THERE can be a huge cost discrepancies when sending children off to school.
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As the Hastings youngsters prepare for the classroom next week some parents are left counting the cost of it all.
Others have managed to get out of the expensive exercise.
Amanda Buntschu has dodged the hefty expense for five-year-old daughter Charly, who starts her first year in primary school at St Agnes, thanks to hand-me-downs from eight-year-old daughter Joelle.
“I’m lucky I’ve been able to pass the clothes down to Charly so it hasn’t been all that costly for me at all,” she said.
“In all, for everything, it’s probably been a couple of hundred dollars.”
It’s a different story however for Nicola McKellar who’s daughter Lilly is facing her first year of high school in year 7 at St Paul’s.
Although Lilly is excited about her first year in High School her mother was slightly less impressed.
Mrs McKellar estimated the cost of preparing her daughter for school to be more than $1000.
She said the uniform, which consisted of just one of everything, left her about $500 out of pocket.
“And that was pretty much the minimum,” she said.
“That includes the bag and the school book pack which would have been about $130 as well.
“It all adds up pretty quickly.”
But Mrs McKeller said the most expensive item came in the form of an iPad.
“And then you’ve got the cost of forking out for a decent cover for it so it doesn’t get dropped and broken,” she said.
“But what are you going to do - it’s a pre-requisite for the school.”