First Grader Costs Up to 58,000 Dinars, Here's the Breakdown
A full set of first-grade supplies, from backpack to textbooks, costs 36,500 to 58,000 dinars. Without books, the figure drops to 11,500 to 21,500 dinars, per two separate breakdowns.
Basic first-grade supplies for the new school year, not counting textbooks, cost between 11,500 and 21,500 dinars, according to a breakdown published by Kurir. Once books are added to the bill, the full set of equipment runs from 36,500 to 58,000 dinars, according to a table published by Informer. The gap between the two figures isn’t an error on either outlet’s part, it comes down to what each one counted: Kurir’s total covers a backpack, school supplies, notebooks, sneakers and a tracksuit, while Informer’s also includes textbooks and additional clothing.
What’s Actually Included in the Cost
According to Informer’s table, the single biggest line item is textbooks, 10,000 dinars for a basic set, rising to 20,000 dinars if a parent opts for pricier editions. The rest of the list breaks down as follows:
- notebooks and school supplies: 6,000 to 8,000 dinars
- pencil case: 500 to 2,000 dinars
- backpack: 3,000 to 5,000 dinars
- clothing: 10,000 to 14,000 dinars
- footwear: 3,000 to 4,000 dinars
- physical education gear: 4,000 to 5,000 dinars
Adding it all up puts the total between 36,500 and 58,000 dinars per child, depending on whether a parent buys the cheapest options or branded products. On top of that, first graders also need art supplies, wooden colored pencils, markers, watercolors and modeling clay, which both breakdowns fold into the school supplies line.
Why Is Kurir’s Number Lower?
Kurir calculated a lower total for the same day, 11,500 to 21,500 dinars, but that figure only covers the backpack, school supplies, notebooks, sneakers and tracksuit, leaving out textbooks and extra clothing entirely. A mother of a first grader from Sremska Mitrovica, describing her own shopping trip to the outlet, said:
It’s the first grade, so we had nothing left over from before. We bought a new backpack, a pencil case, notebooks, a full set of supplies, everything needed for art class, sneakers, a tracksuit and clothes. When you start buying things one by one, each item doesn’t seem like much on its own, but once you add it all up, the total is serious.
Add the cost of textbooks from Informer’s table to her spending, and a family outfitting a first grader entirely from scratch lands close to the upper limit of 58,000 dinars.
Snacks Add Another 4,000 to 6,000 Dinars a Month
Supplies and textbooks aren’t the end of the expense. If a parent sets aside 200 dinars a day for a school snack, the monthly bill for 20 school days comes to about 4,000 dinars. At 250 dinars a day, the monthly cost climbs to around 5,000 dinars, and at 300 dinars a day, to about 6,000 dinars. For a family with three children in school, snacks alone add up to 12,000 to 18,000 dinars a month, before a single item of equipment or a single textbook is bought.
City Aid Increases With Each Grade
The city of Sremska Mitrovica set aside 54 million dinars in textbook aid for the new school year, covering 5,260 students. The amount rises with each grade: 8,000 dinars for first and second grade, 9,000 for third and fourth, 10,000 for fifth, 12,000 for sixth, and 14,000 dinars for seventh and eighth grade. Free textbooks from the state, separate from the city aid, go to socially vulnerable families, children with developmental disabilities and a family’s third child.
For a family with three children in school, the city aid per child varies: a first grader gets 8,000 dinars, while a seventh grader gets 14,000 dinars. A mother of three from Sremska Mitrovica, who has spent years passing equipment down from her older children to the younger ones, described a different strategy from a family outfitting a child for school for the first time:
In our house, we mostly use whatever can still be used. The kids wear hand-me-downs from their older siblings, and we don’t buy new backpacks and everything new every year unless we have to. It’s the same with books, when we can reuse them or find used copies. With three kids, you simply have to think that way.
Her family lowers the upper end of Informer’s range this way, but loses on the number of items needed: three children mean three sets of school supplies and three snacks, even when clothes and books get passed down.
The Difference Between One Child and Three in School
For a family with a single first grader, nearly all the equipment is bought for the first time, so the cost lands closest to the upper limit in both breakdowns. A family with three children can lower the cost per child by passing down equipment and buying used textbooks, but it carries three times as many day-to-day items, from supplies to snacks. Neither breakdown is final on the first day of school: school trips, outings, photo sessions and extra sports gear keep arriving throughout the year.
