With the beginning of the new school year, Italian families return to deal with an expense that affects the general budget: the purchase of textbooks. In 2025, according to the estimates of the Italian Editorial Association (AIE), the average cost of school books will be around 190 euros for middle schools and 279 euros for high schools, with increases between 1.7% and 1.8% compared to 2024.
These are increases that add up to those of previous years, bringing the overall increase to almost 9% compared to 2019.
The cost for an entire cycle of study
An entire cycle of study can cost on average about 600 euros for middle school and over 1,200 euros for superiors. The increases of 2025, in line with the estimated inflation at 1.7%, add up to those of previous years, marking a constant growth trend: from 2015 to 2020 the annual increases range between 1.4%and 1.9%, while in 2022, with an inflation at 8.1%, the books only risen by 2.2%.
In 2024, however, with inflation at 1%, the texts recorded a +3.8%, highlighting a significant detachment from consumer prices.
! Function (e, n, i, s) {var d = “infogramembeds”; var o = e.getelementsbytagname (n) (0); If (d) && window (d) .initialized) Window (D). Process. If (! E.GeTeLementbyid (i)) {Var R = E.Createelement (N); R.Sync = 1, R.ID = I, R.SRC = S, O.Parentnode.inertbefore (R, O)}} (Document, “Script”, “Infogram-sync”, “https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-js”);
Punctual increases in September
A peculiarity of the school book market is the annual anniversary of the increases in September, coinciding with the beginning of the school year. The prices are generally stable until August, and then increased abruptly in the following month, as highlighted by the ISTAT data of the last two years. This mechanism, linked to editorial decisions and school adoptions, concentrates the weight of spending in a precise period, without the possibility of revision during the year.
Precisely the price trend has brought the Competition and Market Authority (AGCM) to open a cognitive investigation into the school publishing sector, which began on September 10, 2024 and which should be concluded shortly.
Between 2020 and 2024 the average prices grew over 8% in average and 9% in high school. The antitrust also highlighted how a few editorial groups dominate the market, release new editions with minimal changes and thus limited the reuse of the used books. Most of the texts remain paper, with an still little developed digital offer, penalizing students and families.
The alternative is the used
To contain expenditure, many families turn to the second -hand market, which is worth around 150 million euros. One in three family buys second -hand books, but the possibility of reuse is often limited by frequent new editions and adoptions. The maximum expenditure roofs provided for by the ministerial decrees are not always respected, aggravating the weight on families most in difficulty.
A possible solution? To relieve the cost of books, Altroconsumo It proposes to extend the 19% tax deduction also to school books, allocating it to families with Isee Basso. The idea is to set adequate spending roofs to cope with any future increases, offering concrete support to families in difficulty and making school expenditure more sustainable.
Don’t you want to lose our news?
You may also be interested in:
