More Parents Need Finance for School Essentials

Meeting the cost of uniforms, books, stationery, and computers for school this year is proving to be challenging for many parents with a growing number seeking no interest education loans to finance school essentials.

NAB expects to support more than $450,000 worth of help and has seen the total amount of money for education loans grow by more than 130% between 2018 and 2022. 

NAB Head of Customer Vulnerability, Mike Chambers, said, “January is often when the full impact of Christmas spending hits and on top of this, parents are also faced with a list of back-to-school expenses they quickly have to meet,” Mr Chambers said.

“During the pandemic, we saw a spike in no interest loans to help meet the need for laptops and software for remote learning.

“With the cost of living on the rise, we expect to see even more families on low incomes looking to access no interest loans to help manage school costs.”

Loans for education expenses made up around 13% of all No Interest Loans in 2022, peaking in February. The average education loan was $1,150. About 85% of all education loans were issued in NSW, Vic and Qld.

Single mum of three Lynda Birch took out a $500 loan for her daughter’s Year 12 textbooks

“My youngest son’s birthday is just before Christmas so you’re buying presents for that, presents for Christmas and then all of a sudden you’ve got to pay for schoolbooks.”

Mr Chambers said, “Often when faced with financial pressures people can panic and look for quick fix solutions like payday loans.”