Buy or Lease Car Budget: High School Financial Literacy Budget Project

If you need a new and engaging financial literacy project for your class- check this out! Your high school students in 9th, 10th, 11th, or 12th grade can research buying or leasing a car and create their own personalized Car Budget.

This project includes simple & realistic spreadsheets along with written reflection questions that help students consider all of the expenses of having access to a car!

Classes to Use With: This project can be used with your high school students in several classes

• Family & Consumer Sciences

• Financial Literacy

• Applied Math or Consumer Math

• Career & Personal Planning

• High School Life Skills (where appropriate)

How to Use:

1. Print a three-page car budget project that includes spreadsheets & reflection questions for each student.

2. Teach a quick lesson about the 3 ways to pay for a car: saving up over time to buy it, securing a loan to buy it, or leasing it and not buying it.

3. Let students work in pairs or small groups to research key facts for each of the 3 ways to pay for a car. They will research real cars for sale in their area and calculate how many months it would take to save up for one of them, they will use a loan calculator online to see what payments will be, and they will look for local lease options in their area.

4. Then they will consider all of the other car costs: insurance, repairs, gas, and parking before adding up a monthly grand total for having a car.

5. Make sure to go over the written reflection questions and give students time to think about them and answer them.

6. Facilitate a class discussion about car costs, the pros and cons of borrowing money for a car, and whether your students think they could use other methods of transportation instead.

What's Included: A 4-Page PDF that is ready to print and use!

1. Teacher Instructions

2. Complete 2-Page Car Budget Worksheet with Spreadsheets

3. Reflection Questions

If you enjoy this financial literacy and budget activity, check out others in my store:

1. Camping Budget

2. Household Budget

3. Grocery Shopping Budget

4. Vacation Budget

5. Wedding Budget