Survey of High School Juniors and Seniors Reveals High Levels of Unpreparedness to Manage Personal Finances, Eagerness to Learn

EVERFI, the leader in powering digital financial education in K-12 public schools across the United States and Puerto Rico, today released new survey results highlighting the lack of preparedness among high school juniors and seniors for personal finance management. The new report demonstrates that high school students are ill-equipped to understand or manage student loans for college and lack mastery of fundamental financial skills like budgeting and maintaining credit.

The survey data, collected from July 2024-February 2025, demonstrates an alarming trend: as high schoolers first begin to access financial tools, their preparedness to manage personal finances remains low. Key findings include:

• The majority of high school juniors and seniors have at least one financial product already, such as a savings account (47%), checking account (51%), or credit card (21%). At the same time, six in 10 young people don’t feel capable of managing their credit.
• While many upperclassmen have access to, or are interested in, peer-to-peer payment apps, only half feel confident in their ability to use them safely and recognize online scams.
• While most students plan to pursue higher education after graduation, 53% of students don’t believe they can put together a plan for how to pay off student loans post-college.
• Young people today are increasingly interested in investing, yet 69% feel the topic is intimidating, and only 12% feel confident in their ability to explain how the stock market works.
• While only four in 10 upperclassmen talk to their parents about money management at home, further research shows that these conversations tend to happen more often when students are taking a financial education course in school.

“The importance of timely and effective financial education for students on the cusp of adulthood cannot be overstated. Post-high school, these young people face unique challenges, and we must equip them with the knowledge and skills for healthy financial choices,” said Ray Martinez, CEO, EVERFI. “A growing number of states now require personal finance education as a graduation requirement. With the responsibility falling on states, school districts, and individual schools to provide this education, the private sector has an opportunity to become a stable and supportive funding source. Banks and credit unions also stand to benefit greatly from a more financially literate next-generation consumer in terms of building trust, relevance, brand awareness, and the adoption of that institution’s financial products.”

Educating students about financial topics – which are many and varied – should not be left to just one course at one point during their high school career. To effectively educate students on various financial topics and boost their confidence, research has found that multiple financial literacy courses are necessary and valuable.

The MassMutual Foundation, in collaboration with EVERFI, conducted a first-of-its-kind multi-year longitudinal study on the effects of multiple financial education interventions on students’ financial capability. The study found that taking multiple courses generated a long-lasting impact on students’ confidence in their financial skills. Even if students stopped taking any courses, the improvements driven by the previous courses they had taken remained significant. Further, financial behavior change could be observed six months after program completion upon the emergence of behavioral opportunities to act, with an even larger improvement observed for students from lower-income families. The completion of multiple courses effectively prevented the decline in communication with their parents on financial topics, which was observed in the students who took only one course.

With investing of interest to so many in Generation Z, EVERFI also conducted a research study on the efficacy of investing education with support from Edward Jones. The study, using EVERFI’s Marketplaces: Investing Basics™ course, found that financial education not only improves knowledge but also enhances attitudes and builds confidence, leading to action. Further, the study found that the educational course had a positive impact on students’ intentions to make financial investments by building confidence in basic investing skills. The increase in confidence led to a higher intention of making future investments.

“Positive behavioral change is the goal of financial education, but self-efficacy is the key bottleneck,” said Martinez. “To achieve this change, students need scenarios and opportunities for risk-free, consequence-free interactions, which significantly boosts their confidence and readiness to make informed financial decisions. We also believe that young people should be recognized and rewarded for showing individual responsibility by taking a financial literacy course or experience through a scholarship, wealth building account, or career learning opportunity.”

As April is Financial Literacy Month, EVERFI recognizes the month as an opportune time for financial institutions to evaluate how they’re supporting young people and their hopes, fears, and goals surrounding money management. Learn more about sponsoring financial literacy education in schools by visiting everfi.com/sponsorship.