Mike Wolanin | The Republic Kaylinn Billings budgets out purchasing a car during a Center for Financial Empowerment Mad City Money financial learning event at Columbus North High School in Columbus, Ind,, Thursday, Oct. 4, 2024.
Columbus’ high school freshmen were able to experience what real-life finances involve last week.
Ninth-graders currently taking a required Preparing for College and Careers (PCC) class took part in Mad City Money — a hands-on interactive financial simulation meant to immerse high school students in what it’s like as an adult having to balance finances such as money for car payments, medical bills and rent.
The program is sponsored by the Bartholomew County Financial Literacy Coalition and organizers hope it will help students develop smart spending habits and understand how essential budgeting is.
Mad City Money made stops at Columbus North and East last week, and the program will take place once again next semester with another group of freshman taking the PCC class.
“It gives them a good introduction to budgeting,” C4 Team Leader Autumne Streeval said of the program. “It also allows them to think about decisions on how to spend their money and the choices that they make when they do budget and spend.”
At the outset, students are given the opportunity to select a career based on their interests. They are then given a profile sheet that shows whether they have a spouse with an income, children, even student loan and credit card debt.
The freshman rotate to different stations staffed by volunteers where they learn of different expenses they may have to incur. There are stations for transportation, housing, entertainment, food, clothing and child care.
“They’ve already made a budget, so they kind of have in mind how much they should be spending for these things, and that helps them, hopefully, with their decision making,” said Harriet Armstrong, co-facilitator for the Bartholomew County Financial Literacy Coalition.
As with life, sometimes the unexpected can turn things upside down. Mad City Money accounted for that with “the fickle finger of fate.”
“Sometimes there are unexpected expenses, so that gives them an opportunity to recognize, ‘Oh, if I don’t have any savings, then I’m not always going to be able to handle this,” Armstrong said.
The fickle finger doles out unexpected life events such as a flat tire, broken appliances and sometimes deaths in the family that may require something like a plane ticket to attend a hypothetical funeral.
The finger manifests itself as a brown paper bag, carried around by a PCC teacher. In it are slips of paper given to every student once at random.
“What gets kind of funny about that is students will start to avoid the teacher,” Streeval said. “They see them coming with a paper bag and know what’s in there and try to dodge it.”
Streeval continued, “It’s a good dose of reality that there are unexpected expenses, and even if you budget things as perfectly as you can, you’re still going to have to have some room for things that you aren’t expecting to happen.”
By the end, students aren’t allowed to have more than $100 in their debit accounts.
“The reason for that is to think in terms of, well, if I have extra money (I should) put that towards debt repayment or savings for that unexpected expense,” Armstrong said.
It’s also because some students try to be cunning and lowball the volunteers, which Armstrong says she warns the adults about in advance.
“They’ll say, ‘I want the cheapest thing,’” Armstrong said. “And with transportation, for example, one of the cheapest things is to buy a bus pass. What I’ve seen happen is somebody will come in, they’ll buy a vehicle for themselves, and then say, ‘Okay, my wife can get a bus pass.’”
“And we say, ‘Excuse me, your wife is going to be taking the kids to school and going grocery shopping on a bus pass? I think you better reconsider this.’”
The event works in conjunction with Reality Store, another Bartholomew County Financial Literacy Coalition event, but geared for eighth-graders.
With Reality Store, students are able to pick careers that correspond with their grade point average and are given a salary.
Each student then opens pretend checking accounts and moves among different booths that deduct for things like housing, utilities, student loans and other expenses.
During Reality Store, volunteers will often help students, according to Armstrong. That’s not quite the case for Mad City Money, where the volunteers will do their best to convince students to make decisions that may be beneficial for the volunteer in their hypothetical role, but not so much for the student. It gives them a glimpse into how real life really works.
“We’ll tell volunteers, you are salespeople. You want to encourage them to buy— I have never gone to a car dealer and had him ask me if my car falls within my budget.” Armstrong said.
Volunteers will ask students about details on their profile sheet and then try to sell them on making some sort of purchase.
“They’ll ask the student, ‘Tell me about your interests, what’s your family makeup? I think this would be a great opportunity for you to take a trip with them. Or I think this house would really work— look it’s got a big, nice backyard,’” Armstrong said.
The volunteers do such a great job that some students run out of money halfway through the simulation.
“One student last year said, ‘But he told me I needed these two vehicles!’ It’s just an opportunity for them to see expenses in a little bit of a different way,” according to Armstrong.
Streeval observed that in conversations with students after the fact, some gain a better understanding of decisions their own families have had to make.
“I feel like students get a better sense of why decisions are made, maybe by their family that before they didn’t have a greater appreciation for,” Streeval said.
Mad City Money also serves as a stepping-stone of sorts for the personal finance class students take as sophomores or juniors.
“It’s only possible for us to do this program by having volunteers, Armstrong said. “And I think from what feedback I’ve gotten that it’s been quite enjoyable.”
Reality Store is coming up on Oct. 29 at Central Middle School, where officials are looking for about 200 volunteers.
Those interested in volunteering can register to do so at uwbarthco.galaxydigital.com/need/detail/?need_id=981857.
