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Course Correction panelists discuss why it’s so great that more and more young people are making an effort to learn more about finance in Course Correction: Next Gen Financial Freedom.
Secondary schools across the country are experimenting with new ways to teach students about personal finance as educators look to increase students’ knowledge of finance and investing.
Financial literacy is a growing focus of policymakers, as nearly 30 states have implemented laws or regulations requiring high school students to complete a personal finance course during their studies.
An analysis by Champlain College’s Center for Financial Literacy found that by 2031, 29 states and the District of Columbia will have a requirement for a personal finance course as part of a graduation requirement by 2031.
High school students participate in a class with their teacher. (Getty Images)
At that time, 73 percent of public high school students, or about 11.3 million students, would be subject to a “Grade A” personal finance education requirement, which the group defines as a semester-and-a-half course with at least 60 hours of personal finance instruction per academic year.
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This number is up from 11% in 2023, when only 1.7 million public high school students were subject to this requirement. By 2025, more than 2.3 million students are covered by a financial literacy requirement, or about 15% of the nation’s public school students.
As these requirements take effect, educators are testing ways to give students real-world experience with finances to learn how to save and invest works
A report of The Wall Street Journal He detailed how at the all-girls Ethel Walker School in Connecticut, students take a personal finance class their sophomore year in which they tell the school how to invest about $1,000 of the school’s roughly $44 million endowment.
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Students then track stocks, bonds, mutual funds or exchange traded funds (ETFs) that they chose until graduation, although they are allowed to switch investments if they lose money after a year, the Journal reported.
American flags on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York on August 18, 2025. (Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images/Getty Images)
According to the report, the school has seen positive returns since the project began, and investments from 2025 graduates tied the overall market growth of 28.3% from October 2023 to May 2025. Earnings are returned to the school’s endowment, while students whose investments perform better receive a modest prize.
The newspaper reported that the school’s personal finance curriculum also deals with taxes and requires students to pass the basic IRS. tax preparation exam in their first year, a designation that allows them to help low- and moderate-income families through the IRS Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program.
A blank 1040 tax return form from the IRS. (iStock/iStock)
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Another school profiled in the Journal report, Da Vinci Communications Public Charter School in El Segundo, Calif., requires students to take personal finance courses during their senior year that cover topics such as savings tactics, medical insurance coverage and risks with auto loans.
The course also teaches students about the power of long-term savings, with students encouraged to open a Roth IRA once they turn 18 to save income earned from high school jobs instead of waiting until their careers begin in earnest, the Journal reported.
