Program gives middle schoolers a taste of the ‘real’ financlal world

ALEXANDER COUNTY, N.C. – Today’s teenagers might be tech savvy and able to manage multiple social media accounts, but that doesn’t mean they know how to balance a budget or even write a personal check.

“Lots of students graduate without any idea about using credit cards, managing debt, writing checks, or other skills you need to survive as an adult,” said Der Xiong Holcomb, family and consumer sciences agent with Cooperative Extension in Alexander County. “Gen Z wasn’t taught these things, and as adults we need to teach them these life skills.”

Holcomb is one of several Extension agents who offers Real Money, Real World, a financial literacy program for youth ages 12 to 18 that includes classroom learning and a simulation of what it’s like to live as an adult in the “real” world. The program starts with four classroom sessions taught by either a teacher or Extension agent that cover basic financial literacy. Equipped with some basic knowledge, the students then participate in a simulation in which they pretend to be a 27-year-old, are assigned a career and a corresponding pay level, and must make decisions about spending and budgeting, hopefully without running out of money.

The simulation works as a poster session, with students visiting tables where they can buy insurance, manage their bank accounts, get loans, find housing. If they’ve been assigned children in the simulation, they can also learn about childcare options. Local business leaders serve as experts at each of the poster tables and help the students make their spending decisions.

“At each poster table, they must make choices on how to spend their money,” said Patrice Dollar, Extension associate at N.C. A&T. “Some end up with not enough income to cover their life expenses.”

In those cases, the students must figure out a way to make ends meet, whether it be through a second job or financial assistance such as Medicaid or SNAP, said Dollar.

Through the classroom learning and the hands-on simulation, students come to understand that life as an adult isn’t easy and that the choices they make early on—such as having children or pursuing education beyond high school—have long-term consequences.

“I have students saying to me that maybe they won’t have kids at 21; maybe they’ll wait a little later until they have some financial stability,” said Renee Jenkins, an 8^th grade social studies teacher at West Alexander Middle School who has offered the program to her students for the past five years. Jenkins taught the course to 93 students in her four social studies sections during the 2022-2023 school year. Although at first they are a little overwhelmed by all the information they must learn, they soon become invested in making their simulated adult life work, she said.

“It’s wonderful to see them ask questions and make different choices,” said Jenkins. “It gets the students talking to us on a personal level about their goals and what they hope to accomplish in life, and they have an activity where they can make decisions and see them play out.”

Each year, Jenkins and Holcomb bring in a group of community volunteers from local businesses who serve as experts at the poster tables, answer questions, and help the students make informed financial choices. The volunteers also give the students the chance to interact with adults and improve their communication skills in the process, Jenkins added.

“I think the program really opens the kids up and helps them learn how to talk to adults about these kinds of issues,” said Sherri Russell, vice president of Taylorsville Savings Bank, who has served as a volunteer with the program for nearly 10 years and whose son participated in it as a middle schooler. “We can’t assume our kids get this kind of information at home.”

Tyler Payne, a teller at the Bethlehem office of Taylorsville Savings Bank, participated in Real Money, Real World 10 years ago as a middle school student and came back this year as a community volunteer. He still remembers the lessons he learned in the course and said he enjoyed sharing his experiences with current students.

Students at West Alexander Middle School in Taylorsville participate in a Real Money, Real World event in the school’s gymnasium. The event simulates financial challenges aimed at allowing middle and high schoolers to consider what adults face in the real world.

“They felt like I did when they took the course,” said Payne. “They were excited to be doing something different and they were shocked to realize how much things cost.”

Of course, the experience was different as a volunteer, and Payne said he talked to students about making purchasing decisions based on what they can afford, rather than on what they want. For example, they learn that buying a compact car, or opting to take the bus, might make more sense than a more luxurious car, or that their smart phone doesn’t need to be the latest model.

“You just don’t think about these things as a kid,” he said. “It teaches them to watch what they spend and be financially responsible. It’s helped me throughout my life. I use that experience in my everyday life.”

Real Money, Real World was developed by Ohio State Cooperative Extension and is used in North Carolina by 4-H and Family and Consumer Sciences agents in collaboration with schools and summer camp programs. Dollar said she has trained more than 60 Extension agents to present the program, and that through programs in Alexander County, Montgomery County and summer programs, Real Money, Real World will easily reach more than 1,000 youth this year.

The volunteers in Alexander County said the program is beneficial to them and their businesses, and they hope it will continue to grow.

“We are a small community, and it is nice to see everybody come together for something that’s good for our kids. It makes me feel good,” said Ashlyn Wagoner, a teller at Taylorsville Savings Bank who volunteered at East Alexander Middle School. “I wish I’d had something like this as a kid.”

With North Carolina now requiring a course on personal finance and economics for high school graduation, Real Money, Real World fills an important niche in the state’s educational efforts, according to Dollar.

“This kind of education is so important,” she said. “Student loan delinquency rates are higher in North Carolina than the national average and the debt level grows each year. Sometimes it’s an eye opener for students to see how much their parents spend on them. It’s eye opening and they need to learn it.”