After California became the latest state to adopt a personal finance graduation requirement, which states do you think will be next?

NGPF’s mission is that by the year 2030, ALL students will take a one semester personal finance course before graduating from high school. The NGPF community is working to reach this goal through a combination of grassroots efforts - teachers championing the importance of teaching financial capability for all - and statewide legislative efforts to change course guarantees led by the Mission 2030 Fund, an affiliated nonprofit that advocates for this policy in all states.

How many states require financial literacy classes for graduation now?

26 states now require at least one standalone semester course in personal finance for all high school students. Once the more recent states have fully implemented their requirements, 64% of all U.S. high school students will be guaranteed to take at least one semester of personal finance before they cross the graduation stage. See more details and implementation timelines on NGPF's LIVE U.S. Personal Finance Education Dashboard. We're well on our way to NGPF's Mission 2030.

Here's a screenshot from an advocacy slide deck we've used with Superintendent groups, Governors, Lawmakers, and beyond to depict the fast-accumulating success of the Mission 2030 movement.

This summer at NGPF was a delicious Sundae of progress for financial education.

NGPF hosting fifteen in-person NGPF FinCamps for educators throughout the U.S. was the many flavors of ice cream, each as exquisite as the last.

The fudge sauce was announcing that over 1,000 teachers have earned NGPF's Distinguished Educator award by passing 6 or more NGPF Certification Courses.

NGPF's Curriculum Team launching the first-of-its-kind Gambling & Sports Betting Mini Unit to help teachers prepare their students for the many pitfalls of online gambling... that was a whopping spoonful of your favorite candy from the ice cream scooper. Dig in!

All this tasty progress has made the above news all the sweeter: California, the most populous state in the country, adopted a personal finance graduation requirement in summer 2024! Our team at NGPF Mission 2030 Fund is thrilled to have led this historic leap in access to financial education.

Do financial literacy classes work?

Yes. A large and ever-growing body of research found in NGPF's Advocacy Toolkit shows that students who graduate having taken comprehensive personal finance courses:

• improve their credit scores,
• improve their student loan borrowing and repayment behaviors,
• avoid high-interest debt from predatory lenders, and
• earn an average of $100,000 more in lifetime wealth...

...compared to their peers who did not have this course.

Financial literacy courses are particularly effective when they are taught by confident teachers, many of whom are reading this post right now. Over the last four years, you have dedicated over 450,000 hours - investing 25 hours each on average - in NGPF professional development to teach personal finance with confidence.

While there is no one-size-fits-all solution to today's complex economic issues, financial education is a proven tool in the fight to close wealth gaps, alleviate poverty, and empower economic development for all.

When will ALL high schoolers be required to take a financial literacy class already?

If you're as impatient about this common sense change as we are, you're reading the right blog! Based on current trends, and with the addition of California this year, we're on schedule to reach Mission 2030 whereby all students take a personal finance course of at least one semester before graduation... by the year 2030, at the latest!

For my fellow graph nerds, here's a graphical representation of my forecast for when the job gets done. Note that the navy blue forecast line is based on the growth in the percent of students and the green forecast line is based on the growth in the number of states.

Thank you, Mission 2030 advocates!

Thank you for advocating for financial education in your school, community, state, and country! The next generation of high school graduates is benefiting from your foresight, courage, and leadership. Thanks also for staying up to date on financial education advocacy on the NGPF blog!

About the Author

Christian Sherrill

Former teacher, forever financial education nerd. As NGPF's Director of Growth & Advocacy, Christian is laser-focused on our mission to guarantee all students a rigorous personal finance course before crossing the high school graduation stage. Having paid down over $40k in student loans in the span of 3 years - while living in the Bay Area on an entry level teacher's salary - he's eager to help the next generation avoid financial pitfalls one semester at a time.