16-Oct-09 4:00 PM CST

Junior Achievement Finance Park Program

It’s not easy being an adult! It’s a lesson some BISD students learned after a day of paying bills, buying clothes, grocery shopping, etc.

It’s a chance for students to walk in their parents shoes,” explains Cindy Westfall Executive Director of Junior Achievement of the Golden Triangle. “This program prepares them for the future and gives them a chance to learn how to live within a budget.”

The program is the Capitol One/Junior Achievement Finance Park program. It’s a traveling learning center that helps students build a foundation for making intelligent, lifelong, personal financial decisions through hands on, realistic site-based experiences.

When students first walk in the door they are assigned a “hypothetical life situation.” Westfall explains, “We tell them if they are married or single, how many children they have, their age. Each one is assigned a career and given an annual salary. Students then have to figure out their net monthly income.”

The Finance Park consists of 19 kiosk stations students visit and make their selections.

Students create a budget that includes buying clothes, groceries and paying bills: house note, car note, water, sewer, and trash. “There is a limit on what they can choose,” states Westfall. “They have to decide what type of clothes they will buy and go to the bank and apply for a loan for their house and car.” The students are also required to put 1% of their annual salary in a savings account.

Westfall says some of the students learned quickly they are living above their means. “On more than one occasion a student would buy a sports car, then not have enough money to pay their bills,” explains Westfall. “They would have to go back and buy a different vehicle. If they were still in the red, I would tell them to get rid of the Blackberry Storm cell phone and go with the basic cell phone plan.”

The Key learning objectives of the finance park:

Identify services provided by financial institutions and understand when/how the services are used.
Explain debit cards and their uses.
Define interest and credit.
Understand the cost of credit.
Explain the advantages and disadvantages of using credit.
List the risk and benefits involved in saving and investing.
Identify the impact interest rates have on investment value.
Read stock quotes and determine stock value.
Define the differences among sales, income, and property taxes and the purpose for each type of tax.
Identify the basic principles of Social Security.
Define net monthly income and demonstrate how it is calculated.

“This lesson is something these students will carry with them for the rest of their lives,” Westfall states. “When we finished many students came up to me and said, oh my gosh now I know what my mom goes through every month. No wonder she said I couldn’t go shopping.”

Westfall says another valuable lesson students learn is education is key. “Higher education equals higher paying jobs, and more money to spend on a daily basis.”

The financial park was set up inside the Cardinal room at the Montagne Center on the Lamar University campus. It is one of three that travels around the country to different school districts. Westfall says more than 80 volunteers helped out to make the day a success and she hopes to bring the finance park back to Beaumont in May.