Where did all the money go?, Student | Parents | Summer Vacation

"Every holiday, the wallet is halved". Whether the parents' wallets are still "safe" during the summer vacation? Recently, topic # parents roast that their children spend 50000 or 60000 yuan in 40 days of summer vacation # has become a hot topic.

When searching on a short video platform using the keyword "summer vacation bill", many parents will find that a family of three spends tens of thousands of yuan on a 5-day domestic trip. If they extend the time or choose to travel abroad, the cost will reach 30000 to 50000 yuan.

In the comment section, some netizens believe that the "huge" expenses of 50000 to 60000 yuan are a way for parents to show off.

But many netizens believe that this number is normal and understandable, and indicate that their children's summer expenses are even higher!

Some netizens have directly posted a detailed spending list of their own "gold swallowing beasts" ↓

Faced with a high "summer bill", some parents exclaimed, "It's really my child's summer vacation, and I bleed." "Now I hope my child starts school quickly, otherwise my wallet won't be able to hold on!" Some netizens also sent out soul wrenching questions: where are the main expenses of summer bills? "?

Summer expenses range from 5000 to 10000 at their highest

According to Time Weekly, Xu Ling is a 45 year old mother of two children who lives in Beijing. Her youngest daughter has just started elementary school and her eldest daughter is in her third year of junior high school, which is an important stage for further education. Xu Ling analyzed the composition of summer expenses and said, "The large expenditure is traveling with children."

Due to not taking his children on long-distance trips for several years, Xu Ling took them to Yunnan to have fun this summer. "We went together as two people. The three adults and four children spent nearly 40000 yuan, including 20000 yuan for round-trip airfare, 4000 yuan for accommodation, and about 45000 yuan for local car rental and fuel."

Makeup fees are also a significant expense. Because the eldest daughter was about to enter high school, Xu Ling arranged one-on-one remedial lessons for her, "Physics is 800 yuan per lesson, 16 times, that is, 128 yuan per lesson, mathematics is 200 yuan per lesson for go home, and ten lessons are 2000 yuan".

In addition, Xu Ling also arranged some interest based courses for the two children, such as piano, dance, and English speaking. "These courses add up to about ten thousand yuan," he said

This is not an individual case. Recently, a media outlet in Wenzhou launched a survey on summer expenses targeting family groups.

The survey data shows that households with summer expenses between 5000 yuan and 10000 yuan have the highest proportion, accounting for 35.27%, followed closely by households with expenses between 2000-5000 yuan and 10000-30000 yuan, accounting for 30.62% and 23.64%, respectively. These three options alone account for nearly 90% of the total, and the consumption span is quite large.

According to the Qianjiang Evening News, Ms. Jin's child will be promoted to fifth grade after school starts. She claims to be a "lying flat" parent, and during the summer vacation, she arranges interest courses for her child, including badminton, drawing, dance, and pencil writing. These four courses add up to about 10000 yuan. In addition, taking the child on a trip cost over 10000 yuan, which adds up to nearly 30000 yuan.

Another second child's mother, on the other hand, stated that she did not enroll her child in any classes during the summer vacation. She only drove her child to Nanjing and the surrounding areas a few times and stayed with relatives. The cost of a summer vacation was about 2000 to 3000 yuan. During daily hours, she arranges for her children to study at home in the morning and study at public science popularization venues, libraries, and other places in the afternoon. She also arranges for children to do household chores at home. She said, "This kind of thing belongs to those who don't spend money but are laborious. Enrolling children in training classes is more about saving money and effort. After all, with so many children in tutoring classes, parents definitely don't have a better understanding of their children one-on-one."

From the data, the majority of parents surveyed in this survey are relatively rational in their summer spending. 34.88% of households spend only 20% -50% of their monthly income on summer vacation, and even 27.13% of households spend less than 20%. Only about 20% of households spend more than half of their overall monthly income.

Interest classes and travel are the main expenses for summer vacation

The survey found that interest classes and tourism are the main expenses for half of parents during summer vacation. In addition, subject learning and summer care rank third and fourth with 15.1% and 13.26%, respectively.

Ms. Dong, the parent, said that she did not enroll her child in any interest classes during the summer vacation and went to Beijing, spending more than 10000 yuan. She said that compared to the past, the increase in travel expenses this year has directly increased the amount spent on summer vacation.

Compared to families with dual employees, summer care is more of a last resort. A parent of a child who has just entered first grade of elementary school mentioned that they also have to work during the summer, and the elderly at home work very hard to take care of their children. Coincidentally, the private school where her child is located opens summer daycare classes every year. This year, she enrolled her child in a one month daycare class, which can be considered a convenience.

There is another change worth paying attention to this year, where a few parents have included expenses such as correcting teeth and wearing myopia glasses in their summer plans, which seems to confirm the reason why ophthalmology hospitals and dental departments in major hospitals are difficult to obtain the top spot every year.

Study tours are popular

Beijing charges 5380 yuan/person for 5 days

In addition, this year's popular "study tour" is also a choice for many parents.

According to a report from the Red Star Capital Bureau, the Baidu search index shows that from 2019 to 2022, the search index for "graduate studies" has never exceeded 1500 points, with an overall daily average of 787 points; Since the beginning of this year, its search index has exceeded 2300 points, with an overall daily average of 1253 points.

The most popular destination among all study tours is Beijing.

Ye Tian, a staff member of a certain research institution, told Red Star Capital Bureau that there are no more spots for the Beijing Research Group during the summer vacation. If you want to register, you can only wait until the National Day holiday. The entire activity lasts for five days, and the registration fee is 5380 yuan/person. Students will be led to visit Tsinghua University, the Forbidden City, the Old Summer Palace, and the Badaling Great Wall.

It should be noted that this research group only allows primary and secondary school students aged 8 and above to participate independently, and parents cannot sign up to follow.

Meanwhile, Red Star Capital Bureau found through comparison that if participating in a travel group that also includes accommodation but does not include transportation expenses to and from Beijing, the price of a five-day group tour is mostly between 2000 yuan and 3000 yuan. That is to say, the fees for study tours are about twice that of regular travel groups.

"Ordinary tour groups only tell general stories, but we will add some small stories according to different places, such as adding a story about an emperor in the Taihe Hall of the Forbidden City. Children love to listen to it and can understand it, which can deepen their understanding of the history of these buildings," Ye Tian told the Red Star Capital Bureau.

In addition to domestic research and learning activities, there are also institutions that organize primary and secondary school students to go to other countries for research and learning.

Taking a certain institution as an example, it launched a study tour to Australia during the National Day holiday, charging 15000 yuan per person. It will lead students to daily English classes and visit famous Australian attractions.

The staff of the institution told Red Star Capital that the research group is mainly aimed at students aged 10 to 18, who attend classes in the morning and play in the afternoon. "On the first day of English class, teach children simple greetings, and then go to the main attractions in Melbourne so that they can use these English while playing."

Unlike most study groups, this study group allows parents to sign up and follow, with a cost of 15000 yuan per person.