'We have an F.' Mass. falls short on prepping students to understand personal finance

Cape Cod 5’s Financial Know-How Program Manager Jim Curran often tells the story of a landscaper who came into the bank to cash his check. He asked the man if he wanted to open an account while he was there, but the man declined.

“As I'm cashing it, he’s sitting there scratching off lottery tickets,” Curran said. “I thought this guy is working his tail off, he's breaking his body and in 50 years he could really have something to show for it.”

Curran believes that if the man had good financial habits explained to him and put into place, he’d be better prepared financially — and emotionally — for whatever the future held in store.

Which is why he went to the State House Jan. 10 to testify in favor of House Bill H.4199, an act that would require all high school students to take a ½ credit course on financial literacy before graduating.

What would the bill require of schools, students?

The bill would require students to take one standalone personal financial literacy course for one-half of one semester or take part in an equivalent amount of coursework. The course would be required in every school district, charter school, approved private day or residential school or collaborative school serving students in grades 9 through 12.

The topics covered would include earning and spending income, budgeting, balancing checkbooks, local, state and federal taxes, charitable giving, long-term saving, simple and compound interest and investments.

Do teachers have the time and bandwidth for a financial literacy requirement?

“If you can’t read or write, you’re at a disadvantage; If you don’t know numbers, you’re at a disadvantage,” John Ganss, a business teacher at Cape Cod Regional Technical High School said.

Ganss has been teaching business courses for 25 years in the technical school system. His courses in personal finance and entrepreneurship are electives. He talks with students about credit card debt, amortization tables, and retirement products among a host of other subjects.

He’s been involved with Curran and the Credit for Life fair for about 10 years. All seniors must attend what Ganss calls “a hugely informative hour,” where students must budget a hypothetical yearly income amount. Will they rent or live with their parents, buy a new or used car, get the best mobile phone and plan, or scale back? How much will they save and what bills will they pay with credit cards and which ones with direct payment plans?

“They know they need to know more,” he said. “They see the value in knowing more.”

Ganss has read the bill, but has reservations about mandates in general, and worries about how teachers will fit the course into already tightly packed curriculums. He thinks it could hamstring schools and make life more difficult for teachers held accountable to state standards in English and math.

“I love the idea of it because I teach it, but you can’t get blood out of a stone,” he said. “Everyone is constrained by other standards.”

But he agrees students need to know these things.

“We (the US) have the highest credit card debt that we’ve ever had,” Ganss said. “Those people are not financially literate because they’ve put themselves in a position where they’re paying 25% interest on a loan to purchase something that is worth much less than what they bought it for. It immediately puts them back.”

Massachusetts credit card, student loan debt is substantial

In Massachusetts the average credit card debt for adults 19 to 25 years old is $2,854, according to Bankrate, a consumer financial services company. That figure rises for Millennials (26-41) to $5,649 and Generation X (42-57) to $8,134. Baby Boomers owe an average of $6,245.

Student loans are another huge financial burden. The average student loan debt for federal loans in Massachusetts was $34,430 at the end of 2023 according to the US Department of Education.

Curran said in his testimony that the bill has been well received by teachers’ unions, but there is the concern that something must be removed from the curriculum as a requirement before a financial literacy requirement can be added. If that happened, it wouldn’t require hiring new teachers or adding to school budgets, Curran said. And many personal finance curriculums are available, he added.

“Teachers could hit the ground running,” Curran said.

Financial literacy courses are a high school graduation requirement in 25 states

Twenty-five states require high school students to take a financial literacy course before they graduate, according to Ramsey Solutions, a platform of radio shows, columns, books and podcasts that focus on financial matters. Massachusetts is not one of them. Only 17 towns in Massachusetts require it for graduation, Curran said.

Curran held Credit for Life fairs with 16 schools reaching about 2,300 students in 2023. He said schools in the region are now calling him to set up and host the fairs.

“At Barnstable High School last November, as the principal and superintendent introduced me, they told the class that last year's student survey named financial education as far and away the top suggestion for how to improve the curriculum,” he told the Joint Committee on Education.

Curran said there is overwhelming philosophical support for the bill among teachers, students and committee members. What kept coming up in the hearing was that 25 states require such a course.

“We should be number one in the country,” Curran said. “This is one place where we have an F. That resonated with committee members.”

Denise Coffey writes about business, tourism and issues impacting Cape Cod's residents and visitors. Contact her at dcoffey@capecodonline.com.

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Will Massachusetts require students to take financial literacy class?