Solano students get crash course in adult financing

The lessons learned probably will help their parents as well with some going home and sharing what they learned.

"We have had more than 10,000 students take the course," said Michelle Sabolich, AVP, Corporate Communications Travis Credit Union. "They learn to budget through in-person learning and using an app on their phones." 

For the “Mad City Money” simulator, kids downloaded the application and were assigned a profession, monthly salary, household size, student-loan debt and credit score. They then traveled to different booths in the community room that would give them options for spending the "money" they earned from work.

The booths were operated by volunteers and provided categories representing the spending areas of groceries and dining, child care, transportation, clothing, housing and utilities, household needs, a credit union, shopping mall, and entertainment.

For students in Solano County this is a part of their career learning according to Kelley Birch, director of college and career readiness at the Solano County Office of Education. 

"This is a huge benefit for them," she said. "Some families do go over this with their kids, but some don't even have a budget; that is why this is important." 

Students get to learn the first things about getting a paycheck, then it’s a question of what they need and what they want. And then, how are they going to spend that paycheck? 

Soon Christopher Simpson, 17, of Vacaville High School is going to be graduating – his parents thought the course would be good for him, but he realized it would just be a good idea to know what he was doing.

"I have not thought about a budget or how I would spend my paycheck," he said. 

He plans on attending college then getting a job in microbiology. How much did he think he would need for a budget? 

"I think about $5,000," he said. 

He wondered if that sounded right. By the end of the Saturday he had his answer. 

The volunteers helped keep the learning fun with games. 

One was like “Family Feud,” called “Travis Feud”; it featured teams of five players trying to name the five most common summer jobs, with the winning team again receiving raffle tickets.

The games then gave way to discussions on taxes and income, needs versus wants, and the four pillars of financial wellness: planning, saving, spending and borrowing. 

"This is Money Management 101," said Kevin Miller, the president and CEO of Travis Credit Union. 

The two things he said he hopes they walked away with were knowledge of budgeting and confidence with their money. 

"If something happens, I hope they have the confidence to know how to handle it financially," he said. "Because something always does happen." 

Adults are not left out with Travis Credit Union on educational tools. Travis has budgeting tools along with free credit scores and credit report. 

Hopefully students got an idea of how to get life events lined up with financial responsibility.