Teaching real-world finances, financial literacy fair teaches kids budgetary skills

SUDBURY — Months before they head off to college, work or the military, Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School seniors took a day to confront the reality of where some of their major life choices may lead.

Seniors last Friday participated in a "Reality of Life Fair," an interactive financial education experience in which students pick a career and earn a salary based on the career choice. They're then tasked with deciding how to use their income to manage a budget, particularly in terms of paying off student loans, as well as housing and other financial situations that come with adulthood.

Students were also assigned credit scores, which they could improve upon or worsen, based on their spending habits and their ability to repay debt.

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Liza Kirk, who will attend the University of Delaware and major in early childhood education, said it's a role she's already had some experience with by working as a camp counselor and at a local day care. Kirk's starting salary during the fair, $47,300, was on the lower side but not unexpected.

"I kind of knew what it was going to be before I started, but I'm going to have to be very careful with my budget," she said.

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Throughout the fair, Kirk had to make financial decisions that would allow her to live a realistic lifestyle while maintaining a balanced budget and improving her credit score. She elected to live with roommates instead of getting her own apartment, and originally elected to take public transportation instead of purchasing a car.

"I think I did OK at the event, I managed to improve my credit rating and I was able to eventually be able to afford a car," Kirk said. "I definitely think having taken the financial literacy course in school, I was able to handle some of the decision-making process better."

Za Goddard-Taylor will attend Pace University, of Pleasantville, New York, this fall and major in marketing. She said she's open to pursuing different fields and felt a business degree gives her the most versatility.

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"I'm not locked in on one direction, I'm just looking for a degree that if I want to go in a different direction, I have an avenue for success," she said.

Goddard-Taylor chose the career of paraprofessional, and was given the salary of $65,000 as she navigated her way around the fair and managed expenses.

"I elected to have unlimited data for my cellphone plan — I feel like that would be important for my career," she said. "I didn't decide to get a gym membership — that seems like something I could just do on my own. It's an interesting experience getting some understanding of what this is going to be like."

During the event, students are confronted by flash events that may mean an unexpected boost to their budget, or in other instances, extra expenses.

"I did get a bonus at work, which was good, but I also had some emergency medical charges that set me back," said Max Troiano, who is headed to Cornell University to major in history. "I'm working as a political staff assistant, and my salary is $56,000, which I think might be a little ambitious."

'We want every student to have some financial literacy'

The financial literacy fair was created by math teachers Kathleen Thompson and Kate Grant.

"I created a financial literacy course at a previous school, and when I was hired at Lincoln-Sudbury, they wanted to incorporate that, which is what we did," Thompson said. "At my previous school, we did have a Reality of Life Fair, and that was something I wanted to bring here."

Thompson said previously, students who took financial literacy courses would go on a field trip to a Reality of Life Fair in another district. But after the pandemic, such fairs began to dry up, leading Thompson and Grant to create one for all L-S seniors.

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"We decided just to run one here, not kind of realizing what we were taking on," Thompson said. "We have nearly 400 seniors, but we wanted to do it because I think it's important and we want our students to have some sort of financial literacy before they graduate. We work with FitMoney, a program that helps us run the fair and takes the students through the different booths, and we have the event sponsored by Middlesex Savings Bank."

nThe fair relied on volunteers with expertise in various fields to provide guidance to students as they navigated through certain financial decisions. Ann Kronrod, a Sudbury resident and an associate professor of marketing and entrepreneurship at UMass Lowell, provided advice on how to start saving for retirement, and how to determine what portion of their monthly salary would be dedicated toward retirement.

"It's a great chance to talk to young people and give them an idea of where they are headed," Kronrod said. "I'll ask them how much money they think they will need if they retire when they are 65 and living on a fixed income, and they will tell me '$20,000.' I'll then tell them that they probably can't live off of $1,000 a year, and that kind of helps put into perspective how important it is to start saving early."

L-S math teacher says Mass. students need financial literacy courses

One reason Thompson wanted to run the fair was to bring attention to the dearth of financial literacy education occurring in Massachusetts schools. Twenty-five states, including Connecticut, New Hampshire and Rhode Island, require financial literacy as a mandatory course for high school graduation, but Massachusetts does not.

"There is a real shortage of this kind of education taking place across the state, and we want more people to be aware of that," Thompson said.

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State Sen. Jamie Eldridge, D-Marlborough, who previously sponsored a bill to increase the number of Reality of Life Fairs in Massachusetts, attended Friday's event at L-S. He said there is currently a bill in the State House that would make financial literacy a high school graduation mandate.

"The new bill would make it a mandate and I think that is something to take a look at," he said. "I've been to the Marlborough Reality of Life Fair and now this one in Sudbury. It's a great model and it's great to see students learning about this. I think there's a gap in terms of requiring more financial literacy, and understanding on what repaying debt really is like."

Dave Kartunen, a former news reporter for WHDH and Sudbury resident, also volunteered at Friday's event, managing the "Wheel of Reality" — a booth that spins out a random life event that may have positive or negative financial consequences. He said the message of the fair is incredibly important.

"I think it is so important for students to learn about this kind of stuff, I would gladly volunteer at other school districts to help them hold fairs of their own," he said.

This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: How to budget: Financial literacy fair teaches students money skills