Students Learn About Cost of Living

Eighth graders at a local school are learning how to budget money when their out on their own.

The OSU Extension is sponsoring a Financial Literacy Program called Real Money Real World and the students find out what it’s like to be 25 and living in the real world.

"They are given a salary, an occupation, and so many children or in some cases no children and based on that they have to go make decisions about how they are going to pay their bills every month," Extension Educator Age Youth Development Vicki Reed said.

"Basically, we’re trying to learn about the future. We gotta buy a house, gotta buy a car, and pay rent. Figuring out the stuff for the future," Eighth Grader Darius Beach said.

Reed said they are learning that raising kids and having a house is expensive.

"Sometimes they end up having to go back and change their choice. If they choose a really nice home and now they are realizing they can’t afford that mortgage payment so now they are going back and downsizing or they may have to see about different childcare arrangements," Reed said.

She said there is a lot of adjusting and negotiating that goes on before they are done with their final budget because their goal is have money left over at the end of the month. Reed said it’s important for them to have an idea of what it’s going to be like when they are out of school, so when they make decisions about their future they may take college a little more seriously knowing that their choices are going to effect their life in the long run.