CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) - On Sunday, education students at the University of Northern Iowa took part in a poverty simulation to help them understand the struggles some families face each month.

Students were immersed into the role of a low income family.

In the span of an hour, they had to pay monthly expenses like a mortgage, groceries and utilities just like families in real life. Each week lasted 15 minutes.

“We got $210 in Snap, I want to say. And that covered almost two full weeks of food and that helped a lot,” junior Madison Mendenhall said.

Mendenhall’s family managed to pay most of their bills, but some bills were much more expensive than others.

“If we don’t pay our mortgage, we’re going to be homeless. So we should probably get that taken care of,” Mendenhall told one of

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