High School Students Feel the Bite of Financial Pressures
17 Abril 2024 - 9:24AM
Business Wire
Real-world simulation helps Learn4Life students
discover the challenges of making smart money decisions.
It seemed easy enough, get assigned a hypothetical salary and
spend it on essentials, but for Learn4Life high schoolers, a
financial literacy event called Bite of Reality opened their eyes
to the challenges of creating a budget and living within their
means.
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Learn4Life students participate in
real-world budgeting simulation designed to teach financial
literacy. (Photo: Business Wire)
Korina Echeverria, a Learn4Life school counselor, explains how
they partnered with SchoolsFirst Credit Union for Bite of Reality
workshops which simulate real-world issues about budgeting.
Students are assigned a persona and receive a fictional occupation,
salary, spouse, child, student loan and credit card debt, etc. With
their new income and responsibilities, they visit various merchants
to purchase things like housing, food, childcare, clothing,
healthcare and transportation.
“But we don’t want to make it too easy. Each of the teachers
staffing the sales booths are encouraged to upsell the students,
getting them excited about a shiny sports car, fancy apartment or
the most expensive daycare option,” Echeverria said. “They weren’t
catching on to the fact that they were getting a hard sell at each
of the stations. Then suddenly they were overdrawn and had to visit
the credit union tables for some financial counseling.”
April is Financial Literacy Month, raising awareness
about the need for more education about money management. In a
recent survey, 88 percent of U.S. adults said high school did not
leave them fully prepared for handling money in the real
world.1
Only 25 states mandate a personal finance class in high school
and when offered as an elective, it tends to have a low number of
students opting in.2 Echeverria likes the Bite of Reality events
because they are fun, interactive and yet quickly show the students
that they need to get smart about money.
“This is a safe environment to learn about money management.
They can make mistakes with us, rather than in the real world,” she
said. “Then we follow up with sessions on budgeting and credit, how
to keep track of money and how to achieve financial goals. The
lessons are presented in a relatable and memorable way.”
In an anonymous feedback survey, one Learn4Life student said, “I
learned to be more responsible in the way I spent my money and
focus on the necessary things first. I want to learn how to improve
my credit scores.”
Another student agreed, commenting, “I learned to have a budget
for whatever I want to buy and to be careful with sellers that will
always want you to spend more money. I want to learn more about how
not to overspend.”
Echeverria points out that it is too easy to get credit in this
country, and if you don’t understand how it works, you can quickly
find yourself in debt that is difficult to overcome. “It’s
rewarding to see students realize that it’s not that difficult to
be money smart and avoid the money traps that can derail their
future happiness.”
The Bite of Reality app and event was developed by the Richard
Myles Johnson Foundation for credit unions to help students learn
about money management. Learn4Life is a network of 80+ public high
schools that offers personalized learning, a flexible schedule and
life/job skills training. For more information, visit
Learn4Life.org.
About Learn4Life
Learn4Life is a network of nonprofit public high schools that
provide students personalized learning, career training and life
skills. Each school is locally controlled, tuition free and gives
students the flexibility and one-on-one attention they need to
succeed. Serving more than 59,000 students through a year-round
program, we help them prepare for a future beyond high school. For
more information, please visit www.learn4life.org.
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1
https://www.ramseysolutions.com/financial-literacy/financial-literacy-crisis-in-america
2
https://www.ramseysolutions.com/financial-literacy/states-require-financial-literacy-in-high-school
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Ann Abajian, Learn4Life (559) 903-7893 PR@learn4life.org