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When Stamford High School students arrive at their personal finance class, they鈥檙e greeted by a stock ticker and a TV monitor showing the day鈥檚 business and financial news.

Printed below, on the yellow wall, is a collage of words like 鈥渋ndependence,鈥� 鈥済enerational wealth鈥� and 鈥渄ream big.鈥� 鈥淵our journey to financial freedom starts here,鈥� another wall reads.

This is the school鈥檚 recently renovated financial literacy lab. As schools across Connecticut work to meet a new graduation requirement, Stamford 鈥� with help from the city’s well-established finance sector 鈥� is staying a few steps ahead.

The district already offered personal finance as an elective before the statewide requirement went into effect. Now, it鈥檚 upping its game, in part with the help of a $150,000 grant from Stamford-based financial services company Synchrony.

It鈥檚 part of $3 million in grants Synchrony has rolled out nationwide under its “Empowering Financial Futures” initiative over the last two years. And it comes as interest in K-12 financial literacy grows around the U.S. 

鈥淜ids need to start to get focused on this, and they need to understand what true financial literacy is,鈥� Sue Bishop, Synchrony’s chief corporate affairs officer, said at the lab鈥檚 grand opening last month. 

The company’s grant to Stamford’s public schools went toward purchasing a live stock ticker and two TV monitors, along with dozens of finance-related games, books and activities. The materials will support a now-mandatory personal finance class, which includes topics ranging from household budgeting to investment and loan planning. 

Connecticut Financial Scholars, part of a national organization seeking to bring financial literacy into K-12 education, helped Stamford design the course. Director of Program Support Elisa Oliver said it鈥檚 exciting to witness students picking up new skills.

鈥淪eeing kids actually break down a loan amortization calculator,” Oliver marveled. “We鈥檙e seeing students having these conversations when they鈥檙e 15, 16 years old, which is awesome.”

Toward increasing economic mobility

Connecticut鈥檚 financial literacy requirement , with the state legislature voting overwhelmingly in favor. The mandate also received support from Gov. Ned Lamont and state Treasurer Erick Russell. 

“Personal financial management is one of the most important instructional tools that we can give young people to achieve economic independence and stability throughout their lives,” Lamont when the bill was signed into law. “Requiring it to graduate from high school is simply common sense.”

Under the requirement, starting in the fall of 2023, public high school students in the state had to take a half-credit personal finance course to graduate, starting with the class of 2027. The state is using curriculum developed by , a national organization that has developed the most-used personal finance curriculum in the country. 

In an interview with the Connecticut Mirror, Russell said the financial literacy requirement fits into broader wealth-building and financial security efforts supported by the state. He pointed to programs like , and the 鈥� the state’s 529 college savings program 鈥� as additional examples.

“Having that strong educational foundation and understanding of finances is also key,  so that people can take advantage of some of those opportunities,” he said. “We want to make sure, as we look at this investment from Synchrony and others like it, as we look at the financial education course requirement, that we’re setting people up for long term success in our state.”

In requiring personal finance coursework, Connecticut joined a growing national trend. According to , 39 states currently require students to take a personal finance course before high school graduation.

“As more states adopt these requirements, ensuring educators have the training, tools, and ongoing support to teach personal finance effectively is becoming increasingly important,” Steve Bumbaugh, the council’s CEO, said in a on Monday.

That sentiment is echoed by Connecticut Financial Scholars. In the years since the organization set up shop in the state, it has worked to promote financial literacy education, with a focus on Connecticut鈥檚 large cities and higher-need school districts.

The goal is to promote equity in access to financial knowledge in the state, said organization executive director Betsy McNeil.

“Without adequate financial education, students are more likely to struggle with debt or financial stress that really can impact them on a daily basis and can limit their economic mobility,” she said. “We’re looking to equip the students with the really essential financial skills, knowledge, awareness and confidence.”

Bishop, of Synchrony, said the need to teach financial literacy has grown as more and more young people, especially college students, get wrapped up in the world of sports gambling and prediction markets.

鈥淵ou can get that same high by investing in the stock market or saving in a mutual fund 鈥� in a much safer and much more beneficial way,鈥� Bishop said.

Connecticut Financial Scholars is active in a number of schools, using a four-part strategy of curriculum, teacher support, parent engagement and community involvement to further spread its message. 

After the Connecticut personal finance requirement was established, the organization on how to implement financial education curricula in their classrooms.

Efforts like the Stamford High School lab also help, McNeil said, by providing ways for community members and local institutions to support student learning. In the coming months she said she hopes more communities will benefit from this kind of investment.

鈥淲e continue to explore and listen for those opportunities in the other communities that we’re in as well,鈥� she said, noting that Stamford is one of the state鈥檚 鈥渁lliance districts,鈥� a group of under-resourced school districts in Connecticut. 

“This is needed in Stamford, and we recognize and understand it is needed in other communities across the state as well,” McNeil added.

Stamford ahead of the curve

Synchrony’s Bishop said she鈥檚 glad the personal finance course also devotes time to more mundane topics, such as building a good credit score. 鈥淵ou honestly cannot live in this country without credit,鈥� she said.

When she graduated high school, Bishop said the extent of her financial literacy was knowing how to balance a checkbook. That didn鈥檛 change until her first job, which happened to be at a mutual fund company.

鈥淚 was like, ‘I鈥檓 not good at math. I鈥檓 a communications person. What am I doing?’鈥� Bishop said. 鈥淚 still say it was the best thing that ever happened to me, because I learned about investing.鈥�

Courses like Stamford鈥檚 aim to put that kind of knowledge in the classroom where, in theory, every student will be exposed to it. Bishop said that also has an upside for banks themselves.

鈥淲e never want to loan money to someone who can鈥檛 pay us back,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e have a vested interest in developing young people to be responsible adults.鈥�

Stamford High School personal finance teacher Doug Taylor said for the final assessment of the class, students face a 鈥渓ife scenario鈥� in which they manage a household budget while handling unexpected problems like a car breaking down.

鈥淚n the end of that cycle, they must have had the budget balanced,鈥� Taylor said.

Stamford senior Nick Sutin said he鈥檚 landed a job with a nearby finance company, and he said he gives some credit to the finance classes he’s taken. He said that expertise helped him make a strong impression.

鈥淵ou already have the background to answer all these types of questions,鈥� Sutin said.

Stamford students who want to study finance topics beyond the state requirement have plenty of opportunities. The high school boasts 12 business teachers, most of whom have business or financial work experience. Their classes include entrepreneurship, business communications and investing. Some students even build stock portfolios and take part in competitions with other high schools.

鈥淭his is not vocational. This is finance. This is investments. This is starting a business,鈥� said Dorothea Mackey, the head of Stamford High School’s Career and Technical Education department.

Mackey, who previously worked as an analyst at Chrysler Capital, played a leading role in securing Synchrony鈥檚 support for the new financial literacy lab.

鈥淭his is just pushing this envelope a little bit forward to make sure that the business education is solidified,鈥� she said.

This first appeared on and is republished here under a .

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