On the list are pencils and pens. But not just any will do: 24 regular and 24 colored; 10 red pens; six dry erase board pens; a set of markers; and a highlighter.

Bend resident Cindy Grim recently studied the list of supplies carefully as she blindly steered her shopping cart with one hand in Wal-Mart.

For Grim and many families, August means back-to-school shopping. Her son, J.C., 10, will be entering the fifth grade this fall and is going to need a whole new wardrobe.

”I was hoping that he could use the same jeans and shoes, but he has grown a couple of sizes since last year,” she said. ”I’ll probably end up spending a couple hundred dollars.”

This year the average family will spend significantly more on back-to-school items than they did last year, and more than double what the Grim family will spend, according to a survey by the National Retail Federation.

The 2004 Back-to-School Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, which polled 7,443 consumers nationwide in early August, found that parents plan to spend on average $483.28 on school supplies, clothing and electronics this year, up 7.2 percent from $450.76 last year. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 1 percent.

”These are the highest numbers we have seen since we started collecting data in 2000,” National Retail Federation spokeswoman Ellen Tolley said.

In total, Americans will spend $14.8 billion to send their children back to school.

According to the survey, families will spend on average about $219 on clothing, $90 on shoes, and $73 on school supplies, which is fairly consistent with last year.

The most dramatic increase will be in electronics and computer-related equipment, for which families are planning to spend 15 percent more than they did last year ($101, up from $86), according to the survey.

The upward trend in back-to-school electronics spending is mostly the result of increased personal computer and scientific calculator sales, Tolley said.

Gone are the days of No. 2 pencils and protractors. Today, more junior high and high school teachers are requiring their students to have scientific calculators for math class. The Bend Senior High School back-to-school supply list mentions the TI-30 from Texas Instruments by name. At $10, it is on the low end; scientific calculators with advanced graphing features, like the TI-89, can set a parent back as much as $150.

Also growing in popularity are personal digital assistants, cell phones and digital music players.

On a recent morning in the back-to-school section of the Bend-area Target, bins that once contained pencils, crayons, pink erasers, pens and glue sticks, sat empty.

”We can’t keep the stuff on the shelves this year,” Target season department manager Rob Chapman said.

Spiderman 2 and Hilary Duff lunch boxes and backpacks are very popular this year, he said. Non-essentials like magnetic mirrors, picture frames and stickers for decorating lockers are also hot sellers.

More and more children are using their own money to buy these types of non-essential back-to-school items. In fact, almost half of parents surveyed said their children would be spending some of their own money for the fall, according to the National Retail Federation. Altogether, students will spend $884 million of their own money on back-to-school this year.

”I buy some of my own clothes, if I see something that I like,” Ashley Johnson, 11, said. ”You know, T-shirts, pants, jeans.”

Ashley will begin fifth grade at High Lakes Elementary School in the fall. When asked how much she spent this year for school, Ashley thought for a second and then said, ”About $24.”

”I think it was more than that,” her mother, Cindy Johnson of Bend, said. ”More like $50.”

”Yeah,” Ashley said with a coy smile.

Parents and students aren’t the only ones who are saddled with back-to-school costs. Many teachers end up spending money out of their own pocket for classroom activities. Quality Education Data, a market research company, estimates that total personal spending by teachers exceeds $1 billion each year.

The average teacher spent $443 on students in 2000, up from $408 in 1995, according to a National Education Association report. Elementary teachers spent on average $500 on their students in 2000.

But the most money on back-to-school items will be spent by college students. According to the annual 2004 Back-to-College Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, college students and their parents will spend $25.7 billion before school starts, nearly twice as much as what will be spent on elementary through high school students.

The survey found the average college student will spend around $600 of his or her own money on merchandise. The biggest spenders are freshmen leaving home for the first time and juniors moving off campus for the first time.

Back-to-school and back-to-college spending will top $40 billion this year, a windfall second only to the holiday season for retailers.

And though average family back-to-school spending is at a five-year high, average families seem to be used to it. Cindy Johnson estimated that she will spend $800 on her three children, but said that is not very different from years past.

”School supplies are actually cheaper this year,” she said. ”There are some good deals. And it hasn’t been very crowded. It seems like a lot more people are planning ahead.”

David Jagernauth can be reached at 383-0375 or djagernauth@bendbulletin.com.