In a recent survey by the Junior Achievement USA in collaboration with Citizens Bank, more than half of U.S. teens say they “feel unprepared to finance their futures,” and 41% stated that financial literacy classes were not available at their school. Additionally, the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service Needs Assessment Survey reported that “youth life skill training opportunities” were a top five priority for Greenup County Youth.

To address this issue, a collaboration between Greenup County CES and school staff implemented the Dollars and Sense Program for all 3^rd grade students at Greysbranch Elementary.

Prior to the event, students gained knowledge in three lessons presented by CES covering concepts such as needs verses wants, budgeting, and goal setting.  To put the lessons into perspective, the students attended the simulation event, “Dollars and Sense”. The students were given a budget of $200 to visit all 15 stations and complete the scenarios or tasks at each station. Once the simulation was completed, students had to review their transaction log, evaluate their expenses and determine their remaining balance.  

After the program reactions included how surprised that how limited they were on a $200 budget. In a post program survey, 93% of participants reported that they will sometimes or always consider the cost of an item before purchasing it. While 86% of participants  will plan to budget before making a purchase after participating in the program.