This House would require all U.S. high schools to teach a personal-finance course.

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Twenty-four states have implemented this in the last decade. Test-score data on financial literacy went up modestly; actual savings rates and debt outcomes did not move.

Background

Tim Ranzetta's Next Gen Personal Finance tracker counts 26 US states with personal-finance graduation requirements as of 2024, up from 5 in 2018. The largest study (Urban et al., 2022) compared credit scores across state cohorts pre- and post-mandate. Result: a 5-12 point improvement in credit score by age 22, and a measurable reduction in payday-loan use. Outcomes on retirement saving and student-loan default were null. The course works for the specific decisions students make right after graduation; it does not survive contact with adult-life complexity.

Government opens with

Asymmetric financial information lets predatory lenders extract from people who don't know the math.

Opposition responds with

The course tests well, doesn't change behavior, and crowds out civics or math that does.