PUYALLUP, Wash. — The Puyallup School Board voted to make a course on financial literacy a requirement to graduate during its March 21 first meeting.
The 24 credits needed to graduate will not change and the course will come out of the quota for elective credits. The course curriculum will debut in 2024, so it can be mandatory for the class of 2026.
Currently, about one quarter of Puyallup's students attend a financial literacy course offered by the school district.
Sarah Gillispie of the Puyallup School District said the move aims to make sure all students get this information.
“By making financial literacy a graduation requirement, we can ensure that all of our graduates have the knowledge and skill to manage financial resources,” she said.
The class will teach students how to establish credit and manage a bank account; skills that Jamillah Adjepong, a financial coach with the Tacoma Urban League, said are vital after seeing how intimidating debt can be to the young people she's worked with.
“They build all this debt, and then they’re scared,” Adjepong said. “So then they’re like, hey man, forget it, I already messed up, so let’s move on to something else ... and then they start to lose faith that they can fix the situation that they’re in.”
According to Experian, the average person in Washington state has more than $127,000 in debt, one of the highest averages in the country. Financial advisors say having the tools to navigate credit could help students avoid potential mistakes that could take decades to fix.
“Building a strong foundation is much easier than tearing down a broken foundation and rebuilding it,” said Elwis Johnson, a financial advisor for Edward Jones. “If these young people have the resources available to them to make those better decisions early on in life, that’s only going to improve their quality of life later on.”
“We have been so retroactive on credit repair and how to fix your credit versus being proactive on how to not fall into these credit traps,” said Thea Feltzs, president and owner of the insurance firm Comparative Solutions.
Feltzs also hopes this will give many students access to information they may not find anywhere else.
“A lot of parents weren’t taught this, so it’s not always something that can be taught at home,” Feltzs explained. “If it is an option or a requirement, then we know that all of our children, or most of all of our children pass through high school, so if it’s something that they can at least gain there, it is something that they at least have. Whether they utilize or take advantage of it or not, it’s something they can fall back on.”