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The enhancements made to the program this year are some of the biggest improvements we've ever made to the program.

For many years we have called ourselves the Road Test for Personal-Finance, but this year we actually outline six key skills that a student must perform in order to demonstrate financial capability. Teaching financial capability has never been done before, all other programs only teach knowledge. So now, the Budget Challenge Road Test works exactly like the road test for getting a driver’s license. Just like we never want to see a teen getting a driver’s license before they can demonstrate the safe operation of a vehicle, students now have a set of skills that they will need to demonstrate to show they can manage their personal finances.

So what are these skills? Well, they are the same skills that most adults struggle with, and if mastered sooner, will certainly improve the quality of life of many students for many years. The key skills are:

• Establish an emergency fund
• Pay bills on time
• Pay off a credit card
• Protect credit health
• Save for retirement
• Pay down student loan debt

Students will also earn trophies for demonstrating a skill and achieving each goal. This is showing to improve student engagement. Each individual goal is relatively simple, however, since this simulation has structured them to have the same interconnectedness as you see in life, student gain a deep appreciation of the nature of financial trade-offs and how budgets are essential to balancing often-times competing goals.

There are several other enhancements new for this year that I'm excited to share with you.

The student dashboard has been reorganized to have more information in one place, reducing the number of pages students need to head to check account balances and pay bills.

The teacher dashboard has similar reorganization improvements and has much more information about the class all in one place.

Our curriculum and assessments have been improved with the help of an educational consultant and they are now presented in such a way that they work for both teacher-driven and self-guided students. The curriculum is included at no additional cost to all simulations and teachers can elect to use it or curriculum from another source.

It's also worth mentioning that we continue to be the only program that shows students how to avoid real-world mistakes and costly fees before they venture out into the real world (with real money). This lays the foundation for why an investment in Budget Challenge is a sound one with a positive ROI. If each student only avoids one ODP charge at the bank, then Budget Challenge more than pays for itself.

 

Budget Challenge® is a personal finance simulation and integrated curriculum played as a competition over ten weeks. Students receive paychecks and bills in real time and are challenged to build a budget that allows them to pay their bills on time, manage their credit card balance, and save money for retirement in a 401(k). The simulation does not use real money but is extremely realistic including features such as online bill pay, direct deposit, email bill alerts, 401(k) paycheck deductions, late fees, utilization penalties and more.

Our program includes units on the following topics:

• Banking
• Payroll
• Retirement Investing
• Insurance
• Healthcare
• Building Credit
• Credit Cards
• Data Protection
• Investments
• Personal Income Taxes and Forms
• Loans/Debt
• Student Loan

Teachers that register after December 2, 2018 are automatically entered in the weekly giveaway at sign up (unless they unchecked the box for the contest at the bottom of the sign up form). Returning teachers and teachers that registered prior to December 2, 2018 can enter the giveaway by updating their profile at Teacher Home>Your Profile.

View the Giveaway Terms and Conditions.

Using a promo code is easy. Just enter the promo code on the "Create a Class" form at Teacher Home>Create a Class. Whether you are paying for the students to play or if the students are paying individually, the price is set at the class level and discounted to the promotional rate.

Registration is easy. You can register by clicking the "Register Today" button above, or go to Sign Up. Fill in the simple form. Once you have created your Budget Challenge account you can create a class for the challenge year. 

Budget Challenge has flexible payment options. Teachers can choose for the class to be either Student Pay or Invoiced to the School.

After you sign up for a teacher account navigate to Teacher Home>Create a Class and provide the information requested to select your school.  

To have the school invoiced. Watch Video

1. Request a Quote
2. Select “Invoice the School”.  Then click “Request Quote”, complete the form and click submit. You will receive a quote via email within one business day.  Return the authorized quote with a signature (email or fax).  Within one business day of receiving the signed quote, you will be notified via email that your class has been identified as “invoiced” and you can now create your class. 

 
1. Select “Student Pay”. 
 
2. Then click “Create a Class” and acknowledge each student will be paying $25 when registering. 
  
3. Then select the simulation dates, complete the form, and click “Submit”.

New Teachers – Click here to Pre-Register and "Save your Spot" for the 2016-2017 simulations.

Returning Teachers – (Teachers who played in the 2015-2016 school year)
Click here or go to hrblock.budgetchallenge.com/SaveMySpot.aspx and login using your username and password from the 2015-2016 school year and click "Save My Spot".

The program is student driven and therefore can be used as part of a course (ex: personal finance, business management, etc.) or a standalone program as part of a first-year experience, a program offered by the financial aid department, or another campus organization (student government, Greek organization, etc.). The teacher/professor’s only commitment is to provide the class code to students for registration. Once a student creates an account and the account is paid for (see “How do you pay for Budget Challenge®” above for details on payment options) they have direct access to the game and the curriculum. Teachers have access to the curriculum, assessments, and individual student scores, but are not responsible for delivering the material.

The teacher/professor’s only commitment is to provide the class code to students for registration. Once a student creates an account and the account is paid for (see “How do you pay for Budget Challenge” above for details on payment options) they have direct access to the game and the curriculum. Teachers have access to the curriculum, assessments, and student scoring, but are not responsible for delivering the material.

When registration officially opens, we will contact you via email with a link to the Create a Class page where you can login with your username and password and create your classes.

Our program even includes a free mobile app as an option for students who want to pay bills with their mobile phones or other devices. The mobile app is provided for both iOS and Android devices. Students can access the app by clicking on Bank>Bill Payer App once logged into budgetchallenge.com or by going to the App Store or Google play and searching "Budget Challenge®".