Tess Vigeland: It’s two weeks ’til Labor Day, but kids are already going back to school. And that means back-to-school shopping. Wall Street is hoping for healthy retail sales this monthm which bring us to a new occasional segment.

Millie Jefferson: This is the sound of money:

Sound of school bell ringing

$544 billion: That’s the amount that public elementary and secondary schools are projected to spend this school year.

Break that down and you get:

$11,000: That’s the amount those schools will spend on each student. And those students are spending too.

$902.22: That’s how much the average college student will spend before heading to school.

$83.8 billion: That’s the total amount that the National Retail Federation expects American K through college students and their families to spend this back-to-school season. By the way, that’s up more than 11 percent from last year.

Lesson over. Class dismissed.

Sound of school bell ringing