Students will launch the budgeting investigation by making first-round survival choices, translating those choices into an initial monthly equation, and using early peer critique to identify cost, risk, and revision questions that will guide the next phase.

Students will investigate how surprise financial shocks change the strength of different budget choices, then turn that uncertainty into a focused investigable question and a testable hypothesis about which combinations of job, housing, transportation, and subscriptions best protect long-term savings.

Students will refine how they will investigate a survival budget by drafting linear equation structures, testing assumptions about roommates and commute choices, peer-reviewing their method, and recording traceable cost data in a budget-sheet format they can analyze in the next phase.

Students will analyze their budget models with tables and graphs, test how curveball costs affect long-term viability, critique one another’s draft conclusions, and revise their evidence-based claims for the final showcase portfolio.

Students will present and defend their completed budget portfolios at the Survival Savings Showcase, gather visitor feedback on which choices best balance needs, wants, and long-term savings, and complete a brief exit interview comparing their first and final decisions with evidence from equations, tables, graphs, and curveball responses.