Finance education requirements reach an all-time high, but inequities still exist

Eight states require students to take one semester of a personal finance course, and 10 more will soon join this effort. Until then, only 23.6% of students are required to receive finance education.

Since 2019, the number of states that guarantee standalone personal finance courses has steadily increased. And in 2023, some believe that financial literacy has become more important than ever. However, despite growing momentum, less than one-fourth of students attend “Gold Standard” schools.

The numbers come from Next Gen Personal Finance (NGPF), a non-profit that provides free personal finance curricula and professional development, in their “2023 State of Financial Education Report.” The research points to the growing attention surrounding financial literacy. In fact, 18 states will soon guarantee a personal finance course for all public high school students.

According to NGPF’s most recent update, eight states have fully implemented finance curricula requiring students to take one semester-long finance course, while 10 states are in the progress of incorporating such requirements. Here’s a brief look at which states are prioritizing financial literacy in 2023:

States that fully implemented finance curricula:

  • Utah
  • Iowa
  • Missouri
  • Tennessee
  • Mississippi
  • North Carolina
  • Alabama
  • Virginia

States with implementation in progress

  • Nebraska
  • Kansas
  • Michigan
  • West Virginia
  • Ohio
  • South Carolina
  • Georgia
  • Florida
  • New Hampshire
  • Rhode Island

Once all 18 states complete their implementation, more than 40% of all public school students will have access to financial education.

“In the past year, personal finance courses have become a top priority for more schools, districts and states than ever before,” according to their website.

Until then, disparities still exist in terms of who has guaranteed access to a personal finance course. As the report suggests, only 23.6% of students attend “Gold Standard” schools, which require students to take one semester of personal finance. Nearly half (47.2%) of students attend “Silver Standard” schools where personal finance is simply an elective. In contrast, a mere 5.8% attend schools where no personal finance education is offered.

Growing momentum

According to the report, the number of students guaranteed to obtain a personal finance education has more than doubled since 2019. Four years ago, only 16.9% of students had access:

2019: 16.9%

2020: 18.3%

2021: 20.6%

2022: 22.7%

2023: 23.6%

What are students learning?

With financial literacy becoming a growing trend in K12 education, how exactly does it prepare students for life after graduation?

According to the 2021 national standards developed by NGPF and the Council for Economic Education, there are six key topics students are expected to learn in a typical personal finance course:

  1. Earning income
  2. Spending
  3. Saving
  4. Investing
  5. Managing credit
  6. Managing risk

For financial literacy education to be effective, Director of Educational Outreach at NGPF Yanley Espinal told CNBC Make It, it has to cover all the basics.

“In order for [a personal finance course] to be comprehensive, actionable and relevant, it has to include everything—banking, budgeting, investing, taxes, insurance, paying for college; it has to include credit scores,” Espinal said. “There’s no way that you can do all of that in just a couple of weeks of another class.”


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Micah Ward
Micah Wardhttps://districtadministration.com
Micah Ward is a District Administration staff writer. He recently earned his master’s degree in Journalism at the University of Alabama. He spent his time during graduate school working on his master’s thesis. He’s also a self-taught guitarist who loves playing folk-style music.

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