Back-to-School Shoppers Scaling Back

Back-to-school sales are expected to tally $72.5 billion, down from $83.8 billion in 2012, according to the National Retail Federation, with the average American family spending a total of $635 on apparel, shoes, supplies and electronics. College students will also be cutting back, according to the NRF, as the average tuition at a four-year college has increased by 3.8 percent, as reported by Houston Asset Management’s Cost of Learning Index.