Results of Huntington Bank's Second Annual Backpack Index: Parents Can Expect To Pay Between $700 to $1,245 to Fill the Backpacks of Two Children Going to Grades K-12 in September

The 2007 Backpack Index Includes 10 Tips to Help Parents Control the Costs of School Supplies

COLUMBUS, Ohio, July 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- When your children come home from the first day of school this year and hand you their supply lists, expect to pay as much as $1,245 if you have two children in grades k-12. The cost represents supplies as well as the payment for activity-related expenses whether that is a musical instrument rental, sports equipment or club fees.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070705/CLTH005 )

To fill the backpacks of their children this year, Huntington projects that parents should have $351 available in late summer for elementary pupils, $530 for middle school children and $894 for high school students. These expenses are for supplies and do not include the money parents can expect to pay for back-to-school clothing.

"Huntington has designed the Backpack Index to help parents save what they will need for back-to-school shopping," said Mary Navarro, senior executive vice president of retail and commercial banking at Huntington Bank. "Huntington has also developed a Back To School Shopping Guide that parents can use to teach their children about money management as they buy school supplies. They might also save some money in the process."

    Huntington's Back To School Shopping Guide includes 10 tips parents and
    students can follow. A sample of the tips includes:

    1) Take an inventory of the supplies you already have.
    2) Compare prices and decide who offers the best deals.
    3) If your children want more expensive items, insist they use their
       allowances to pay for them.
    4) Give your children cash to shop with and stick to your budget.
    5) Talk to neighbors, friends and other parents to see if they have an
       instrument or sports equipment their children are no longer using.

    For more shopping and back-to-school saving tips and a podcast of those
    tips, visit www.huntington.com/backpack.

    For supply lists and costs for elementary, middle and high school visit:
    https://www.huntington.com/forschools/backpackIndex_elementary.html
    https://www.huntington.com/forschools/backpackIndex_middle.html
    https://www.huntington.com/forschools/backpackIndex_high.html

About Huntington

Huntington Bancshares Incorporated is a $50+ billion regional bank holding company headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. Through its affiliated companies, Huntington has more than 141 years of serving the financial needs of its customers. Huntington provides innovative retail and commercial financial products and services through over 700 regional banking offices in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. Huntington also offers retail and commercial financial services online at huntington.com; through its technologically advanced, 24-hour telephone bank; and through its network of nearly 1,400 ATMs. Selected financial service activities are also conducted in other states including: Dealer Sales offices in Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Tennessee; Private Financial and Capital Markets Group offices in Florida; and Mortgage Banking offices in Maryland and New Jersey. Through Sky Insurance, Huntington offers retail and commercial insurance agency services, through offices in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Indiana, and West Virginia. International banking services are made available through the headquarters office in Columbus, a limited purpose office located in the Cayman Islands, and another located in Hong Kong. The company is located on the web at www.huntington.com.

SOURCE Huntington Bank

Released July 5, 2007