Children in poverty pay the price for parental expenses at school

Even though education is free, having a child in the Danish public school system costs money. Expenses for class funds, school trips, and social events place a heavy burden particularly on low-income families. Half of them find that self-payment of school expenses strain the family budget. This affects their child's participation in the class's activities and communities, according to many of the challenged parents.

It is especially children from families living in poverty who pay the price when parents are faced with covering expenses associated with their child's schooling.

Although public school education is free of charge, many parents encounter expenses related to their child's school life and the class community. This applies both to school-related costs, such as school-based events, and to expenses for social activities, which are often organised by parents.

This is shown in a new survey conducted by Epinion for Egmont. The survey includes a total of 1,739 parents of children in public school, including 505 parents who live below the poverty border.

Figure 1 shows the extent to which parental expenses for a child's schooling pose a challenge to the family's finances. It shows that 54% of parents living in poverty respond ‘to a very high degree’, ‘to a high degree’, or ‘to some degree’. For other parents, the figure is 20% across these three response categories.

Straining low-income families

Among families in poverty, more than half (54%) report that parental expenses related to their child's schooling represent a challenge to the family budget to a very high, high, or some degree. Among the other parents, the proportion is 20 per cent. See figure 1.

For the most challenged group (the 54 per cent), according to the survey, parental expenses have direct consequences for their child's everyday life, well-being and participation in activities and communities in and around the school:

39 % answer that their child cannot attend extracurricular activities due to school expenses. 30% state that their child is sometimes unable to take part in after-school class activities, and 27% assess that the costs make their child feel excluded from the class. 22% say that their child is occasionally prevented from participating in trips and other school-based activities. Furthermore, around one in five parents observe that their child's well-being is lower or that they struggle to build and maintain friendships. See figure 2.

Figure 2 shows the proportion of parents who responded "fully agree" or "partially agree" to statements completing the sentence "Expenses related to my child's schooling mean that...". The statements are: "my child cannot participate in leisure activities" (39%), "my child sometimes cannot join class activities after school" (30%), "my child feels left out in class" (27%), "we have opted out of after-school care or clubs" (25%), "my child is not thriving as well at school" (22%), etc.

The survey also demonstrates that both children and parents prefer to keep their financial struggles hidden. Among the financially challenged low-income parents, 19% state that their child refrains from telling them about expenses to avoid upsetting them. 51% have, to a high or very high degree, avoided telling other parents or teachers that certain expenses were difficult to afford, because they did not want their situation to be visible.

Both school-related and social expenses

According to the survey, parents encounter expenses for school photos, class funds, school meals, events at the school, as well as trips such as camps, school trips and day trips. See Figure 3. Among the typical expenses on such trips are pocket money and meals, but also expenses for activities and transport.

In addition to the school-related expenses comes payment for social activities for children and/or parents. They are often arranged by the parent group and typically take place outside school hours. See Figure 4.

Figure 3 shows the proportion of parents who incur expenses for school-related items to a great, moderate, or limited extent: school photos (93%), class fund (89%), school events (78%), etc. Figure 4 shows the proportion of parents who incur expenses related to the class community to a great, moderate, or limited extent: social activities organized by parents (80%), food and drink for social activities with the class outside school hours (79%), etc.

Pressure from the other parents

According to the survey, many parents experience pressure to contribute financially to the class community. Parents in poverty experience pressure to contribute financially to the class community more often than others. 30% experience pressure from school or teachers, compared to 19 per cent of the other parents. The pressure from the parent group or the parents' council is experienced by 44 per cent of parents in poverty and 31 percent of the remaining group.

One example is the class fund (klassekassen), which is in principle a voluntary scheme managed by parents. However, only one in three parents feel that its voluntary nature has been clearly communicated. Both low-income parents and other parents state that they feel obligated to contribute.

Ministerial guidelines recommend anonymous contributions, yet only 43% of all parents state that their payments to the class fund are anonymous. Low-income parents wish to a higher degree than other parents for class fund contributions to be voluntary and anonymous.

A wish for discrete support

A majority of the parents in the survey – also among parents in poverty – believe that "there should be room for the class to carry out activities, even if it involves parental expenses". However, one in three parents below the poverty line feel that there are too many parental expenses in and around their child's schooling. This view is shared by one in five of the remaining parents. See figur 5.

At the same time, the survey shows that 71 per cent of parents have little to no knowledge of the rules for what the schools are allowed to charge for.

Many low-income parents who find parental expenses a challenge to their overall finances point to several solutions that could make it easier for their child to participate in class activities. For example:

a discreet support scheme for families who have difficulty paying (56 pct.)
that activities are organised without payment (54 pct.)
that the school covers more of the expenses (48 pct.).

Figure 5 shows parents’ responses regarding the extent to which they agree with the statement: “I think there are too many parent-borne expenses associated with schooling.” Among parents living in poverty, 33% fully or partially agree, while 32% answer “neither/nor.” Among other parents, 20% fully or partially agree, and 27% answer “neither/nor.”

How the survey was conducted

The analysis of parental expenses is based on a questionnaire survey among parents of pupils in Danish public school(Folkeskolen). The survey was conducted by Epinion in the period April-May 2026.

For the total parent group, data is weighted by gender, region, and socioeconomic status. The weighting means that the survey provides a generalizable picture of the experiences of parents of children in primary school. The group of parents in poverty is deliberately over-represented in the sample to provide a better basis for analysing this group separately.

Parents in poverty are defined as parents with a disposable income that is below 50 per cent of the median income for their own family type. The specific poverty thresholds are based on the AE Council's calculations for different types of families with children (2024).

Parental expenses include two types of expenses. Firstly, school-related expenses that parents pay in connection with the child's schooling (e.g. pocket money and meals on various trips). Secondly, expenses related to the class community – often for social activities arranged by the parents.

The survey has also asked about expenses for things the child is expected to bring to school on a daily basis. This applies to e.g. outerwear, sports clothes and shoes, school bag/pencil case and bicycle/helmet. However, these expenses are not included in the question of the parents' assessment of whether self-payment at school challenges their finances, in Figure 1.

The responses are based on the parents' own experiences of the expenses they encounter and the size of the expenses. It is not possible to determine from the survey how large the expenses are in specific amounts.

The survey has been developed in collaboration with an advisory group with representatives from Danske Skoleelever (Danish public school pupils), Skolelederforeningen(Danish Association of School Leaders), Danmarks Lærerforening (Danish Union of Teachers), Skole og Forældre(National parent organisation), Red Barnet (Save the Children Denmark), Kommunernes Landsforening (Local Government Denmark) og Odense Kommune (Municipality of Odense).

Read Egmont Insight 5 (Danish only)→