West Virginia State University (WVSU) is set to start a poverty simulation program for students and members of the public, the Associated Press reported.

The Simulation of Poverty Program will take place Saturday in the Wilson University Union. The program is designed to give participants an idea of what poverty stricken families go through, with the ultimate goal of raising awareness.

Anyone willing to take part in the simulation will play the role of a member of a low-income family. The simulation will aim to compress a month of poverty into four 15-minute segments. During the segments, people will be given real-life scenarios facing many poverty-stricken families.

Scenarios will include choosing government services and other aid programs to sign up for and how to spend the little money they do have. Also taking part in the simulation will be grocers, bankers, human service agents, bill collectors, police, potential employers and more.

The simulations will be followed by a debriefing and group discussion. The purpose of the exercise is to help bring awareness to poverty faced by many American families, but also to come up with solutions to the growing problem.

This is not the first instance of a higher education institution attempting to tackle poverty and the greater cause behind it. A University of British Columbia professor lead a study, published in late August in the journal Science, suggesting poverty affects cognitive development and leads to worse and worse decision-making.

"Previous accounts of poverty have blamed the poor for their personal failings, or an environment that is not conducive to success," lead author Jiaying Zhao, who conducted the study as a graduate student at Princeton University, said in a press release. "We're arguing that being poor can impair cognitive functioning, which hinders individuals' ability to make good decisions and can cause further poverty."

For his study, Zhao found individuals with great financial stress to have poor performances on basic logic assessments. He estimated financial hardships count for an average of a 13-point drop in IQ, the equivalent of one full eight-hour sleep.