A Real Life Lesson in Economics

I recently surveyed my 12th grade economics students and asked them what was the most important thing that they learned from my class. Close to 90% referenced budgeting and the cost of living on their own. In order to teach them this, I have them complete an Independent Living Project.

The first task is to look up a career on salary.com and find out the starting salary. They then find a paycheck calculator and figure out how much they get per month after taxes. They then have to find a place to live, a mode of transportation, plan a weeks worth of groceries and plan for monthly expenses such as toiletries, pets, clothing, gas, utilities, entertainment, insurance and miscellaneous. Savings is part of their required budget as well, in the form of vacation, regular savings and retirement. I ask them to think about what type of furniture they would like and how they would decorate their place. They take all of this research and create a monthly budget based on their salaries. The reflection piece is always the most valuable. 

I have had countless students thank me for assigning this project. While time consuming (I devote an entire week to the computer lab), it is a wake up call for most in how much it costs, what their parents have done for them and how important further education or training is to getting a good career.