Authored by John Pelletier
In Pennsylvania, Christmas arrived a few weeks earlier. The Commonwealth became the 25th condition to ensure a stand-alone specific financing program for high school students starting with the graduating class of 2030 after Senate Bill 843 was passed on December 13.
We should be grateful to the government, senators, non-profit organizations, teachers, and students who made sure that high school students in this position learned personal finance.
As a result of Santa’s earlier this month stop in Wisconsin, 47 percent of high school students in the United States now have or will have access to such provincial promises by 2030.
We often grade says on how well high schools teach the subject because our center is so certain that this is a course that will change your life. The third “National Report Card on State Efforts to Improve Financial Literacy in High Schools” was just released, and it reveals that 23 states have or will achieve level A by the School of 2028, while seven says earned an A in the 2023 group. It’s difficult to believe that the report, which was released on December 1, is already out of time. On our next record cards, we will undoubtedly need to give at least two more A’s.
The Keystone State recently upgraded from an F in 2017 to a C in 2023 on this year’s report cards. More personal finance education standards, though incorporated into a variety of educational fields, were added to Pennsylvania, which made progress. One more example of how personal finance knowledge is spreading across the country is the leap to an A by the end of the decade, which is a testament to Pennsylvanian leaders.
The economic precariousness of people without financial safety nets during the pandemic was addressed by state policymakers in Pennsylvania and many other claims. Free online educational resources proliferated as a result of efforts by state departments of training and non-profits, as well as the tireless advocacy of educators, administrators, parents, and students for this change.
Personal financing knowledge and skills are widely acknowledged to be essential in today’s challenging economic environment. According to a survey conducted in 2022 by the National Endowment for Financial Education (NEFE), 8 in 10 people wished they were required to take this course when they went to school, and 88 percent of adults wanted their state to mandate that financial education be taken over the course of one semester or year in order to graduate from high school.
According to research, requiring financial education training in high school has many positive effects. With these knowledge and abilities, students who graduate from says with higher credit ratings, lower loan default rates, better student loan choices, and a lower likelihood of using alternative financial services like overnight financing and title loans with high interest rates.
Products do occasionally have strings attached. Instructor teaching will become more crucial as the demand for personal finance education increases. By 2028, our core anticipates that there will be a need for 30,000 very qualified personal finance educators in only the grade A and B states. Before 2030, we predict that the Keystone position will require about 1,500 of these highly qualified teachers.
The most recent FINRA National Financial Capability Study revealed racial and ethnic differences in economic capacity, which must also be addressed. Local school districts that require personal finance are typically wealthy and predominately light without a state condition. An essential step toward reducing this disparity is mandating that all high school students take a financial education program, regardless of their race, ethnicity, or economic situation.
Being a well-educated voter pays off. Those who possess these abilities and knowledge amass more success, take part in the stock market more frequently, make retirement plans, and steer clear of high-priced alternative financial services. On the other hand, bad financial education and bad financial habits frequently coexist.
The cycle of poverty that exists in our country may be broken with the help of personal finance knowledge. We then predict that by 2030, 18 additional state, including Wisconsin and of course Pennsylvania, may have joined Alabama, Iowa, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee, Utah, and Virginia in their full support of this reason.
All high school graduates should now enter the world with the financial resources they require because it’s period for the other 25 states and the District of Columbia to meet this honor roll. The greatest surprise will be that.
The Center for Financial Literacy at Champlain College is run by John Pelletier. The Center’s fifth National Report Card on State Efforts to Improve Financial Literacy in High SchoolsTM was released on January 1st, 2013.