How many adults wish they could have learned about the reality of money, before they set forth into the world (or as Millennials say, before they began adulting)?
With guidance and resources from the local State Employees’ Credit Union (SECU), many parents, a team of teachers and support staff, and all of the eighth graders at McDougle Middle School recently experienced a crash course in personal finance. Maybe a little scary, but judging from the students’ evaluations, the event was also extremely valuable-- and fun.
The Reality of Money is a community outreach program created by SECU and offered to schools (grades 8-12) as a collaborative learning experience on financial literacy. Phillips Middle School has hosted this event the past three years, but this was the first time for McDougle Middle. The entire 8th grade class, approximately 200 students, participated in groups of 65 during the three sessions throughout the day.
In the media center, stations with pairs of parent volunteers were set up at tables: housing, healthcare/insurance, childcare, entertainment, and credit cards among others. First they received random profiles which gave details about their occupation, education level, family situation and monthly salary. As SECU’s Erin Roache said, “They then go through the same decision making process that we, as adults, go through every day.”
As students figured out their profiles, they compared information, laughing and shrieking, though at some points while circulating around the media center, some of them reflected stress and frustration. “I’m out of money,” rang out from station to station. One student said, “Things cost a lot more than I thought!”
Besides the categories of family and personal expenses, a wildcard element called “Stuff Happens” precipitated fear and amusement among students, as assistant principal Chassity Coston roamed around the stations, handing out cards. Surprise expenditures included buying a wedding present, buying $20 on Halloween candy, breaking a tooth and deciding on a dental treatment. Some cards yielded surprise bonuses, but most produced negative impacts on budgets. Coston said that students were running away from her, once their funds began to disappear.
Roache from SECU said, “The goals of the activity are to teach students to live within, or below, their means, to learn that credit can affect their way of living, that furthering your education beyond high school is important to a successful future, and that learning how to manage money now will help them avoid many financial pitfalls.”
As Robin Gallaher, District Career Development Coordinator for CTE said, “The 8th grade students learned financial information that many adults do not apply in their own lives.”
Nearly three dozen parents volunteered to cover stations, some for an hour or two, others for the full school day. Sarah Morales, 8th grade counselor, said, “Volunteer recruitment is key--we started early and enlisted the PTA's help.” The school provided lunch for volunteers, and a time to debrief, before gearing up for the afternoon sessions. “The volunteers had really positive feedback about their role in the program, too!”said Morales.
“A hundred lectures on budgeting wouldn't have as much impact on students as the experience of having to re-think their spending as their monthly balance dwindled away to nothing,” said Mellicent Blythe, parent of 8th grader Will Blythe. “They also saw in really concrete terms how their education level and credit score can make things so much harder or easier for them down the road. I wish I had something like it when I was in school!”
What were the students’ reactions to the Reality of Money? Consider some of their responses to the question about what they learned: “I should definitely get insurance,” “Having two kids is really expensive and you never want to have bad credit,” “It’s hard to make decisions about money,” and “You can’t get everything you want.” One student who clearly had encountered assistant principal Coston with her Stuff Happens cards said, “You have to prepare for the unexpected.”
Several students reflected on how they now understand more about their parents’ responsibilities and concerns. One wrote, “I learned how to appreciate my parents”-- another, “Money is important and my parents sacrifice a lot.”
Eighth grade students, parents and teachers at Phillips Middle School will reprise this event in February.
“SECU relishes outreach opportunities like these as they help to foster relationships within the very communities we serve daily in our operations,” said Charles Robinson, the senior financial services officer who represented the organization at McDougle last month.
