Charles City seniors get a lesson in ‘Adulting 101’

By James Grob, jgrob@charlescitypress.com

Sam Niichel found out on Wednesday that he couldn’t get a home loan.

Even though he could afford it, his credit just wasn’t good enough.

It was one of the many lessons Niichel and other Charles City High School seniors learned as a part “Adulting 101.”

For the day, the senior class was broken into small groups. Each student received a profile of his or her life: age and marital status, career, children’s ages, occupation, taxes, income, student loan amount and more, which they referenced while attempting many of the activities they might encounter as adults.

Several local businesses and institutions — banks, real estate offices, insurance agencies, and many others — were involved.

It’s part of an Iowa BIG North curriculum where students and businesses work together to give students authentic experiences. This is the second year of the Adulting 101 class, and more has been added to the curriculum.

Students were sent out into the community with their starting job’s first pay stub and told to see a real estate agent to buy house, see a car salesperson to buy car, visit with an insurance agent, and shop to feed their family. Essentially, the students experienced one month of adult life in one day.

A few wrinkles were thrown in as well. Some students found out they had emergency expenses to take care of, such as a major appliance breaking down and needing repair, some unexpected medical costs and even fines issued for violations of the law.

All things you might have to deal with as an adult.

It was all fictional, of course, but for Niichel, being told he couldn’t buy a house, even though he could afford it, was an eye-opener.

“I didn’t realize how important your credit score is,” said Niichel, who seemed frustrated that because of his credit rating he would now have to rent a home.

“He can afford to buy a house, but because he didn’t manage his credit well, he was denied a loan,” said Kim Schlader, mortgage loan officer at First Security Bank, who was educating a group of students about how to establish good credit, and about the advantages of doing so.

“I think the biggest thing is for them to understand the importance of their credit score, and how it goes with them as they grow older — when they’re getting insurance, and buying houses, and buying cars, and things like that — and just managing their credit in a positive manner,” Schlader said.

Niichel’s classmate Dylan Salinas had managed his credit better, but found out he had other problems to deal with.

“Dylan, on the other hand, had a higher debt ratio than what Sam had, but Dylan was able to get a loan,” said Schlader.

For Salinas, however, getting the loan was just a small victory. He discovered he wasn’t going to be able to make his payments, because of expenses like day care, pets and “not having a wife” with a supplemental income to help him with day-to-day costs.

“I could afford to buy the house, but I couldn’t afford to live an everyday life in the house,” Salinas said. “I’ve learned how to build good credit. I’ve learned how important it is to build credit and keep to a budget.”