricing and products at $1 or less.

BNPL platforms are seeing direct volume gains. Afterpay reported a 65% year-over-year increase in backpack sales and a 50%-plus surge in school supplies and electronics. Klarna and Affirm are also active in the space.

Bauer framed the trend as a structural shift rather than a seasonal spike. “Buy Now, Pay Later used to be associated with discretionary spending,” he said. “Now it’s increasingly becoming a budgeting tool for predictable, everyday expenses. The fact that so many parents still rely on BNPL suggests household budgets have less room to absorb even expected annual costs.”

Tariffs Add Pressure

Among back-to-school shoppers who noticed higher prices in 2025, 59% attributed the increase to inflation and 37% cited tariffs. Researchers at UNC Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flagler Business School pointed to import costs on specific items. “If we look at pencils, for instance, we know the wooden pencils are imported from Brazil,” said research economist Dr. Sarah Dickerson.

For brands and retailers in the back-to-school category, the data signals that payment flexibility is no longer optional. Parents are managing cash flow across a compressed spending window, and BNPL is central to how that math works in 2026.