December 2004  Email this  Print this
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TRENDS
High School ABCs: AP, SAT, ATM
by Katy Marquardt
At Grossmont High near San Diego, school administrators were tired of getting stuck with bounced checks for prom tickets, athletic events and yearbooks. So last year they switched to a cash-only policy and installed an ATM several feet from the school's financial office. Now it's less of a hassle to get kids to pay their bills, school officials say, and students have easy access to cash for school-sponsored events, such as dances and football games. There's a transaction fee of $1.50, which the school uses to recoup the cost of the machine. According to a survey by Teenage Research Unlimited, 6% of students ages 12 to 19 had access to cash machines in their schools last year. And 17% have their own ATM or debit cards, up from 12% three years ago. For both parents and kids, convenience outweighs concerns about the risk of theft. To discourage vandalism, Grossmont's ATM is emptied and turned off at the end of each school day.
Jefferson High School, a magnet school in Tampa, not only has an ATM but also operates its own student-run branch of a credit union. Students can open an account with as little as $5, and they don't pay anything to get money out of the ATM. Assistant principal Caryl Menendez says several hundred students have opened accounts and use the cash machine regularly -- especially at lunchtime. |
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