John Pelletier of Champlain College is out with his biennial report which grades states based on their state-level policies on delivering personal finance education at the high school level. The takeaway from his research: We still have a long, long, long away to go to ensure that all students have access to a full semester personal finance course before they graduate from high school. 

Here's a summary of the report: 

Although there have been improvements made since our last report in 2015, more can and should be done. When it comes to report cards, everyone wants an A. But when the Center graded 50 states and D.C. on their financial literacy education, only five states earned an A. What the grading shows is that we have a long way to go before we are a financially literate nation. Sadly, 27 states received grades C, D or F. Less than half were given grades that you would want your children to bring home from school—grades A or B, and 30% had grades D or F.

As you will see in this report, a B grade does not necessarily mean that a state requires an adequate level of instruction. The Center estimates that approximately one-third of Grade B states require more than one-quarter of a half-year course in high school to be allocated to personal finance topics. This means that students in eight of these Grade B states only receive between seven and 13 hours of personal finance instruction in high school. In fact, our research identifies just 11 states (with Grades A or B) that require 15 or more hours of personal finance education in high school.

Here's a map of the 50 states + DC with their grades:

Here are some states that have made progress since the last report in 2015:

• ARKANSAS passed a law that will require more substantive personal finance education in high school, beginning with the class of 2021. It is possible, depending upon how this new law is implemented, that Arkansas will join that small and elite group of states that have a Grade A, moving up from its current Grade B status.
• DELAWARE created a financial literacy task force that has recommended mandatory financial literacy education standards for grades K-12. The Center has been informed by the task force that the state’s Department of Education will be bringing this recommendation to the Board of Education for its review and approval in early 2018. If approved, Delaware could see a grade change from a Grade F to a Grade C in the future.
• ILLINOIS has had a mandatory consumer education requirement (50 minutes per day for a period of nine weeks in any of grades nine through 12) for many years. Beginning in the 2017–2018 academic year, personal finance standards for Illinois are also embedded in the new social science standards for economics. Personal finance standards are now six of the 16 total standards for economics; however, economics is not a graduation requirement. But in the many high schools where economics is available, students will now have access to additional financial literacy content.
• NEVADA recently passed legislation that would require high schools to use more robust financial literacy standards. Exactly how this new law will be implemented is still unclear. If the standards are embedded in a course that is required for graduation, Nevada could improve from a Grade C to a Grade B. 6 // 2017 NATIONAL REPORT CARD
• TEXAS is doing something that is truly unique. For many years, Texas has required all students to take an economics course that includes personal finance content to graduate from high school. Beginning in the 2017 academic year, Texas also requires all high schools to offer Personal Financial Literacy as a half-year social studies elective course.
• VIRGINIA, one of the handful of Grade A states, recently passed a law that requires the state’s personal finance education standards to be updated to include “evaluating the economic value of postsecondary studies, including the net cost of attendance, potential student loan debt, and potential earnings.” This commonsense focus on the costs of attending college is part of far too few high school curriculums across the nation. The NGPF research, described above, noted that many high school personal finance course descriptions do not even include the word “college.”
• WASHINGTON amended a law in 2015 that required the Superintendent of Education to integrate financial education, skills and content knowledge into the state learning standards. Washington adopted financial education learning standards and guidelines for grades kindergarten through 12 in September 2016. Due to this change, Washington improved from a Grade F to a Grade C.
• WEST VIRGINIA updated the education standards that apply to its Civics for the Next Generation course, which all students are required to take. This change has increased the estimated amount of personal finance instruction time in the required course from 10 hours to 27 hours.

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For another bottoms-up perspective on the state of personal finance education, check out the NGPF report "Who Has Access to Financial Education?" which reviewed 11,000 high school websites for evidence of personal finance coursework in course catalogs. Both our report and Champlain College's demonstrate the importance of #FinHeroes to advocate for financial education at the grassroots level. Without effective state policies, note the high percentage of states with a C, D or F grade, local action becomes the path forward. 

About the Author

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.