Origio EDUNOVAFinancial education for pupils and students: why it matters and how it's actually learned
Year after year, Romania ranks near the bottom of Europe for financial literacy. Not because young people are unable to understand money, but because no one talks to them about it in time, in their own language and with examples from their real lives. Financial education is not an abstract subject: it is the difference between a young person who enters adulthood with a plan and one who starts from scratch through trial and error - often a costly error.
What is financial education?
Financial education means far more than knowing what a card or an interest rate is. It means being able to make informed decisions about money: how you earn it, how you spend it, how you save it and how you make it work for you. For a high-school student, that translates into very concrete questions: is my pocket money enough? Should I buy this phone now or wait? How do I set aside money for something I truly want?
Financial literacy is built exactly like reading or swimming: through practice, not theory. That is why a course where someone dictates definitions does not shape behavior, whereas a workshop where teams of pupils build their own budget, negotiate priorities and defend their decisions in front of the class does.
Why pupils and students need financial education now
The first habits around money form early and are hard to change. A teenager who learns at 16 to tell needs from wants will make better decisions at 26, when the stakes become rent, loan installments and a first salary. Without this foundation, many young people only learn about money once mistakes already cost them: impulsive loans, unsustainable spending, zero savings.
For students the stakes are even more concrete. The first income, the first monthly budget managed entirely on their own, the first big decisions. A future doctor, for example, enters residency with an exhausting schedule and an income that must be managed wisely - and medical school has no time to teach that. This is exactly where applied financial education programs come in.
Personal budgeting: needs vs. wants, the first lesson that changes everything
If we had to choose a single lesson for every young person to leave a financial education workshop with, it would be the difference between needs and wants. It sounds simple, but it is the foundation of any personal budget: needs are the things you cannot function without (food, transport, school supplies), wants are the things that make life more pleasant but can wait or be planned for.
In our workshops, pupils work in teams on the budget pyramid: they receive a fictional income, a list of possible expenses and must decide together what makes the budget and what does not. The debates that arise - "but is a gym membership a need or a want?" - are exactly where learning happens. There are no perfect answers, only better reasoning.
What an Origio EDUNOVA financial education workshop looks like
We have delivered financial education and soft-skills workshops for hundreds of pupils and students aged 6 to 26: at the „Nicolae Kretzulescu” Economic College in Bucharest, at the „Traian Lalescu” Theoretical High School in Brănești, at the secondary school in Tortoman, for children in the Metropolis Foundation's programs and for students at the „Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy. Each group gets the same thing in different forms: applied exercises, financial-life simulations, decisions under pressure and plenty of teamwork.
The format is always interactive: teams, games, presentations in front of peers, feedback. We do not lecture from the front of the room - we build situations in which pupils reach conclusions on their own. Because a conclusion you reached yourself stays with you long after the workshop is over.
How to bring financial education to your school or organization
If you are a teacher, a head teacher, a parent or a student-association leader and you want an applied financial education program for your community, you can write to us directly at mihnea.constantin@origioedunova.com. We work on the basis of partnership agreements with schools, high schools, universities and foundations, and the programs adapt to the age and reality of the participants.
And if you want to support this kind of education at no cost to you, you can redirect 3.5% of your income tax to the Origio EDUNOVA Association. Every form means more workshops, in more schools, for more young people.