General education courses shape students to become more well-rounded educationally and assist them in their future careers, but an extremely important class is missing from the general education requirements: personal finance.
No matter what career path students decide to pursue, money is involved in every single one, therefore, students should be required to take a class that teaches them about everything involving money management.
Opening up a bank account, leasing a car, credit card debt, paying taxes and housing mortgages are all financial situations students will face, but there’s really no current system that requires them to actually retain those skills.
LBCC requiring a personal finance class for students will not only significantly aid them throughout their lives, but will also make younger people feel more confident in making real-world financial decisions.
Making personal finance a required general education course will create a greater outreach of these skills to ensure that all students will have the knowledge to manage their funds, not just students in finance and math majors.
In a study by the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America, only 16% of millennials demonstrated high financial literacy.
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority held a survey in 2022 that found many young adults struggled with budgeting, saving money and overall managing it.
It’s one thing to be making money, but it’s another to manage it and be smart about it. If that’s not done, your hard earned money pretty much goes straight down the drain.
This is why teaching financial skills and concepts to students while they’re young is critical to developing good financial habits, as they’re more likely to stick.
Requiring a personal finance course will allow students to learn the crucial skills of managing money as an adult.
With more young people contributing to the economy and making wise monetary decisions, they’ll become more confident while managing loans, paying taxes and building their credit score.
This personal finance course requirement would be beneficial to college students because it prepares them for their next financial decisions during and after college.