When Jada Rohn and Kayla Johnson arrived at Buchtel High School on Thursday morning, they were sophomores.
But for a few hours, they and about 100 other students were 25 years old and the sole breadwinner for their family, which included a child and a spouse or significant other who was a full-time student on scholarship.
They were part of Reality Check, a program run at Buchtel and several other Akron public schools for 11 years to let students see how financial decisions affect lives in the real world.
Students were assigned careers and salaries based on their real grade point averages and attendance record.
The students made their way to various tables, staffed by community volunteers — including the Akron Realtist Association, Junior Achievement and Torchbearers — to pay for groceries, utilities, housing, cars and other expenses. They could also seek out the entertainment and clothing tables, with low and high-end choices.
Friends Jada and Kayla had distinct differences from the beginning.
After first paying taxes to Uncle Sam, Jada, who had been given a career as an investigator/detective, had $1,295.94 in her monthly budget. Kayla had more with $2,355.84.
First up: housing.
With Kayla’s salary as a respiratory therapist, she could afford to buy a small house with a $433-per-month mortgage.
Jada told volunteer Jennifer Rodgers, a business development officer for Third Federal and Reality Check chairperson, she wanted the cheapest housing. But Rodgers told Jada that she didn’t make enough to buy a house. Jada waffled between a one-bedroom apartment for her whole family or a two-bedroom and went with the larger apartment. But it was a huge dent in her budget at $725. She was down to $560.94 for the month.
“I’m broke! I’m broke!” Jada told her friends.
“It’s not giving you a lot to eat with here,” Rodgers told Jada of her budget. “You know what you have to do? You have to get your GPA up.”
Jada nodded her head.
When the girls went to the next station — utilities — volunteer Sharon Butler-McCray asked Jada: “Why did you get such a big apartment?” She broke the news to Jada that she’d have to pay $300 in utilities. Her monthly budget was down to $260.94.
“Remember, you have to get food. You always take care of your needs first,” Butler-McCray said.
Kayla, whose budget was in much better shape at $1,562.54 after housing and utilities, told Jada they had to get groceries.
“I am going to get noodles and Kool-Aid packets,” Jada said.
Jada’s income qualified her for food assistance, so it cost her $103, compared with $750 for Kayla.
But with only $157.94 left for the month, Jada started to see the writing on the wall as she had many more expenses to address.
While Kayla bought a used car, Jada skipped the table with cars and bus passes, saying, “I know people so I’m planning to be getting some rides.”
Occasionally, Nick Harris, a school intervention specialist, would check in.
“Where’s your baby going to go? You need to get some daycare,” he told the girls.
Jada skipped the child-care table. “I’m moving in with my grandma,” she said.
By the time Kayla was at the medical insurance table, where Jada qualified for free coverage, Jada was done, even though she still needed to visit the furniture table, among others.
“I quit. I give up,” she said. “If I wasn’t an investigator, I’d have more money.”
They tried their luck at the “crystal ball” table. It worked for Kayla, who got a $200 tax refund, but an unexpected expense put Jada $60 more in the hole.
In the end, Kayla had $111.54 left, after getting clothes, a cellphone (she skipped cable TV), furniture, home insurance and a small bit for entertainment. She also got an extra job as a pet walker for $80.
Even with Jada agreeing to work weekends to pick up a house painting job for $150, she didn’t have enough and stopped.
Jada initially didn’t want to show her end budget to Harris, the school intervention specialist.
“For real, if my grades get better by the time I graduate, I can make more,” she said.
“Exactly,” said Harris. “That’s why I wanted you here.”
The exercise was “stressful,” but helpful, she said. “It makes me realize that this is really life.”
The Reality Check program hits home for students, said Buchtel guidance counselor Merle Buzzelli.
Kids usually don’t “connect how grades and attendance affect them in real life,” Buzzelli said. “Employers do look at attendance and transcripts” and grades transfer to salary potential.
Betty Lin-Fisher can be reached at 330-996-3724 or blinfisher@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her @blinfisherABJ on Twitter or www.facebook.com/BettyLinFisherABJ and see all her stories at www.ohio.com/betty