31 Jul High Schoolers React to Coming Financial Literacy Requirement

Starting in a few years, California public high school students will have to take a class that will teach them about financial topics such as managing credit. (Photo by Avery Evans on Unsplash)

Editor’s note: People have long complained that schools don’t teach kids certain things they’ll need to know in adulthood, namely financial tasks like doing taxes, balancing a checkbook and using credit responsibly. Well, that is set to change in California. Beginning with the 2027-28 school year, state public schools will have to offer a semester-long course dedicated to personal financial literacy, and it will be a graduation requirement starting with the class of 2031.

Though it doesn’t apply to them, we asked two of our current high school contributors to give us their take on the upcoming requirement.

Commentary, Anushka Devanathan

I believe that a financial literacy course is necessary for high school students. Personally, as a high school student, I hate to admit that I’m not as financially knowledgeable as I would like to be. A financial course that would cover a range of finance topics, including avoiding scams, managing debt and budgeting would be extremely beneficial for college but also the future, in general.

The National Endowment for Financial Education found that students whose states required financial courses were more likely to save and use a budget and less likely to make late credit card payments compared with those in states without the required course. Based on this research we can see that a required financial course has worthwhile benefits for the rest of our future. It could help us in many ways, whether we’re taking out student loans or we are buying a car, for example.

Once students graduate from high school, whether they enter college or the job market, they face numerous financial decisions. Whatever the scenario, taking a financial course in high school would give them the basic knowledge to tackle the situation. Students would gain practical skills that are directly applicable to real life. It will give them the knowledge they need to make informed decisions for their future.

Statistics from Lendingtree.com show that around 55% of college graduates from private and public universities struggle with student loans. A major cause for this is that students hadn’t received enough education to make this financial decision. This financial literacy course would reduce this because students would have a better understanding about managing debts and loans.

Some might say that another graduation requirement is one too many and adds more academic pressure on students. After all, a Stanford report shows that approximately 56% of students said homework was their primary source of stress.

However, I think that this graduation requirement would be worth the extra effort, since it reduces the worry in the long run. I believe that spending the effort now, with people and resources to help and guide you, is infinitely easier than struggling with money later on. Whatever career we choose for ourselves, we need to be financially knowledgeable. Finance is a life skill that will benefit us no matter what path we take and learning it early on makes it easier than learning it later.

Overall, a financial literacy course is a much-needed requirement for California schools. Being knowledgeable in finance will be useful at any point in your life. It’s a skill that is valuable no matter the career one chooses. The course will make sure students are properly educated before they make a life-changing decision. Although it is an additional graduation requirement, which does mean more work, I think it’s better for student’s to put in the work now, than later.

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Commentary, Yaslin Rodriguez

As a rising junior who will graduate from a private high school in 2026, I know how crammed the schedule of a high schooler can get. From sports practices to tryouts, auditions to rehearsals, studying to doing homework, a high schooler has a lot of responsibilities to take care of. How would adding a new course to that affect the workload?

For me, I know how to manage the school workload, and I am good at managing my time because I taught myself to do so. But I know that if I were to ask my friends, some would say that they spend too much time on social media, or they are too busy caring for their siblings, or maybe that they are simply not good at time management. I would most likely be able to handle an extra course about financial literacy, but I am not so sure about my classmates who have busier schedules or are not as familiar with balancing school and life.

I would love a course about financial literacy because financial intelligence was not taught to me as a child. My family only recently started talking to me about it. I don’t remember really even thinking about money until I was about 9 or 10. But I wasn’t about what saving money looked like or how to grow money. My thoughts were about whether I should ask my parents for something because it would probably stress them out. Of course, my parents always managed to make miracles happen, and they worked hard to make a living. I am extremely grateful for that, but I was never really taught how to save money. It was more of how to make the right amount to live off of, and I just learned by observing.

In California, nearly one-third of our population is experiencing homelessness. One-third! This financial literacy course could help Californians to learn about finances and therefore how to live on their own, how to manage their money, etc. Hence, this could help people who fall into homelessness due to financial reasons. To me, that is a win in itself.

As the time gets closer and closer for the requirement to come into play, we will hear more and more about it. I think that it will have a positive impact, but only time will show how it will go. Hopefully, this will be as good as it seems. Until then, we will have to wait and see.