NGPF’s annual PAYBACK Challenge gives high school students across the country a chance to win a $2500 Grand Prize for their educational pursuits. NGPF is pleased to recognize the recipients of the 2022 contest. 

Congratulations to the National Grand Prize winners who each will receive a $2,500 scholarship from NGPF:

• Libby Kurt of Forest Hills Northern High School (Grand Rapids, MI)
• Rithvika Thunuguntla of Parkway Central High School (Chesterfield, MO)

In addition to these two National Grand Prize scholarship winners, 40 students were recognized as Honorable Mention Award recipients, with each receiving a $1,000 scholarship for educational pursuits. 

And as part of NGPF's commitment to increase access to financial education within communities serving majority Black or Hispanic students through the Financial Equity and Empowerment (FEE grant), another 12 awards were specifically granted to students from FEE grant districts.

Click here for a full list of scholarship winners.

Each student participating in the NGPF Payback Challenge played PAYBACK, an award-winning college simulation game, and then chose between writing an essay or creating a video in response to the following prompt:

Now that you’ve explored a college experience by playing PAYBACK, what did you learn from the game that you’ll be able to apply to your future experiences? Include relevant excerpts from the PAYBACK game to enhance your key points.

Submissions were evaluated based on creativity, clarity, and demonstration of an understanding of key concepts learned from playing PAYBACK. A big thank you to the thousands of students who participated and the nearly 1,000 teachers who nominated the best student essay from their classes.

Enjoy these submissions from each of the National Grand Prize Winners:

School isn’t cheap, so it makes sense that you want to graduate with as little debt as possible.

To minimize your debt, look for ways to reduce your tuition, such as scholarships, grants, and

work-study jobs.

Underestimating the price of college essentials is a huge mistake. You don’t need to buy the

most luxury items for your dorm room, stick to high-quality basics that will last.

Don’t forget about the other aspects of college. Your happiness, focus, and connections are

equally important as trying to reduce your student debt.

Engage with the people around you. Joining student clubs and volunteering are great ways to

make friends and boost your mental health.

Never lose focus on your academics. Spend time studying so that you can do your very best in

your classes and so you don’t have to retake them.

Time is valuable, so spend your free summers both relaxing and gaining experience through

summer jobs and internships.

Legitimate friends don’t need to spend a lot of money to have fun. You can have just as much

fun together on the cheap.

Offset your college expenses through working, just be sure that you still leave time for your

studies.

Apply for FAFSA every year you are in college!

Not taking time for yourself is a bad idea. While academics and friends are important, it’s crucial

to spend time focusing on your mental health.

Spend your time well. You won’t be in college forever, so be sure to have some fun!

-Libby Kurt of Forest Hills Northern High School (Grand Rapids, MI)

-Rithvika Thunuguntla of Parkway Central High School (Chesterfield, MO)

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PAYBACK has received Webby Awards for best Social Impact game and best Educational Game and has also been featured in the New York Times. It is a free game and one of the most popular in the NGPF Arcade.

About the Author

Hannah Rael

As NGPF's Marketing Communications Manager, Hannah (she/her) helps spread the word about NGPF's mission to improve the financial lives of the next generation of Americans.

More posts by Hannah