The Student Government Associate and Listerhill Credit Union partnered to bring “The Game of Life” to the Commons Nov. 2.

The event let students select a fictional career and salary, while picking additional life expenses such a home, car and entertainment. Students had to budget to figure out how much they would spend on each.

One hundred fifteen students played the game last year, and within the first hour, this year’s event saw 34 students.

Listerhill wanted to get involved to support financial literacy, said Tosha-Paige Brewer, marketing project manager at the Muscle Shoals Listerhill branch.

“We found that most students coming out of high school don’t have any form of financial literacy in the high school, so we thought, ‘Why not bring this event to teach about budgeting?’” Brewer said.

After playing the game, sophomore Micah Hinton and freshman Kalli Slay said they plan to budget in the future.

“It taught me a lot about my spending habits because I (had a negative income),” Hinton said. “I saw entertainment as more important.”

Slay experienced a similar situation.

“You might not be able to do things you want all the time on a budget, like go to a concert,” she said. “I picked that (during the game), and I was down the hole $900.”

Overall, SGA Senator Suzanne Berry said the event was a success.

“You can take away anything from this,” she said. “It’s really cool because it gives people a different perspective of how they’re spending their money and where it’s going.”

Brewer said she hopes to bring the event again next year.