As an Ivy Tech student, you are making an investment in your education. This project will look at how that investment will pay off if you
graduate and get a job in your desired field.
Assume that the median annual income for a high school graduate is $25,000. This is the value that you will be comparing your expected
salary and lifestyle to in the following areas:
1) Income Comparison: Research your expected income after you graduate college. Assume you obtain whatever level of education needed
to enter your desired area of employment and that you will have a salary equivalent to the annual Median salary found at:
http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_in.htm#27-0000*You will need to click on your desired career in order to see the Annual Median wage.
• In Excel compare annual and monthly salaries. Find absolute and relative change between High School and College salaries. (Use
the High School income as the old value.)
• Your reflection paper should explain what your desired area of employment is and what the median annual salary for that position
is.
• Your reflection paper should contain at least one statement comparing your expected salary with that of the median income of a
high school graduate using the terms absolute and relative change.
2) Housing Comparison: Assume that you and your high school graduate counterpart plan to spend 25% of your gross income on house
payments. Look up the current fixed rate APR for mortgages.
• In Excel use = PV function to determine the largest value of a house that each of you can afford under those conditions.
• Your reflection paper should contain at least one statement comparing the value of the house that a high school graduate can
afford and that you expect to be able to afford using absolute and relative change terms.
• Explain in your reflection paper what Excel function was used for these calculations. Cite what source you used to find mortgage
rates.
• Research housing costs in an area where you would like to live.Will your future salary allow you to afford the house you want? How
much more or less must you spend to get the house you want? Cite what source you used to find housing costs.
• Reflect on the values you found. Do these values meet your needs and expectations, or should you consider other housing options?
3) Raises: The high school graduate’s income is not expected to increase over the next four years, but assume that your field will
guarantee you a 2.5% raise on your annual salary each year for the next four years. Determine what your new annual salary will be given
thesefour years of raises.
• Using this new income, in Excel recalculate the mortgage from part 2.
• Your reflection paper should contain at least one statement comparing your initial salary with the salary after 4 years of raises
using absolute and relative change terms.
• Your paper should explain how you determined the increased salary.
• Your paper should address how your increased salary might impact your mortgage value.
Project Checklist:
• Explanation of career choice and the salary for this career.
• Comparison of your expected salary vs.ahs graduate.
• Comparison of house you could afford with expected salary vs. hs grad.
• Explanation of how house value was determined.
• Reflection on the housing costs and actual house values.
• Comparison of starting salary to salary after 4 years of raises.
• Explanation of how increased salary is determined.
• Discussion of how the increased salary might affect mortgage value. Including specific quantities.
• Paper should be elegant and coherent with a logical organization.
• Paper should be free of grammatical and mechanical errors.
• Paper must contain some relative change statements.
• Paper should be submitted via Blackboard on time.
In addition to addressing the statements above, your project should:
• Contain your name, course name and project name. (Ashley Martin, Math 123, Financialproj.)
• Be well organized and easy to follow.
• The paper should be in paragraph form (not just bulleted answers!).
• Be clear to by someone who is not familiar with the project.
• Provide support for your statements e.g. explain how values were found.
• Give specific values (i. e. quantify statements).
• Use appropriate representations (tables, color, formatting) that helps the reader understand the project.
• Contain a variety of comparison statements, including the use of relative change sentences.
• Project should be your original work, copying someone else’s work is cheating, sharing your work with someone else is cheating.