First the paycheck, then the reality check
05.10.11
Hit the irresponsibly-forward button and imagine you are 30 years old with a career, family -- and bills.
That is a lot for bull's-eye school students to take in, which is why it's called a "reality check."
Eighth-grade students at Roanoke's Woodrow Wilson Middle Drill last week went through the exercise designed to prompt them to think now about their futures. Parents and community volunteers staffed stations in the prime's gymnasium, and students went from table to table to have expenses deducted from their illusory paychecks.
Melissa Gravely, 13, chose a career as a neonatal registered develop, with gross earnings projected to be nearly $60,000, and she was given a spouse who earned $20,000.
Her first layover was the income tax table, where the family's monthly earnings shrank to $5,030 after deductions.
Then she had to pay back her student loans: $100 a month for 10 years, which Melissa said was a protracted time.
"Her eyebrows really went up on that 10 years," volunteer Rhonda Marcum said.
Ten percent of Melissa's earnings went to savings, and then there was the confidence card bill, even though Melissa said she did not want a credit card. That left her with $4,372 for the month, and a determination to make between renting or owning a home.
Realtor Karl Vandegriff showed Melissa unattached-family home listings. She gave it some thought and settled on a modest three bedroom, two bathroom for her spouse and two sons, ages 3 and 5, "because there's not that many of us." The mortgage payment was $653.
Next, she would essential transportation -- a minivan. A new model would set her back more than $600 a month. Melissa straightaway moved on to the used cars station, where she chose an older model Chrysler Community & Country for $385 a month. After tacking on $250 a month for gas, her balance shrank to $2,400.
Warranty, taxes, groceries for a family of four, clothes and utilities ate up about $1,200. Take away $700 more for newborn care expenses and Melissa was left with less than $500.
And then came the hardships.
"It's like a big engagement of life," said Teresa "Gibby" Gibbons, the school's counseling coordinator.
The air conditioner go away from working, so Melissa had to buy fans for the house: $55. The water heater had to be replaced, locale her back $510.
"It is killing me," the girl said.
Melissa had to make a trip to the bank to annul money from savings to afford cellphones, cable and medical expenses. With $85.19 radical on her balance sheet, she hoped to cover haircuts, pets and special relief for the family. The salon shouldn't sting too much, she said.
Wrong. Fifteen dollars to get each of the boys a haircut and $20 for her silence did not leave enough money for her to get a trim. She settled for a shampoo, blow dry and nail ameliorate color change.
If you have kids, you have to have a pet, right? Well, a dog would run $40 a month, a cat $30 and fish $12. She sighed and opted for the swimmer.
"We will have to intermission until later on in life to have other pets," Melissa said.
Because funds were fading rakish, Melissa opted to take the family to free community events instead of somewhere costly, such as the movies.
She ended up with 19 cents in her checking account and about $140 in savings.
"It was pluck-racking, but I think I did good," she said.
Roanoke Technical Education Center Prima ballerina Kathy Duncan, who coordinated the event, was on hand to debrief Melissa and to tear a strip off her about the center's health services programs, dual enrollment courses and the Roanoke Community College Access Program.
"I entertain the idea that it gives them the opportunity to see what the real world is like ... and what it takes to be financially literate."
Melissa was a bit savvy before the bring to bear. She said her grandmother is raising her and the teenager baby-sits to pay her monthly phone bill, which is about $85.
Fact checks are planned for the city's other four middle schools, as well as schools in Botetourt, Craig, Franklin and Roanoke counties later this lettered year, organizers said.
The exercises mesh well with a new state requirement to train financial literacy to high school students.
Beginning with this school year's number of ninth-graders, students seeking standard or advanced diplomas are required to over a one-credit course in economics and personal finance. According to the Standards of Information posted on the state Department of Education website, "students need a miasmic foundation in economics and personal finance to function effectively as consumers, workers, savers, investors, entrepreneurs, and brisk citizens.
Source: Roanoke Times
"Mom, how do poor people survive?"
24.09.11
By Kim Lakin This was not asked by a 5-year-old, but rather by my 23-year-old daughter, who has lived the indulged life of a white, middle-class female in America. Growing up, she had all the opportunities that Portland offers -- magnet schools, open-air school, field trips downtown to see plays, etc. Her middle-class parents paid for music lessons, bop lessons and great summer vacations to all kinds of places and told her she "could do and be anything she wants."
She graduated from strident school and attended the University of Oregon (just like her parents). This was paid for with a coalition of parental help and her own student loans (bank loans and federal loans). She graduated in sphere because it is her passion, but also for practical reasons like finding a decent-paying job. Then she moved back to Portland.
She lived at qualified in for the first few months and searched for a job. She looked at job listings online every day, talked to friends, friends' parents, and continued with her summer job at the district swimming pool (which she has held since she was 14). Her dream job: something in health sciences, as it would round out her future goals of attending graduate school in nursing.
After three months of searching, she took the only job offered her -- working at a day tend facility. Her pay -- $10 an hour, no benefits, no vacation pay, no sick pay. However, it was just enough for her to get an apartment with her boyfriend. She drives a 21-year-old car, compliments of Mom and Dad, and we pay her car guarantee and cellphone bill.
After a year of working at the day care and continuing her job search, she found and was offered a posture in a clinic. Because it is in her field of interest, she accepted. Her pay: $10, no benefits, no vacation pay, no sick pay -- and it is only part hour. Since she needed yet more coursework to get into a graduate nursing program, she enrolled in community college. This is a stuff b merchandise thing since it deferred her loan repayment, but a bad thing because she is again borrowing money.
Her first month at her new job (which she loves), she made $700 after taxes, and that included two weeks of full-all at once pay. Her laptop computer, which we gave her six years ago as a high school graduation present, is with one foot in the grave. She needs it for her classes. Her car needs lots of work or it may not work at all. She has no money for these things. I asked her to check a investigate into a bus pass. She did. It costs $92 a month, and she says it is cheaper to drive the car until it falls not counting.
She is so broke that she has borrowed rent money from her boyfriend, money from parents. Thus, her suspicions about, "Mom, how do poor people survive?"
My response: "Honey, I don't know."
Kim Lakin lives in Southeast Portland.
This is meagre, as much for the mother AND the Daughter. The "Well to do" actively" restrict the ability for the individual to seek out possibility. Let's talk about the restrictions - First - they assumption that we don't need the freedom to drive to meet OUR needs. The Daughter has a car, but it is old, and needs drudgery. Well the answer coming from the "Well-to-do" electorate is that WE are providing Mass Transit that is more than adequate to fit the needs of those who are among the belittle income earners, if that doesn't work for you ride your bike. Second, you can room in subsidized housing, and long as you choose to live "Close-in" and in an area we determine - if not you must choose to live in areas like Cully, Lents, Parkrose, and Rockwood because that is where "Those" people spirited. As far as jobs go you must accept the fact that your "job" must be socially acceptable, and the jobs we attract specifically perform the collective social needs of the city, not necessarily those of the individual, so you must embrace being in reduced circumstances, ride Mass Transit, or your bike, live in subsidized housing, and hey it in reality isn't OUR problem - if you don't like it leave - that is the Message of Our City, and State. My advise is that you Daughter and her Boyfriend want to move away to a city & state that values the individual, with more opportunity, and less micromanagement by the electorate, and authorities.
Source: OregonLive.com
With thoroughgoing student loan indebtedness topping $1 trillion and outpacing total faith card or auto loan debt, many are talking about the "bubble" in college financing. Any loan is a bad loan and students who take them out will in time be trapped in
