HARRISBURG, Penn.–Students at the Harrisburg Campus of HACC, Central Pennsylvania’s Community College, participated in a hands-on financial management and personal budgeting Financial Reality Fair. Sponsored by PSECU, the free financial education event was held in the lobby of the Bruce E. Cooper Student Center.
“At PSECU, we’re proud of the work we do to help educate and prepare students for a strong financial future. A major component of those efforts is our Financial Education Center presence on 24 college and university campuses around Pennsylvania – the very first of which was founded at HACC in 2000,” said PSECU President Greg Smith. “We’ve always found HACC to be an excellent partner in offering high quality, useful financial education and skill-building opportunities to students.”
With the help of volunteers from PSECU and HACC, the Financial Reality Fair was designed to be a highly interactive experience for student participants. Students receive a budgeting worksheet with salary information based on intended career and level of education. Students then visited a series of booths to learn about and make choices pertaining to living expenses, from entertainment to insurance. To end the activity with a balanced budget, students were encouraged to revisit each booth as many times as needed.
PSECU last hosted a Financial Reality Fair at the Harrisburg Campus of HACC in September 2017. A total of 212 students took part in the event. Of those participants, 160 were surveyed about their experience. They were asked about skills they acquired, thoroughness and clarity of information provided, and likelihood of event recommendation to peers. The survey results were overwhelmingly positive with each question receiving an average score of 4.6 or higher out of a maximum score of 5.
“For students to realize their full potential after graduation, it is important that they have a solid understanding of the financial environment they’ll be entering, and that’s just what a Financial Reality Fair provides,” said Mike Verotsky, Director of University Development for PSECU and proud HACC alum. “Following credit unions’ ‘people helping people’ philosophy, we at PSECU are proud to have the opportunity to sponsor the Financial Reality Fair and help impart that education to Pennsylvania’s students.”