Recently the state of Nebraska has joined over twenty other states in requiring personal finance to graduate high school. This new requirement starts for students graduating in the 2024 school year. 

Personal finance explores the importance of credit, investing, and insurance while incorporating how to make a budget. This class also helps students prepare for college and teaches them how to save for it. For students who don’t have room in their schedules personal finance will now be offered in summer school to provide extra flexibility for students and staff. 

According to business teacher Pat Hinkle, personal finance will provide students with knowledge and information necessary to manage their financial well-being in all stages of their lives. Students will gain an understanding of how to manage their finances during and after high school.

“This class is so relevant to their future because it will educate students about how to navigate financial matters,” Hinkle said. 

According to counselor Melissa Minahan, this class will be helpful to students and help them learn how to manage their money well, so it avoids troubles later in adulthood with credit card debt, having too high of a debt to income ratio.

“It’s real life, it’s something that will impact [students] every single day,” Minahan said. “A lot of our students already have jobs where they are saving money and spending money. So I think there are a lot of advantages to learning it while you’re living it, because you are just getting a taste of that independence and those adult-like things that you have to do.”

Only 57% of Americans are financially literate, which is very low according to the Milken Institute. With this class becoming required more students will learn to understand and manage themselves financially and create more opportunities for their futures. 

“Financial literacy is a super important life skill that they feel that all people should have in order to be able to just function as an adult,” Minahan said.