The roots of this project can be traced back to the period 2007-2008, when it was set up under the name 'Personal Financial Management'. At that time, the increasing number of Dutch students getting into debt reached the news many times. Ambiguity regarding the student's financial obligations and the irresponsible spending behavior that many students have, appeared to be the main reasons. When high school students are going to study at a university, they'll encounter additional (often unforeseen) financial obligations, making them lose the overview of their income and expenditures. Therefore, to address this issue, former SIFE members set up this project.

Together with a new approach, focused on improvement and expansion, a new name was given to the project: "Find Your Balance". This new name refers to the well-known balance sheet, which gives a clear overview of an organization's assets, liabilities and equity. Adapting the essentials of the balance sheet, the clear overview of a student's expected income and expenditures shall be the main tool to realize the goal of this project, which is to raise the level of financial literacy among students.

Rather than helping students that are in debt, we believe that focusing on the root cause of this problem is more effective, which is in line with the SIFE spirit. Our target group comprise of senior HAVO and VWO students in the Province of Groningen. The new approach includes an interactive workshop, that stimulates causal thinking. The students have to realize the possible consequences of their financial decisions, when they want to attain a clear overview of their financial situation. We have had several meetings with deans, GKB, DUO and our business advisor to discuss the issues, their perspectives and their view on how the workshop should take shape. After setting up a draft, more meetings took place to ensure that the design aligns with the desires of the schools and their students.

In the end, we gave two pilot workshops at HN Werkmancollege and Reitdiep College in the city of Groningen. Difference in the existing knowledge among the students could be noticed, as some students were well aware of the required insurances, while others seemed to hear the word ‘toeslagen’ for the first time. However, the design of the workshop allowed us to be quite flexible in adapting to this discrepancy during the workshop. At both high schools, it was very well-received and future participation of these high schools in our project is affirmed.

Overall, our goal is not to tell students not to borrow money, but to do it responsibly. Raising awareness on the financial situation of the average student remains to be our priority (just like the old approach). Our main future plans include increasing the scope of the project by setting up formal agreements with institutions like GKB Groningen, DUO, Nibud, and Platform Centiq. A sustainable network shall be developed to ensure the future of the project.

All in all, students have to realize that they not only have to find a new balance in their new lives, but in their wallets as well!