On his way to a college class one morning, he decided to stop at a coffee kiosk to buy a fancy cup of Joe, a latte, along with a baked good for a snack.
The bill came to a little more than $7, he told the students, ages 14 to 19, who on Wednesday had gathered in the credit union's community room for a financial literacy workshop, Mad City Money.
What he learned later, to his disappointment, he recalled, was that there was not enough money in his account when he swiped his debit card to pay the bill. With overdraft fees, the cup of coffee and snack came to more than $25 with the assessment.
He learned his lesson, he recalled, an important one for young people who are trying to make ends meet as they enter the adult world of college or the workplace after graduation from high school.
Alarcon's painful lesson in overdraft fees was just one made during the 3 1/2-hour workshop, the first of three sponsored by TCU this summer. The others are slated for July 16 and 30, as the credit union begins its fifth year of Mad City Money sponsorship.
Basically a series of lessons in money management — creating a budget and sticking to it, using credit and debit cards, writing checks and balancing a checkbook, among others — the program attracts teens who want to learn practical ins and out of financial basics.
After introductions by workshop facilitator Maria Moses, the lessons got underway, including one about the differences between a bank and a credit union.
Alarcon noted that credit union members own the institution, but banks are owned by investors and stockholders. At TCU, for example, profits are folded back into the nonprofit company in the form of reduced fees, among other things, whereas profits are shared among stockholders or the corporation at a for-profit banking institution, he pointed out. Banks are run by a paid board of directors, but TCU's are volunteers, he added.
The second lesson was about checking account basics, from learning how to fill out a check, filing out the register, and endorsing a check.
Jade McGanty of Vacaville, 17, who will be a senior at Vacaville High in the fall, volunteered to complete filling out an oversized check on an easel on the room's stage. Moses, TCU's financial education officer, guided her through the steps.
Seated at a nearby table, Luisa Sanabria, 14, who will be a freshman at Vacaville High in the fall, watched McGanty closely and later filled out a simulated check of her own, entering the amount in the register, making a notation in the memo field, and signing her name in the lower right. It was the first time she had filled out a check, simulated or otherwise.
"Do I write my signature in cursive (script)?" she asked a visitor seated next to her at the workshop.
"Always," he replied.
Checking basics were followed by a humorous "Cosby Show" video excerpt called "Theo and Money," and a hands-on simulation in which students assumed an "identity," complete with occupation (personal trainer, computer analyst, hair stylist, custodian, for example), salary, spouse's salary, a list of bills and children to support. It was all about putting arithmetic to use and perhaps, one day, keeping them out of financial hot water.
Several area merchants and organizations, from real estate agents and educators to computer repair techs and car dealers, participated in the workshop.
Sherry Cordonnier, director of corporate relations at the nonprofit institution's main offices at 1 Travis Way in Vacaville, said a nearly four-hour presentation on budgeting would bore the average teen, but, she added, the simulation gives them a taste of real-life circumstances to come in the not-too-distant future.
Midway through the workshop, McGanty said the primary takeaway was "how to write a check properly and fill out the register."
Of the "Cosby Show" video, she said it was a basic lesson in budgeting.
For Sanabria, who attended as part of a contingent from the Vacaville Boys & girls Club, a key lesson was "making sure you have enough money in your account," to avoid hefty overdraft fees.
An incoming junior at Vacaville High, Sam Greenberg, 17, said he will remember the importance of maintaining "a good credit score."
The workshops come this year as news about college students graduating with massive student-loan debt loads has been the subject of in-depth reports in print, on the air and online.
"The major reason they drop out of college is, that they don't know how to manage money," said Cordonnier.rbammer@thereporter.com @REBammer on Twitter
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