Survey: Consumers to spend $300 on back-to-school

New York -- A survey released Tuesday by the International Council of Shopping Centers and Goldman-Sachs found that 42% of U.S. consumers expect to spend more on back-to-school items this year than they did in 2011. With the back-to-school shopping season already well underway as one-third of households reported that they have begun to shop, ICSC and Goldman-Sachs expect the average household expenditure on all types of back-to-school items will be about $300 this year. Forty-four percent plan to spend the same amount as last year, while only 14% indicated they would spend less. Of the 42% of consumers