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The Smith Family Pulse Survey 2025

Cost-of-living continues to price young people out of education as families struggle to afford school essentials

The latest annual Pulse Survey released by national children’s education charity, The Smith Family, shows that nearly 3 in 5 (58.1%) of families found it hard or very hard to afford essential school items for their children in 2025.

More than half (51.9%) attributed this to the rising cost-of-living and increased school expenses, which made it hard or very hard to afford all the things their children need for school this year due to increases in everyday expenses such as groceries, rent, home, energy costs and petrol.

The findings are revealed in the latest Smith Family Pulse Survey, a national survey of more than 1,100 parents and carers whose children are supported by The Smith Family. They were asked questions about their children’s experience of school during the year and how they had coped.

This is the sixth Pulse survey to be carried out by The Smith Family. The first survey presented the perspective of The Smith Family’s frontline team members; all the following surveys spoke to the families who are supported through The Smith Family. The survey is repeated annually to provide a snapshot of families’ changing circumstances and hear directly from parents and carers about issues affecting their children’s education.

a male student with his hand up in class with other school pupils

Key findings:

58.1% of respondents said they found it hard or very hard to afford all the things their children needed for school in 2025.
Just over half (51.9%) of respondents said increased costs of everyday expenses such as groceries, energy costs and rent made it harder to afford school items.
Three in ten respondents (30.7%) said they were spending more because they needed to buy more things, or more expensive things, for their children’s education.
A quarter (24.7%) said they were buying the same educational items as last year but that they were now more expensive.
Over a third (34.7%) of parents and carers said school had been hard or very hard for their children in 2025. The main reasons cited for this were struggles with schoolwork, health and mental health issues, and financial pressures.

Cost of living pressures made it hard for families to meet school costs in 2025

Despite the rate of inflation falling during 2025, 58.1% of respondents still said they found it hard or very hard to cover school-related costs for their children.

bar graph for pulse survey for the smith family

The cost of educational items, rather than a change in personal circumstances, was a bigger factor in making it more difficult for respondents to meet school costs. Over half (51.9%) said the increase in other everyday expenses, like electricity, groceries and rent, was the main reason for the difficulty in being able to afford school costs. The two other significant factors given for struggling to afford school items were: needing more things for school or more expensive things (30.7%), and increased prices for the same things as the previous year (24.7%).

Schoolwork, health and financial issues made school harder

pie graph for the smith family pulse survey

Just over a third of respondents (34.7%) said that school has been hard or very hard for their children this year. This was down slightly from 2024, when 38% of families reported that school had been hard or very hard.

bat graph for the smith family pulse survey

The main factors that made school hard in 2025 were struggles with schoolwork (17.3%), health or mental health issues (15.1%) and financial pressures (14.2%). All of these are down slightly on 2024 responses.

Financial support supplied through the Learning for Life scholarship was overwhelmingly used for education resources (62.0%) and education activities (13.1%). It was also used to help offset other expenses and provide cost of living relief.

We were able to purchase the booklist attend excursions and replace many things such as lunch boxes and drink bottle.

Parent/Carer

The Learning for Life support helped us cover school costs like uniforms, books, and excursions. It made a big difference and took pressure off our family. We’re very thankful.

Parent/Carer

Celebrating progress

Despite the circumstances the responding families found themselves in, they showed remarkable resilience and were proud of what their children were able to achieve during 2025.

A third of respondents (33.3%) were proudest of the progress their children had made through the year. Almost a quarter (24.1%) were most proud of the effort and perseverance of their children.

All of my children have overcome many challenges from school this year, from bullying, the most limited finances in our home for years, to trouble overcoming the workload that was quite difficult this year. They are pushing through, and it is helping them become strong young people and the resilience they are building is just incredible.

Parent/Carer

I'm proud of how much my child has grown and how hard they've worked this year.

Parent/Carer

They have attended way more this year and my older son has had a brain shift in why school is important.

Parent/Carer

We are really proud of our daughter‘s attendance and how she has been a lot happier with the support we have been receiving.

Parent/Carer

the smith family tutor supporting two students in the classroom

More details about this survey

The Smith Family Pulse Survey is an annual survey of parents and carers about how their children are faring at school and any issues affecting their children’s education. The survey is open to parents whose children are currently supported through our Learning for Life education support program, which provides emotional, practical and financial support to young Australians experiencing disadvantage. This survey was conducted between 6-20 August 2025 and there were 1,109 respondents.