Guarantee a standalone personal finance course for high school students in every state

Financial Education for All Inc. firmly believes that financial literacy is an essential skill that can empower everyone, particularly individuals from low-income backgrounds, to make well-informed decisions about their finances and forge a more financially secure future.

Research has found that comprehensive financial education courses in high school have many beneficial impacts including: 

• Managing credit better with credit scores increasing and delinquency rates falling.

• Making better decisions about student debt including shifting to lower interest loans, avoiding credit card debt, and limiting private loans.

• Reducing the likelihood of taking out expensive payday loans.

• Increasing savings rates among teachers.

• Generating positive spillover effects on parents. 

Right now, 30 states require schools to offer personal finance in high school. But that doesn’t mean all 30 require students to actually take a personal finance course to graduate. 

Here’s a quick overview. Only 15 states as July 2022 have made personal finance a graduation requirement. But then, some states don’t even require a course, or they just implement personal finance into another course, or some branch off and do their own thing.