BECU plans to shut down for part of a day in October to send 1,300 employees to lead Financial Reality Fairs in high schools across Washington.
The credit union is calling the initiative ‘Closing for Good’ and it aims to give students real life budgeting decisions people face every day. Its part of the community involvement planned for BECU’s 80th annivesary celebration.
During the workshops, students will participate in a hands-on financial role play simulation. Students are assigned a career and starting salary, then must make decisions about housing, utilities, food, transportation and other expenses.
Recent studies indicate that American teens lag behind in financial literacy. A 2014 survey of 40,000 college students by EverFi showed 31 percent of students surveyed believe it’s better to have something now and pay for it later and 50 percent think it’s okay to incur a bank overdraft fee if they plan to have funds to make up for it.
All 42 of the nonprofit’s will be closed for the first part of the day on Oct. 20* until 1 p.m. Employees will be given paid voluteer time off. BECU call centers, ATMs and other supporting services will remain online during the event.
Schools interested in participating in Closing for Good can visit www.becu.org/ClosingForGood for more details. BECU will provide additional information to members as the event approaches.
* Correction, April 15, 2015: An earlier version of this story contained a wrong date for the closure.
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