This week, seniors at New Hampton participated in an Adulting 101 day sponsored by Iowa BIG North. Seniors worked through a month in the life of a 28 year old, based on their future plans. Students completed surveys earlier in the term where they made personal lifestyle choices and also listed their post-secondary plans.
Seniors began the day on campus and quickly hit the streets for appointments with banks, realtors, insurance agents and financial planners. Groups were created based on career clusters so students travelled with groups of 3-6 throughout the community.
As part of the experience, all students made a stop in the Iowa BIG North office to work with staff from the school and community on balancing budgets, adding up their grocery lists, and setting up payment plans for auto, home and college loans.
Through discussion around debt, credit scores and wrinkles that were randomly drawn, students came to realize that they needed to make some financial adjustments. The most commonly heard response in working through budgets was, "I am not going to have enough money." Through this process, students were able to make some calculated decisions about items that could go and items that had to stay in their budgets.
Although there were a few tears about how to balance children, lifestyles, unexpected fees and bills that students were not sure of yet, the day is alway productive in giving a snapshot of what may be waiting for them. Some will make adjustments now knowing what they want in ten years and some were able to start making those changes starting today. A big thank you to IBN students and staff as well as our multiple business partners who worked with nearly 100 students during the day. We look forward to continuing to grow this event.
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