Real Money. Real World. (RMRW) is widely recognized as a high-quality learning opportunity for youth throughout the state. In 2023, nearly 13,000 youth participated in the Real Money. Real World. program and 1,025 adult volunteers were engaged in staffing the simulation booths (e.g., insurance company, bank, childcare facility, utility company). Of the sampling of 7,711 youth who completed the end of program evaluation, 69.4% reported a positive change in understanding deductions taken from paycheck; 82% reported a positive change in understanding the need to have a plan that includes both wants and needs; 81% reported a positive change in understanding their spending impacts other opportunities and choices they make in their lives; and 63% reported a positive change in understanding the costs to care for a child. A vast majority of the youth (94.8%) believe their participation in the Real Money. Real World. program will help them in the future. Because of OSU Extension professionals, RMRW has earned the respect of many financial institutions and state organizations outside Extension.
Delivering RMRW in your community requires the purchase and use of the RMRW kit. Only Extension is able to purchase the curriculum. Once the curriculum is secured, county Extension professionals work with schools and the community partners to provide RMRW. The curriculum includes an expanded Extension educator section that details how to get started, how to organize the three parts of RMRW, and how to publicize the program.
If you are new to RMRW, please check with surrounding counties to see if they provide RMRW and ask if you can visit with them and/or attend a spending simulation. Doing so will help you understand the scope of the program and prepare to conduct one in your county.
Although the comprehensive RMRW kit is only available to Extension professionals, the classroom teaching materials in the curriculum are in your digital files and can be duplicated for schoolteacher use. These materials include the teachers section of the curriculum as well as a series of PowerPoint slides for teaching all five lessons.
Data Entry
The importance of collecting completed participant surveys and entering the results into the online data collection system cannot be over-emphasized. Only data can support our claims that our programs make a difference. Establish a process to ensure your data is entered after every RMRW program. Data will be organized by calendar year, not school year, so be certain school representatives understand the importance of returning fall surveys prior to the end of December; and that they return surveys from spring programs prior to summer break.
Technical issues with the data base and data entry process questions should be directed to Debby Lewis (lewis.205@osu.edu).
Thank you for helping make Real Money. Real World. such a popular and well-recognized OSU Extension program. Its impacts are real, and you are a huge part of that success.