Parents of school entrants will spend a massive €54,000 on education, wirtes Laura Slattery.

Chatrooms on parenting websites mark the beginning of the school year by discussing classroom sizes, educational software and the September return to "finding half-eaten sandwiches in the darker reaches of the school-bag".

But as well as the undoubted emotional adjustment that both children and parents go through when kids first start school, there are financial costs to consider. These can run up to thousands of euro by the time graduation ceremony invitations go out.

To coincide with the start of what it calls "a 13-year spending spree" for parents, Hibernian Life & Pensions has calculated that the parents of this year's school entrants will spend a massive €54,000 on their children's education, assuming they attend state schools and colleges.

The good news for parents is that this figure is based on a 17-year education path that includes the cost of four years at third-level. The bad news is that the cost of accommodation for third-level students is not included, which Hibernian suggests "can add significantly to the bills of some parents".

The research, carried out by marketing company Behaviour & Attitudes, found parents will pay €27,784 for uniforms, books and extra-curricular charges by the time their child finishes full-time education in 2020.

Allowing for annual inflation of 4 per cent, this comes to approximately €54,000 in today's terms.

The findings indicate that, over a child's primary and secondary school lifetime, parents will pay for more than 20 school trips, 52 shirts or blouses, 39 pairs of trousers or skirts, 26 jumpers and 26 pairs of shoes.

As children grow, so do the costs. When children enter secondary school, the price of unifroms, sports kits and excursions goes up, says Hibernian, while third-level education lands the most significant blow to the family budget.

"Unfortunately, many parents assume a free education means exactly that," says Mr Ian Veitch, marketing and product development director at Hibernian. "However, as our research shows, the cost of sending a child to school and college can be a significant strain on a family's budget, especially for families with two or more children."

Mr Veitch adds that it is important that parents allow for these costs when managing family finances.

"If parents do their school sums when their child first starts going to school and invest wisely, it may not be such a financial drain later on."

Hibernian goes on to suggest that investing €154.21 per month in a Hibernian Spectrum Saver account now will provide €35,000 in 2018, assuming an average of 6 per cent growth per annum.

Another survey by the National Parents Council - Primary (NPC) suggests that the average cost of education could even be higher than the Hibernian estimate.

An NPC survey indicates that, based on 355 responses, the average cost of sending a child to primary school last year was around €2,500.

Repeat that figure for the eight years of primary education alone and parents will shell out an average of €20,000 before their child even reaches secondary level.

The National Parents Council - Post-Primary has not yet conducted a similar survey for secondary school parents, although it says one is in the pipeline.

Meanwhile, the NPC - Primary is conducting another survey for the current academic year on its website, www.npc.ie.

The parents' group frequently receives calls to its helpline on school costs from concerned parents, Ms Fionnuala Kilfeather, chief executive of the NPC says.

Hibernian's advice to save for kids' education via high return savings products presupposes that parents have enough income to plan for the future on top of meeting day-to-day costs, she says.

"Young couples, with housing costs inflating, are at the pin of their collars trying to make mortgage repayments, never mind pension schemes and savings schemes," she says.

Hibernian argues that some parents may actually make savings when their child first starts school.

"Considering what most creches charge in monthly fees, it would make sense for parents to invest even a portion of this expenditure in a savings plan once their child starts primary school," the life assurance company says.

Certainly, joint-income families whose children are starting primary school for the first time may not feel their family budget is squeezed too tightly if they can offset education costs with savings on childcare.

The NPC's survey indicates that the cost of after-school childcare is an average of €43 per week, with the highest amount cited as €120 per week.

This comes to an average of €1,582 for the school year, but can be in excess of €4,000 - a hefty outlay, but one that falls short of equivalent full-term costs. At an average of €150 a week, full-time childcare costs almost €5,500 just for the duration of the school year.

However, parents may struggle to find someone they trust to pick children up after school and look after them for half the working day.

Affordable quality childcare and more family-friendly policies in workplaces are prerequisites for social fairness for families with children, Ms Kilfeather believes, while tax relief would help lower-income families.

Naturally, these families are the ones who will find the September drain on their budget most severe. "Back-to-school is a time when people would be experiencing financial problems, especially people on lower-incomes," confirms Mr Liam Edwards, co-ordinator for the Money Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS).

"They may be only able to cope with expenditure on a weekly basis and not be able to put money aside," he says. They just don't have the €154 Hibernian suggests investing in its products to spare.

There is a Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance, and this year, the Department of Social and Family Affairs received 58,000 applications representing 115,000 children.

Concerned by "the great financial and psychological hardship" families face when children return to school, the Waterford branch of MABS has lobbied the Government to increase this allowance, which it says is insufficient to meet the costs low-income families face.

Ms Anna Walsh, money advice co-ordinator for Waterford MABS, says the cost of school uniforms for first-year and fifth-year students in one of Waterford's largest second-level schools increased in price by 19 per cent and 14.5 per cent respectively between 2002 and 2003.

"This seems excessive in a year with average inflation of 3 per cent," Ms Walsh says.

Families have been forced to borrow to help fund their children's return to school from family, friends, credit unions and moneylenders charging interest rates as high as 187 per cent, she adds.

School book rental schemes can ease the burden on low-income parents, typically costing €60 for first-year students compared to a full purchase price of €272, according to Waterford MABS. It is now calling for these schemes to be implemented in all schools.