It’s not only the students bemoaning the start of back-to-school season – it’s their parents, too.

Well, at least financially.

A 2022 Deloitte Back-to-School Survey found 57% of back-to-school shoppers are concerned about a surge in spending, with expectations it will reach a new high of $661 per student. This is an increase of $53, or 8%, from the 2021-22 school year.

“Inflation is definitely impacting the way people are planning for this event,” says Lupine Skelly, retail research lead for the Consumer Industry Center at Deloitte, in a company blog post. “Three in five said they were concerned about higher back-to-school prices, [plus] people are dealing with higher grocery and gas prices, which means you’re really going to have to budget.”

Similarly, Lesley Deas, senior research manager at Flipp, an app and website that lets you browse or search through store circulars, found 43% of parents expect to spend more this year.

“We saw that higher prices are impacting how parents plan to shop and what they expect to spend,” says Deas, based on findings from Flipp’s commissioned survey in June, conducted by Maru/BLUE. “This is in part because in-class learning has fully resumed, but parents said 'higher prices' are the main reason for their budget adjustments.”

Fortunately, there are several free apps, websites and browser extensions that can help students and parents find deals on back-to-school essentials.

They each work a little differently, but the following are five worthy considerations.

Rakuten

Formerly eBates, Rakuten pays members cash back every time you shop online through participating retailers, with more than 3,500 supporting stores, says the company.

Here’s how it works: Sign up for a free account and launch the app or website whenever you want to start shopping (or opt for the browser extension). Then if you buy something from one of the supported retailers, Rakuten shares the commission they get from stores, for sending you their way.