PENNSYLVANIA, USA — The confusing world of finance and the fear of young Pennsylvanians accruing debt is why lawmakers in Harrisburg are now making it mandatory for public and private schools across the commonwealth to teach financial literacy.
“I think every kid growing up should have some kind of experience with finances,” said Grace Polise from Scranton.
“Knowing about your credit score, what affects it, hard inquiries. I didn’t know what a hard inquiry was until I was 30 years old,” said Caity Bonner from Spring Brook Township.
Scranton School Board President Ty Holmes says his district already requires financial courses that range from balancing checkbooks to investing with cryptocurrency.
“I’m ecstatic, number one. This is a law that should have been passed a long time ago, showing them the importance of being able to balance a checkbook, learning about investments, and learning about the importance of a credit score is extremely important,” stated Holmes.
All he says is to give students a leg up before they enter the real world.
“There are so many different things that kids today have to face, and we want to just prepare them for everything that’s going to come at them, they are going to be in the best possible scenario for them to be successful so that they’re not climbing out of a hole financially,” added Holmes.
“I’ve always been the kind of person to save as much as I can now ’cause it’ll help me down the line, and so far, it’s worked out for me,” said Polise.
Moving to Scranton from New Jersey, Grace Polise credits the financial classes she took in high school for her knowledge.
“You can get yourself in a hole when you’re young, and it would be hard to get out of debt, so if you can start ahead and do everything you can at the foundation, it’ll just make it easier in the long run,”
The mandatory courses are expected to reach the classroom in Pennsylvania schools by 2026.
