Many students wear a uniform and after-school clothing all in the same day, rising the cost of the student's wardrobe. That also means more clothing has to be washed, increasing electricity costs and laundry detergent cost. While school uniforms are cheaper than a lot of clothing choices, it is too expensive for some families that rely on thrift-store, homemade or hand-me-down clothing.
School uniforms sometimes aren't flexible enough for real-world situations. For example, cotton polos and khaki pants are warm on hot days. Because of the lack of options, not every student will be comfortable in the fabric and cuts of clothing. Also, the clothing is often not worn outside of school, making it impractical for other situations. If a student forgets to wash the uniform, he might have to wear a dirty uniform to school.
Students that must wear a uniform aren't allowed to express their personality through clothing choices. This lack of expression stifles creativity. This makes students resent the uniforms, and the institution that forced the student to wear the uniform. Also, students from different cultural and religious backgrounds aren't allowed to express those backgrounds through clothing. For a student who doesn't identify with her gender, being forced to wear a dress or skirt can cause mental distress.
Sometimes, school districts list a desire to improve student behavior as a reason for implementing a uniform dress code. However, dress codes do not erase all student discipline problems. Gangs and violence still occur. While a decrease in these types of discipline issues might occur, administrators are also now charged with disciplining uniform code violations, taking away from time and efforts spent investigating other discipline problems.