A stale with the imminent reopening of the school year is looming. This was reported by the National Consumer Union which estimated the increases relating to the school, developing Istat data. The increases will concern books, notebooks, pens, school equipment, stationery materials and even university accommodation: with these increases, the overall expenditure can reach 700 euros for each child.
All increases
For school books there is an overall rise of 2.8%, higher than the programmed inflation rate of 1.8% valid for the texts of the primary and secondary school texts, but widely exceeded for high schools, also considering dictionaries and fake optional books. A variation that rises to 6.7% compared to 2023 and 11.9% on 2022, higher than the corresponding general inflation rate, equal, respectively, to 2.9% and 9%.
It seems to be better for notebooks and paper remedies that cost 1.5% more for the moment than a year ago, the lower increase among the monitored products, but only a mirage is: consumers, in fact, still pay the mega increases of 2022 (+9.8%) and 2023 (+7.5%), which, added, today lead to spending 20.3% more than 2021.
Penne, pencils and highlighters record a 6.9%increase on 2024, the record compared to a year ago, as well as in comparison with 2022 (+16.6%) and with 2021 (+24.2%). University housing increases by 6% on 2024, the second worst annual performance and in the first place of the rise compared to 2023 with +13.6%.
| Category | Rialzo % 2025/2024 | Rialzo % 2025/2023 | Rialzo % 2025/2022 | Rialzo % 2025/2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| School books | 2.8 | 6.7 | 11.9 | 14.4 |
| Raison of paper, notebook | 1,5 | 2.6 | 12.1 | 20.3 |
| Penne, pencils and highlighters | 6.9 | 10.4 | 16.6 | 24.2 |
| University accommodation | 6 | 13.6 | 15,7 | 19.8 |
The UNC appeal: “Via the occult tax”
The President of the UN, lawyer Massimiliano Dona, speaks openly about “occult tax” and launches this strong appeal:
The government must immediately intervene against the dear school with a decree that eliminates every bond to discounts on school books, modifying the law of 27 July 2011, n. 128. In 2019 the discounts also reached 25%, while today they cannot exceed 15%. A 10% hidden tax to the detriment of consumers.
According to Dona, the situation is aggravated by the abuses of digital publishers, who prevent, once the digital code has been used, it is not possible to transfer the online component of the book to a new buyer. An abuse that, as the Antitrust declares, “prejudices the reuse of the used books and depreciates its value”, as well as creating disparity with respect to the paper editions and to hinder the loan of free use.
How to save on school books
However, also on school spending it is possible to save significantly and reduce costs. A first solution that the UN recommends is to contact large retailers: even in hypermarkets, in fact, there are school texts at cheaper prices compared to cartolibrerie, with a discount that can go up to 15% of the cover price. The same goes for e-commerce: buying online often allows you to take advantage of similar reductions, even if in many cases the savings materialize in vouchers.
An even cheaper alternative is represented by the used books. Buy them directly from other students allows you to reduce expenditure of up to 50%. In the absence of this possibility, you can turn to bookstores or stalls that treat second -hand texts. In any case, it is good to verify that the editions are really updated. Often, in fact, the so -called “new editions” do not contain substantial changes
