ACMG Federal Credit Union in Solvay, N.Y., recently gave 43seniors at Solvay High School a taste of the real world through MadCity Money, a two-hour financial education simulation created byCUNA. More than 250 credit unions have hosted the event since itsgenesis in 2007.

At Solvay, each student received an identity and scenario, suchas a newspaper editor with $400 in credit card debt, a $2,300monthly salary and a two-year-old child. Students then visitedmerchants role-played by volunteers from the community and wrotechecks to purchase housing, transportation, food and other needs.Their challenge was to survive for one month in their new roles bybalancing both their budgets and their checkbooks, ending thesimulation with no more than $100 in their checking accounts.

For the past few years, ACMG FCU has been providing financialeducation classes to senior economics classes at Solvay with thehelp of Thom Dellwo, financial education coordinator at CooperativeFederal Credit Union in Syracuse, N.Y. After hearing a descriptionof Mad City Money from Wendy Wheelock, director of marketing atACMG, economics teacher Karen Harmon met with Solvay's principaland arranged for all four senior economics classes to take part inthe program by declaring it an in-school field trip.

“I feel that it is extremely important for teens in high schoolto get a basic understanding of budgeting their money and moreimportantly saving for their future,” said Harmon, who played therole of city policeman during the simulation.

Dellwo, who facilitated Mad City Money at Solvay, explained thatthe event is a low-cost, manageable alternative to an in-schoolbranch, which can be a lot for a school to take on.

“Mad City Money does a good job of making it simple enough [forthe students] that you get the instructions and go, but it'srealistic enough that if you mess around and don't stop to seewhere you're at, you get in trouble, just like in real life,” hesaid.

And just like in real life, the merchants in Mad City try topressure participants into making purchases they don't really need.For example, said Wheelock of ACMG FCU, one of the localbusinessmen running the auto store table “took his role to the nextlevel” and tried to up sell the students on extended repairwarranties when they purchased a new car. Wheelock said he randomlyquoted them an additional amount and had them add it to theirmonthly car payment when they wrote out their checks.

“It was about 45 minutes into the event before one girl lookedhim in the eye and told him she didn't need one because it saidright in the fine print that a warranty was included,” she said.“We made sure to recognize her at the debrief, but continued to lethim try and trick the kids since that is a great example of thetypical pressure they would experience out on their own.”

Wheelock said the most common mistake students made wasforgetting to accurately record their spending. “Those who failedto consistently record the checks they had written in theirregisters had the most problems and needed help pulling thatinformation from their budget workbooks and then getting back ontrack,” she explained. The place to go for that help was the creditunion's office in Mad City, where loan officer Janet Grant andmember services specialist Sarah Terrell answered questions andoffered guidance.

The credit union fielded the most questions at the end of thesimulation, when students had to finish with no more than $100 intheir checking accounts and wanted advice on whether to pay downdebt, put extra money in their retirement account or simply put itinto savings. “We tried not to make the decision for them and choseto describe the benefits of each choice,” Wheelock said. “It was alot to consider, but almost all made the decision on their own anddivided their money among the three.”

Harmon, the economics teacher, said Mad City Money supplementswhat students learn in her class.

“I feel too many students leave high school without enoughfinancial education to be able to survive on their own,” she said.“After speaking with my students, I truly feel that they learnedsome valuable information that they will be able to use when theyleave high school.”

The students themselves agree. They filled out evaluation sheetsafter participating in the simulation, and their comments arealmost all positive. Their favorite parts of the event, they said,include “being given real life situations for budgeting” and “justbeing able to see how everything really works.” They also said themost important things they learned were to “make sure you don'tlive above your means” and “don't buy what you can't pay for.”

The survey of the 43 students, who are all eligible to join ACMGFCU, also found that 93% thought Mad City Money was a fun way topractice making decisions about money and budgeting, 88% felt moreconfident in their ability to manage money successfully, 90% wouldrecommend the activity to a friend and 95% consider the creditunion a good place to go for financial help.

Asked if she thought students would join the credit union as aresult of their Mad City Money experience, Wheelock said,“Obviously, we would love to see that happen, but more importantlyI believe they learned what to look for in a financial institution.You want someone who offers the products and services you needtoday and helps you grow to reach your future financial goals. It'sour purpose as a credit union and I believe that most of thestudents understand the importance of that now.”