Eighth-grade students in the Lauderdale County School District received a little dose of reality on Wednesday as they participated in a financial education Reality Fair hosted by four area credit unions in conjunction with Meridian Community College’s Workforce Development.
The annual, interactive event is a chance for students to experience financial challenges they may face when they graduate from high school or college and start life on their own as an adult. The students have been studying a financial planning unit in their Cyber Foundations class leading up to the Reality Fair.
Between 450 and 500 eighth-grade county students were expected to attend the event, which was sponsored by Meridian Mutual Federal Credit Union, Mississippi Air National Guard Federal Credit Union, 1st Mississippi Federal Credit Union and MUNA Federal Credit Union.
“It gives them that real experience and to let them know as they are going out and finishing their last few years of high school, and deciding what they are going to do as far as college and careers, that life is expensive,” Samantha Blackwell, vice president of Meridian Mutual Federal Credit Union, said of the Reality Fair. “If you want nice things and you want to be able to afford those things, then you may need to consider, ‘Do I want to go to college, do I want to get a degree, do I want to go to trade school or do I just want to go to work right outside of high school?’”
She said students need to consider an array of things when choosing a career and one of the more important ones when it comes to paying bills is the size of their future paycheck.
“They need to learn that you’ve got to stay within your budget and live within your means,” Blackwell said.
For most of the students, it was a firsthand look at the cost of being a grown-up as they received their assigned careers and spied their monthly salary. Then, they were given a budget sheet to complete, which required them to juggle paying the basic necessities such as rent or a mortgage, utilities, transportation, food and clothing, health insurance and communication, like a cell phone and internet service. Those whose assigned career required a college degree had to stop by the credit union table and pay their monthly student loan payment.
Some of the students chose to have roommates so they could split their monthly bills. Blackwell said the most important thing was the students had to stay within their budget.
“If they go over budget, they have to go to the budget counseling table where mentors either encourage them to get a second job or to make some changes on their housing or transportation selections,” Blackwell said.
Throughout the fair, there were several temptations for additional spending, such as signing up for the gym, going to the salon for their hair and nails, entertainment options and buying a pet.
“On the back wall, we have what we call our temptations. It is entertainment, gym, salon and beauty, and pets. If they can afford a temptation, they can get it,” Blackwell said.
The very last stop was the Reality Wheel, which students had to spin to see if they landed on an expense or income.
“The very last thing they will do is go to the reality wheel. They will spin it, and they may get a tax refund … or they may have to pay in taxes,” she said. Students can also land on options of receiving money from a yard sale, spending money to replace a home’s air conditioning unit or spending money to repair a flat tire on their car.
“Those little hiccups that you have to make sure you have allowed for in your finances,” Blackwell said.
After the students visited each of the tables, they balanced their budget and evaluated how much money they had left for the month.
“Some of them come out with large amounts of money left in their account and some of them come out with $10 left and say, ‘wow, it just went so fast. I didn’t realize.’”
Representatives from several community businesses and organizations, including real estate agencies, a fitness gym, insurance company, a utility company and MCC’s Cosmetology Department, were on hand to assist with mentoring the students.
Michelle Thompson, a grant and project manager for MCC’s Workforce Development, said the college also got the chance to give the students a tour of the Workforce Development Center and show them several of the educational programs they offer at the center for students who may want to go the career and technical route.
“I feel like I already know a lot of this stuff,” said Southeast Middle School student Samyah O’Field, “but I feel like this is giving me a better experience … into what the real world is like and understanding how to work it better.”
“I feel like this is teaching me how to work with less money,” she said, adding that she is learned the basics, like rent and utilities, are more important than the bonuses such as cable or streaming services like Netflix.
Another Southeast student, Angel Moss, was assigned the job of a marketing specialist with a monthly income of $2,308. She and O’Field decided to become roommates and split the cost of monthly bills in order to have enough money to live on.
“If we were living separately it would cost more, so we decided to be roommates so we can split the monthly bills,” Moss said, “especially for her because she would probably be living on the streets.”
O’Field’s assigned job was as a cashier with a monthly salary of only $1,578. She said she wasn’t sure how someone could afford to live on that salary now that she has learned about the real costs of living, including rent, utilities, transportation and food.
“It kind of really does give them that wake up call,” Blackwell said. “Now, some of them it is just fun for them and they enjoy going through the process. But, some of them really do have a good take away from the Reality Fair.”