Mo. high schoolers learn adult financial lessons through new required course

SEDALIA, Mo. -- Haley Davis, 16, knows how expensive adulthood is.

The high school junior was surprised to find out, through the personal finance class she took last summer, just how much everything from food to housing costs.

"It was really eye-opening," she said.

Davis wasn't the only one. Four years ago, the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education required all students, starting with the class of 2010, to take a personal finance class.

Missouri, Tennessee and Utah are the only three states that require at least a one-semester personal finance course, according to Jumpstart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy, an organization that encourages financial literacy for students.

Seventeen other states require personal finance instruction be taught within other courses.

Davis said one of the things she learned was how financial constraints dictate lifestyle choices.

"It was probably the most helpful, beneficial class that I've taken," she said. She said she thinks she will be able to use the skills she learned in the class in the real world.

Jennifer Schlender, business and technology instructor at Green Ridge High School, said the school offers a semester-long personal finance course twice per year, and during the summer that covers how to balance a checkbook, write a budget, buy a home, saving and investing, credit cards and consumer privacy laws, among other things.

The students who took the course over the summer took a field trip to learn how to shop for a used car, met a real estate agent and looked at a house, and comparison-shopped at Wal-Mart for a party.

Students were given a set amount to "spend" on the party and a list of items they needed for a 50-person barbecue.

"They actually enjoyed this, because it does make you look and think," she said.

She has talked in class with her students about the recession and the economy.

Junior Cole Bredehoeft, 16, who took the class last summer, said he thinks the class is "things people need to know so they know what they're getting into when they're out on their own."

He said the biggest thing he learned is to always live within his means, and only buy what he can afford so he doesn't live paycheck to paycheck.

"If you look at what's going on right now, people borrowed more money than they should," he said, and didn't know how to manage money.

The class "opened my eyes to how everything works," he said. "I didn't know how much goes into buying a car, buying a house."

Senior Daisy Hurtado, 17, said she learned to keep her expenses on track.

"When you go to work, you go to school, you just grab something to eat and it's a lot of money, it adds up," she said.

Those are some of the lessons Schlender hopes her students learn.

"It's going to be reassuring to know that these students know how to write a check properly and balance their checkbooks," she said. "Hopefully, we're making our students smarter and they know what they can and can't do with their money."