New Jersey gets a ‘B’ for teaching high schoolers about personal finance

When it comes to personal finance education, the state of New Jersey is doing better than many states.

As part of our ongoing coverage of financial literacy, we’re taking a close look at what the experts say about how well each state is doing in teaching high-schoolers about personal finance and economics.

According to two recent surveys by Champlain College Center for Financial Literacy and The Council For Economic Education (CEE), here’s how New Jersey stacks up against other states for teaching financial literacy at the high school level:

New Jersey’s grade from the Center for Financial Literacy

New Jersey gets a B for the teaching of financial literacy in high school.

Among the reasons cited for the solid grade:

“There is one standard for each discipline area (financial, economic, business and entrepreneurial). Based on this information, we estimate that students receive approximately 15 hours of personal finance instruction. See: New Jersey Personal Finance Standards. Hours of instruction cannot be estimated for all students since each local school district determines how it will deliver the required personal finance education, and implementation methods vary by local school districts.”

There is a great deal more detail in the full Center for Financial Literacy report available here.

New Jersey’s 2018 report card from The Council for Economic Excellence

The Council for Economic Excellence does not hand out specific grades but does measure a number of factors when looking at how a state is upholding the goal of educating young adults about money, including:

• whether there are financial education courses offered
• whether the taking of such courses is required
• whether there is standardized testing to measure progress toward better financial literacy.

According to the CEE Survey of the States report, New Jersey hits two out of three key financial education goals:

• New Jersey requires financial education courses in high school to be offered
• New Jersey requires that one or more of those financial education courses be taken
• New Jersey does not require standardized testing on financial literacy

For comparison, here’s how many states and the District of Columbia hit that goal in the 2018 survey:

• 22 states require financial education courses in high school to be offered
• 17 states require that one or more of those financial education courses be taken
• 7 states require standardized testing on financial literacy

Overall, New Jersey is in a good position when it comes to educating its kids and young adults about financial literacy, as measured by the CEE, although there is room for improvement.

Across the USA, there is a lot of room for improvement in financial literacy education at the high school level

Nationwide, the Council for Economic Excellence reports in its 2018 report that there has been little increase in economic education in recent years and no growth in personal finance education.

Source: CEE. Used with permission.

“Research shows,” the CEE reports, “ that requirements are the main driver of economics and personal finance being taught in schools. CEE works with our nationwide network of affiliates to both advocate for requirements and assist in their implementation.”

Among the benefits of an economically-educated populace, the CEE says, are these:

• Greater propensity to save for retirement
• Reduced amount of personal debt
• Increased likelihood of having emergency savings
• Less likelihood of using high-cost methods of borrowing

Personal finance expert Dave Ramsey agrees. He says that financial literacy classes are essential because they teach students the basics of money management: budgeting, saving, debt, investing and giving.

In “Should Financial Literacy Be Taught in More Schools?” Ramsey writes:

As a country, we’ve seen where a lack of personal finance education can lead. Millions of Americans struggle every day with their money, living paycheck to paycheck and relying on credit cards for necessities, only to wind up deep in debt and short on hope.

Beyond that, many Americans are finding that they can’t buy homes, invest for retirement, or save for their child’s college fund because of their own student loan debt, massive car payments, and general lack of financial planning.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. A lot of the money problems Americans are facing could have been avoided if financial literacy was taught earlier, in school. That’s why we think more schools should offer financial literacy courses as part of their graduation requirements.