This is what it’ll cost you to head off to college this year

I don’t know about you, but when I went off to college I was very excited… and completely oblivious to just how much it was going to cost both me and my parents. I’m not just talking about tuition. Buying all new stuff to put in my dorm put a serious dent in my off-to-college budget, and I’m not the only one with this experience. According to the National Retail Federation, Americans are expected to spend $54.1 billion on back-to-college supplies in 2017 — that’s up from $48.5 billion just last year.

Between electronics, clothes, food, dorm decor and more, the average student will spend $969.70 on stuff for their dorm, classes, studying and eating before the year even starts. But that’s just one student and a very small piece of the larger $54.1 billion back-to-college pie.

Sounds pretty overwhelming, doesn’t it? Fear not! Raise can make a huge difference bringing that $54.1 billion, or $969.70, down to something much more manageable. Say you use a gift card to buy every little thing you need for college, from the laptop to your toothbrush and everything in between. You could save $131. To put that in perspective, that means if every person going to college this year used Raise, they would save $7.3 billion. Now that’s something I wish I could’ve done eight years ago. So check it out.