Equipping a First Grader: How Much You'll Need

How much does it actually cost to equip a first grader for school? Starting from zero, the answer runs from 36,500 to 58,000 dinars, depending on whether you go with the cheapest supplies or something a bit better made.

There’s exactly one week left until September 1, which is when most parents of first graders finally sit down and add up everything they need to buy. Unlike kids already in their second, third or fifth year of school, who can recycle last year’s backpack or pencil case, parents of first graders are starting from scratch as a rule. There’s no old gear to dig out of a closet, everything gets bought new, and that’s exactly where the budget difference shows up most. We already wrote about the free textbooks that have arrived in schools, and this breakdown goes a step further, covering everything else a first grader carries in their backpack on day one.

What exactly makes up that number

Here’s the breakdown by item, from the biggest expense to the smallest, with a range from the more modest to the pricier option.

• Textbooks, the single biggest item. A basic set runs around 10,000 dinars, and with pricier publishers and workbooks added in, the cost climbs to 20,000 dinars. The price depends on the school, the grade and the publisher, so there’s no single figure that applies to everyone.
• Notebooks and school supplies, 6,000 to 8,000 dinars by one estimate. Individually, a plain A5 notebook runs 50 to 160 dinars, an A4 notebook 120 to 300 dinars, depending on the page count. A graphite pencil is a cheap item, around 25 dinars, an eraser about 42, and a sharpener around 48 dinars.
• Pencil case, from 500 dinars for a basic one to over 2,000 dinars for a fully stocked version.
• Backpack, 2,000 to 4,000 dinars for standard models. Branded, anatomically shaped backpacks, the ones kids want most these days, go for more than 15,000 dinars.
• Clothing, 10,000 to 14,000 dinars for a basic amount, no brand names.
• Everyday sneakers, from 3,000 dinars up.
• PE gear, an additional 4,000 to 5,000 dinars. Within that, gym shoes run around 3,000 dinars, a t-shirt about 400, and shorts around 500 dinars.

Add it all up and the more modest option comes to around 36,500 dinars, while the pricier one runs about 58,000 dinars. Sources don’t fully agree here either: one outlet rounds the upper limit to 58,000, another to 60,000 dinars, but the difference is in the rounding, not in the line items themselves. Likewise, for notebooks and supplies one source gives a range of 6,000 to 8,000 dinars, while another widens it to 6,000 to 10,000 dinars if the pencil case is counted together with the rest of the supplies.

Where parents can save

A practical tip, tested firsthand by anyone who has already been through first grade: before you start shopping, make a list of what your child already has. An old pencil case, a preschool backpack that’s still in good shape, a piece of clothing that still fits, all of that takes an item off the list.

The pros and cons of this math, in short:

• Pro: most of the cost, textbooks and supplies, has a fixed floor, so it’s easy to plan for in advance.
• Pro: state and local aid exists that genuinely lowers the cost, not just on paper.
• Con: the backpack and PE gear are the items where it’s easiest to spend twice as much as needed if the child insists on a brand.
• Con: if the child truly has no carryover items from before, the savings are small no matter how well a parent plans.

There’s also help available for part of the cost. Belgrade pays every elementary and high school student 20,000 dinars in student aid, which can also be used for textbooks. Novi Sad and Subotica provide free textbooks for all elementary school students, from first to eighth grade, while Kragujevac provides a complete set of textbooks and workbooks for first graders and covers certain mandatory titles for second, third and fourth grade. At the national level, free textbooks for the 2026/27 school year have been secured for around 96,000 students who meet the prescribed conditions.

Our recommendation

If your child is a first grader starting truly from zero, plan realistically around the lower bound of about 36,500 dinars as a starting point, and spread the shopping across two or three rounds instead of doing it all in one day. Start with textbooks and basic supplies, since the school needs those on day one, then move to clothing and footwear, which can wait until the second week of September. Save pricier items, like a branded backpack, for later, once you see whether your child actually insists on it or is fine with a practical model. Checking what aid your city offers before you head to the store is a simple step that can shave a few thousand dinars off the total bill.