Who doesn’t need a reality check now and then? As in, “Can I really afford that? Or, “Shouldn’t I save for retirement, even now?
For Franklin County high school juniors and seniors still basking in that pre-debt stage of life that they may never enjoy again, such doses of reality came in the form of High School Reality Fair – an interactive carnival of 17 stations that they visit in a gameboard-like series of stops and starts on the road to adulthood. Contestants “win” control over their future financial lives and, it is hoped, freedom from creditors.
Hosted by Greenfield Community College and sponsored by Franklin First and UMass Five College credit unions and the Franklin County Rotary Club, experts help students decide how much their future 20-something selves are going to spend on things like housing, transportation, food, utilities, savings, insurance, fitness, student loans, charity, electronics, entertainment and more. Paige Eddy, a senior at Frontier, said she went into the fair to see how much money she would need to start life on her own. “It’s not what I expected,” Eddy said.
Aidan Duncan, a junior at Mohawk Trail Regional School, learned about putting money aside. “I never even thought about investing or saving – they expect us to save 3 percent of our salary every month,” he said. “I’m changing my viewpoint about how to spend. It’s also making me consider the higher-paying careers.”
Corrine Fitzgerald, owner of Fitzgerald Real Estate, and Shannon Doran, school-to-career coordinator at MassHire Department of Career Services for Franklin and Hampshire counties, ran the reality wheel where students could land on a cash windfall or receive a bill for pet damages in their rental apartment. “You never know what’s going to happen,” said Fitzgerald. “It’s all about how they adjust and what they do to make it work.”
“This maybe isn’t going to be as easy as I thought,” said Ethan Bower, a junior at Mohawk. Even though he was given a career as a lawyer making $50,670 a year, he was having a tough time balancing his budget when the reality wheel dealt him a car expense.
Amy Proietti, coordinator of financial aid at GCC, said some students learned they are going to have to get a second or third job as they walked through the fair. “If they find out they need more than one job, they then have to pretend to find one, so they have to go through that process as well,” said Proietti.
Reality fairs are a good idea and not just for students. We could all use a dose of reality at different stages of our lives. For example, our local banks and Realtors sponsor a workshop that guides young adults through the twists and turns on the road to home ownership. And All Souls Church has sponsored a “death cafe” to facilitate a discussion about funeral options. How about a reality fair on buying health insurance and paying medical bills? Or a reality fair on retirement pitfalls and options? The premise is the same: Knowledge of what lies ahead helps you to achieve your goals in life.
“At the end of the day, we hope they’ve all learned some important lessons to take into real life,” said Proietti. Kudos to the organizers and participants of such events.