Built by students, for students

Why we built it

The biggest financial decisions many of us will make — where to go to college and how to pay for it — happen at 17 or 18, often before anyone has explained how loans, interest, or a paycheck actually work. Centspire lets you try those decisions in a safe simulation, see what they cost, and learn the concepts behind them.

Centspire is our DECA Project Management – Financial Literacy project for 2026–27.

The team

How Centspire works

• Financial Life Simulator — a 10–15 minute journey through four chapters, from your first car and college offers to a phishing text and your first job. Every choice carries forward through one consistent money model.
• Financial Future Report — learning scores by topic (from your answers, not your in-game money), your Challenge Score and rewards, your most consequential decisions, and recommended lessons.
• Centspire Academy — 19 two-to-four-minute lessons in six pathways, including Scams & Digital Money and car loans, each with an example, an interactive activity, and questions with explanations.
• Money Missions and Money Tools — short practice scenarios and calculators that explain their results.

Rewards and Challenge Score

• Each simulator decision earns up to 1,000 Challenge points for choices that keep cost, debt, and risk low. Paths have 13–18 decisions, so your total is scaled to 13 decisions (out of 13,000) to keep it fair.
• Rewards come with a claim code on your report. Show it at the Centspire table; our team checks each code once. One reward of each kind per student, while supplies last. Rewards are offered by the Centspire student team, not by DECA or any company named.
• Points measure money choices in this game only. Real life has tradeoffs a score can’t see.

Privacy

• No account, name, email, or school ID is needed to use Centspire.
• Your progress is saved in your browser. You can reset it anytime from My Progress.
• Optional save code: your progress (no name or email) is stored under a random code. Anyone with the code can load it, so keep it private.
• To measure whether Centspire works, the site may record anonymous events — a random code, which pages and lessons were completed, and quiz scores. No written comments are collected.
• If our team connects a database, it is set up so the public website can only add anonymous events. Nobody can browse individual records through the site; our team dashboard only shows totals and averages.

Accuracy and sources

Figures such as federal loan rates, loan limits, tax brackets, and payroll taxes come from official sources and were current for the 2026–27 school year. Colleges, jobs, prices, and offers in the simulator are hypothetical examples for learning. Calculations use standard formulas and are checked by automated tests.

Centspire is an educational tool, not financial, tax, or legal advice. Talk to a school counselor, financial aid office, or qualified professional about your own situation.