Even though we go to an amazing high school, we have doubts about how prepared we will be for our futures. Why? Because of the lack of personal finance education taught in high schools. We strongly believe that in order to create leaders, our education system must equip high schoolers with basic life skills that will confront us as adults.

Unfortunately, Connecticut contributes to this knowledge gap. Surprisingly, there are no signed bills or laws that outline standards for personal finance education in high schools. Furthermore, Connecticut does not require a personal finance course for high school graduation, nor does it require students to take a course with personal finance embedded. Legislation doesn't even require Connecticut high schools to offer a personal finance course as an elective. As a result, the Nation's Report Card of Financial Literacy gave CT a "D" for their personal finance legislation.

The lack of financial literacy poses many dire impacts on Connecticut. In fact, many in our community:

1) Pay high-interest rates (10% - 20%), especially young borrowers and those who can least afford to pay them

2) Borrow inappropriately

3) Speculate instead of invest

4) Do not plan their taxes and pay more taxes than high earning individuals

In order to solve this problem, we proposed a bill to the Connecticut General Assembly concerning the expansion of personal finance education in CT high schools. The parameters of the bill drew inspiration from the policies of Indiana, Kentucky, and Maine, which all established personal finance performance expectations for students before graduation but allowed schools to independently devise curriculum changes to fulfill this requirement. Unfortunately, due to the short 2022 legislative session, our bill was not selected to pass.  

The lack of legislation aiming to improve access to personal finance education is doing a disservice to Connecticut students and their futures. After interviewing a classmate, she said "Oftentimes I wish I understood more about how taxes, investing, and credit cards work, as I currently know little to nothing on these topics." Even though many CT students demonstrate that they lack basic financial skills, Connecticut is still at a standstill to solve this pressing problem.

Please sign this petition to join the effort in expanding access to personal finance education across CT high schools and change the status quo! 

Thank you,

Sarina Kulsakdinun, Ying-Chu Chen, Patricia von-Oiste, and Laetitia Cartellieri

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Also, if you would like to get involved with this cause even more, please join the effort and become an Ambassador to help spread the message! Sign up here: https://www.studentsforpersonalfinanceeducation.org/join-the-team  

To learn more about our mission, please visit our website https://www.studentsforpersonalfinanceeducation.org/