By Caley Sanguigni, Moon News Cloud Contributor

Moon High-School held its first financial reality game involving both students and faculty last Wedensday.  In conjunction with Clearview Credit Union and WestAirComm Credit Union, the game gave students a dose of real life.

The reality game involved all 11th and 12th grade students enrolled in a social studies class at the high-school. Diane Hardman, the coordinator behind Moon high-school’s reality game, explained that these students would be “most impacted by the experience.”

Clearview and WestAirComm federal credit unions have been involved in similar budgeting games. Mary Ann Demczak, a certified educator in personal finance for Clearview, describes the games as “a real world experience for students. It gives them the opportunity to understand finance without them out there spending their money making bad choices.”

The game begins by each students choosing the career of their choice. They then estimate the average cost of student loans for the university of their choice. They are then given the estimated total of their monthly student loans and their average monthly salary for their chosen career.

Once the students are set up with their monthly income they must choose from a variety of living options.  With everything from car payments, clothing choices, cell phone plans, and living arrangements students get a wake-up call to the price of the real world.

The true test of real life is the “Wheel of Life”.  Each student spins the wheel resulting in either something to pay or something to receive.  With $250 for a broken cell phone on the wheel, it realistically shows students how financial dilemmas can easily occur.

These budgeting games began in Harrisburg under the Pennsylvania Credit Union Association.  Pennsylvania does not require financial aid training at a high-school level; however, the budgeting experience is becoming more popular across the state.

The Pennsylvania Credit Union Association will host its second annual reality fair on Oct. 16.  It will involve 17 different schools from across Pennsylvania.