Cost concerns have to start with the fact that it is now the norm to throw fully usable school supplies into the garbage at the end of the year, and purchase new ones at the beginning of every school year.
When one of us is looking over a typical Back-to-School Shopping List, you'll hear "They don't need THAT! - FIVE comp books? NO. Nope. That's too many" - "Who needs a dozen pens?!"