Financial literacy is an important and necessary life skill. While we don’t widely see it in every classroom, it has been a formal part of the American education system for more than a century and momentum is building as more states adopt mandates to require financial education in high schools. Recent research reinforces the benefits of state-mandated financial education and how it leads to families and students making better decisions about how to borrow for college.
According to a NEFE-funded study, students in states where financial education is required to graduate from high school end up making better financial aid decisions as college freshman, moving from higher-cost to lower-cost borrowing options. Mandated financial education increases applications for grants and federal aid, keeps overall borrowing balances down, and decreases credit card balances.
