New school books, writing materials, train or bus subscription, membership fee of sports or hobby clubs, new clothes … The start of the school year traditionally entails extra costs. And those costs can weigh the family budget.
According to the Family Barometer, a quarterly survey of more than a thousand Flemish families with one or more children up to the age of 18, those extra costs are no problem for almost half (47 percent) of the families. But “37 percent say it is financially tight, and almost one in seven must compromise, ask for financial help or ask for a deferment of payment,” says Jeroen Sleurs, director of the Family Association.