New Survey Shows Americans Believe Youth Should Receive Money Management Education in High School

News provided by

National Financial Educators Council

Aug 17, 2021, 08:31 ET

DALLAS, Aug. 17, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- There's a lot of talk about division about what is taught in school today, but the latest research by the National Financial Educators Council suggests that most of us can agree on one issue: we believe youth should learn about money management while in high school. According to the results of an NFEC survey conducted in August, more than 84% of Americans responded "Definitely Yes" or "Yes" to the question, "Do you think high school students should take personal finance courses in high school?"

Survey Details: 1,502 respondents between July 27^th and August 11^th 2021 were asked "Do you think high school students should take personal finance courses in high school?"

83.3% Responded "Yes" or "Definitely Yes"
8.8% Responded "Maybe"
7.9% Responded "No" or "Definitely No"

Complete survey results at: https://www.financialeducatorscouncil.org/Financial-literacy-subject-survey/

The purpose of the NFEC's research was to compare people's thoughts about teaching personal finance management in high school with the other curriculum high schools typically offer. The findings were consistent across all ages and demographics and also echo results of previous surveys on this subject, which the NFEC has been conducting since March 2017. For example, an earlier study among 7,532 young adults indicated that money management was the course most young people in the US (50%) believed would benefit their lives the most.

To promote financial literacy in schools, the NFEC's petition encourage policymakers to mandate and fund comprehensive personal finance courses in public schools. These courses should be stand-alone courses led by trained instructors and require standardized testing. You can show your support and sign the petition at: https://teachfinancialliteracy.org/

As CEO of the NFEC, Vince Shorb has witnessed first-hand the need for youth personal finance classes. "People want money management to be taught in high school. Public schools have taught essentially the same coursework for 100 years, while overlooking personal finance – a subject that would benefit all students, not just a select few. It's time to mandate that public schools offer this important topic in their curriculum to prepare today's youth for productive futures."

If we want to know whether classes offering financial literacy for teens are beneficial, we need only look to the US states that offer such education: Georgia, Idaho, and Texas have had mandates in place for high school financial education since 2000. A study by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) in these three states showed that, after the program had been taught for three years, students' credit scores (on a scale of 250 – 850) had gone up by an average 31.71 points in Texas, 16.19 points in Idaho, and 10.89 points in Georgia, compared with students in a neighboring state with no financial education mandate. These results highlight the powerful benefits of offering money education at the high school level.

The National Financial Educators Council is a personal finance organization with a stated mission to provide the highest quality of financial education. An IRS-designated Social Benefit Corporation, the NFEC is an enterprise focused on positive social impact. The organization has aided in the creation of thousands of programs over the last 15 years, reducing the time and cost of program development while offering training and resources to maximize campaign impact.

Media Contact:
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SOURCE National Financial Educators Council