More than 40% of college students in the U.S. don’t know how to manage their finances. At this point in one’s life is when they start to become more independent, as they’re taking one of their first steps into adulthood. It’s a problem that they don’t have a clue about how to handle their change. 

54% of teenagers say they feel worried and unprepared for their future regarding financial literacy. This problem would be greatly minimized if there were more resources in high schools to learn how to be financially responsible. 

In order to graduate high school, students are required to have a half credit of speech because knowing how to speak to people in a professional manner is an extremely important skill to have in life, but isn’t financial literacy equally, if not more important?

We need to have a semester-long class that teaches teens how to do things such as budgeting, tax filing, credit, insurance, managing debt, and retirement planning. These teenagers cannot go off into the real world without knowing how to be responsible with money. 

If teenagers are not taught to watch what their money goes to, they’re all the more likely to fall into a place of debt that they’re unable to get out of. 

Schools are setting their kids up for poor credit, bankruptcy, and other things that can happen to you when you’re not financially literate. 

We need to prepare these kids for their life after high school. We cannot continue to send them into the real world with no knowledge of financial literacy.