WMU hosts high school students at financial reality fair

#Adulting isn’t easy. That’s a lesson that nearly 100 juniors and seniors from Kalamazoo Public Schools and Schoolcraft Community Schools learned as they attended a financial reality fair at WMU.

WMU’s Department of Finance and Commercial Law and Arbor Financial Credit Union partnered to educate the students from Kalamazoo Central High School, Loy Norrix High School and Schoolcraft High School in financial decision making at the interactive event.

Students started with a session in career planning, where they identified their career goals and likely career paths. Then, Dr. Matthew Ross, assistant professor of finance, facilitated a session using the Cash & Careers tool. Cash & Careers is a Microsoft Excel model designed to help students forecast the long-term financial impact of investment in their own human capital.

“There are many misconceptions around the costs of college and the overall financial outcome it will have on a person’s lifestyle over time,” says Ross. “The Cash & Careers program helps students better understand the benefit investing in college can have on their financial and professional futures.”

After the initial sessions, students visited 11 booths where they engaged with finance professionals from Arbor Financial Credit Union to make decisions on housing, transportation, clothes, furniture, food and other expenses, keeping in mind their annual income and other budgetary items such as student loan payments and savings. The end of the fair included a debriefing session with a financial counselor on each student’s budget success and experience at the event overall.

“I really enjoyed the collaboration between WMU and Arbor Financial Credit Union to bring such a wonderful, hands-on, learning experience to area high school students,” says Judy Swafford, community relations manager at Arbor. “You could see a lot of ‘ah ha’ moments while the students were at the reality fair, making choices based on needs versus wants in order to stay within their means.”

The event was a success according to teachers who participated alongside their pupils. “Students learned a lot about careers, budgeting, expenses and choices for discretionary income and how to plan for the amount of money their chosen career will provide,” says Lori Pelton, a teacher at Schoolcraft High School. “It is nice to have an experiential learning opportunity with professionals to guide our students, and our students enjoyed seeing WMU’s Haworth College of Business and getting to interact with WMU students and faculty.”

Beth Soisson, a teacher at Loy Norrix High School agrees. “Managing your own money is often a skill that does not get much attention in K-12 education. WMU hosted this event, through which they provided exposure for students to this necessary skill as well as an added benefit of exposure to a college campus. This exposure to college is necessary to nurture our college-going culture at Kalamazoo Public Schools. We appreciate Arbor Financial Credit Union’s commitment to this event and all who were involved at WMU.”

The event is envisioned as an annual offering, which will impact new students each year. “We are excited to bring students the resources they need to make these important decisions,” says Ross. “The fair is designed to guide students through different phases of life and the choices that will impact their financial futures.”

Michelle Claybaugh, a teacher at Kalamazoo Central High School, looks forward to next year’s event and appreciated that the sessions were “interactive and real.” And the proof of its success is in the student reactions. Claybaugh shares a comment from one of her students: “I thought this was going to be a boring field trip, but it was really fun. It was the most valuable field trip I have had.”