Here’s a rundown of recent stories about schools teaching personal finance:

• Milton High School (WI) board recently approved making a personal finance course a graduation requirement (GazetteXtra)

The school board recently approved a financial literacy and employability course high school students will have to pass before graduating. The class will be tied to the academic and career plan Wisconsin students soon must draft as a graduation requirement. Personal finance currently is taught during a six-week period in civics class, which isn’t enough time to learn everything, Kenyon said. “We knew we needed to do more. There’s more that needs to be taught,” Principal Jeremy Bilhorn said.

• Western Connecticut University hosted a personal finance workshop for local high school students (NewsTimes):

“I’m really surprised my parents can keep it up,” said Alexander Saalborn, aNew Fairfield High School senior. “It was really eye opening. The cost of housing alone surprised me. I’m going to look at a lot more affordable options in the future.” Saalborn was one of more than 300 high school students who came from as far as Stamford to attend the event, which was sponsored by the Financial Reality Fair Foundation, formed by state credit unions.

• A Kansas City Chief stopped by a local high school to talk money (Kansas City Star)
  

  On Jan. 19, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce stood in a room full of 50 students at Turner High School and advised them on the importance of being fiscally responsible. This was about a week before he signed his five-year, $46 million contract extension, and Kelce was promoting a new video game that encourages financial education. After speaking to the students, he giddily played the game with them and spoke afterward about the importance of learning how to manage your money.

  “It’s been cool — we’re trying to come in here and do something different, teach the kids about financial literacy,” Kelce said. “It’s a little different coming from an athlete than it is coming from a teacher or a parent. I know how that can be. You hear from your parents everyday.”

• Marquette University recently added a personal finance course (Marquette Wire):

In response to the Office of the Bursar’s observation that students lack personal finance understanding, MU Money Matters created a financial literacy program to teach students about managing personal finances.

The program focuses on budgeting, banking, credit, investing and scams. It utilizes pop-culture videos, a medium blog, websites, presentations and game nights to teach the lessons.

• Madeira High School (OH) had several scholarships winners in the Budget Challenge (Cincinnati.com):

The Madeira High School personal finance teacher Jennifer Jordan is teaching her students a subject that can literally have a big financial payback. Once again, several of her students are the winners of $20,000 scholarships in the national H&R Block Budget Challenge.

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.

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