Racine Unified high school juniors are getting some hard lessons in personal finance this week. The good news is that the consequences aren’t for real.
The students are being bused to Roma Lodge to take part in a two-hour long simulation exercise where they pick a career, then are assigned a budget, marital status, credit score and more. The students move from station to station, where, with the help of volunteers, they choose how to spend their money.
Along the way, valuable lessons are learned. "Oh it's a huge eye opener," said Victor Frasher, Director of Community Engagement for Educators Credit Union, the main sponsor of the event. "A lot of kids (for instance) have no idea that it costs $1,200 a month for daycare for a single child," he said.
Case junior Jay Shelmidine was surprised to learn of the cost of housing. "Even for a small house it was a couple thousand or a thousand per month," he said. Shelmidine choose a career in the military, then was given a budget and told he had a wife and kids.
Ryan Gapinski learned a thing or two as well. "Money goes away quick," he said. In real life, Gapinski is working an apprenticeship at Racine Metal Fab, but is thinking about going into the military after graduation in part to have the cost of training covered for a career in law enforcement.
The Reality Check training continues through Wednesday.
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