---
title: Families Are Financing a Record Back-to-School Bill on Installment Plans
description: US back-to-school spending hit a record in 2026, but 45% of families plan to use buy now, pay later to cover it. What the shift means for budgets.
author: Dr Marina Nani (Editor-in-Chief)
date: 2026-08-26T14:20:11.238Z
updated: 2026-08-26T14:20:11.250Z
canonical: https://richdadmagazine.com/article/back-to-school-record-spending-installment-plans-2026
image: https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/pexels-group-of-students-with-backpacks-running-into-school-capture-8500353.jpg
categories: Money & Legacy
content_type: Analysis
region: United States
publication: Rich Dad Magazine
schema_type: Article
---

Back-to-school spending hit an all-time high this year, and a growing share of families are paying for it over time rather than all at once. That combination, a record bill met increasingly with credit and installment plans, is the story of the 2026 season: not that households have stopped spending, but that more of them are stretching the payments out and trimming elsewhere to make the numbers work.

## Back-to-School Spending Set a Record in 2026

The National Retail Federation reports that families expect to spend a record [$43.3 billion](https://nrf.com/media-center/press-releases/majority-of-back-to-school-shoppers-get-a-head-start-on-the-season) on K-12 back-to-school shopping this year, up from $39.4 billion in 2025 and above the previous high of $41.5 billion set in 2023. The average household with school-age children plans to spend $863.86, a slight increase over last year's $858.07. College back-to-school spending topped $103.5 billion for the first time, crossing the $100 billion mark.

Families are spending more, not less. What has changed is how they pay for it.

## Nearly Half of Families Plan to Use Buy Now, Pay Later

A June survey of 1,075 US consumers, [commissioned by the marketing firm Omnisend](https://www.omnisend.com/2026-back-to-school-shopping-report/) and conducted by the research firm Cint, found that 45% of households plan to use buy now, pay later to help cover back-to-school costs this year, up from 39% in 2025. Nearly a third, 31%, expect the plans to cover more than half of their total back-to-school spending.

The same survey found 40% of households expect greater financial stress this year than last. To manage the season, 30% said they are cutting back on family activities, 22% are taking on additional credit, 21% are redirecting savings meant for other purposes, and 18% are borrowing from friends or family.

## Credit-Card Balances Are at a Record, but Delinquencies Are Not Spiking

New York Fed data show US credit-card balances reached a record [$1.26 trillion](https://www.newyorkfed.org/newsevents/news/research/2026/20260811) in the second quarter of 2026, up $21 billion from the prior quarter, with revolving credit growing at roughly a 3.9% annual rate. More back-to-school spending is going on cards as those balances climb.

The counterweight is in the same report. Across all household debt, 4.7% is in some stage of delinquency, a modest level rather than a spike. Balances are growing, but households are still largely keeping up with them.

## Households Are Cutting Other Spending to Cover the Bill

The [pressure on family budgets](https://richdadmagazine.com/article/home-equity-cushion-thins-five-year-low) predates this shopping season. In its report on economic well-being in 2025, released in May, the Federal Reserve found that [28% of US adults](https://www.federalreserve.gov/publications/2026-economic-well-being-of-us-households-in-2025-economic-hardships.htm) struggled to pay their bills in the prior month, and 36% experienced at least one financial hardship. That is the setting families carry into a season with a fixed date on the calendar and a bill that arrives whether or not the money is on hand.

Not every signal points down. The Bank of America Institute's August Consumer Checkpoint noted that the share of households [paying off their credit-card balance in full](https://institute.bankofamerica.com/economic-insights/consumer-checkpoint-august-2026.html) each month has risen, a sign that the picture is uneven rather than uniform deterioration. Some households are leaning on installment plans and revolving credit; others clear their balances every month.

A survey by the personal-finance company Achieve, which polled consumers already carrying debt, found that 55% hold credit-card balances to cover essential expenses and 27% have carried those balances for more than six months. "Back-to-school costs are predictable, but that does not make them affordable," said Andrew Housser, Achieve's co-founder and co-CEO. For a share of families, the school-supplies bill lands on top of balances already being carried, which is why a record season and rising financing can be true at the same time.

## FAQ

**Q: What is buy now, pay later, and how does it work for something like school supplies?**
Buy now, pay later, or BNPL, lets a shopper split a purchase into several installments instead of paying the full amount at checkout. For an everyday purchase like school supplies, that usually means taking the items home and paying the cost across a set number of payments over the following weeks, rather than in one lump sum.

**Q: How is buy now, pay later different from putting school costs on a credit card?**
Both let a shopper take the items home before paying in full, but the mechanics differ. A BNPL plan splits one purchase into a fixed number of installments, often interest-free when the payments are made on schedule. A credit card charges revolving interest on any balance carried from one month to the next. That distinction is part of why some households reach for an installment plan on a predictable, one-off cost.

**Q: What happens if a buy now, pay later payment is late?**
BNPL plans are usually interest-free when the installments are paid on time, but a missed or late payment can trigger a fee, and running several plans at once makes it harder to track what is due and when. Spreading a predictable cost across multiple plans can add strain rather than remove it.