OCONTO (NBC 26) — Some financial lessons are learned the hard way. A class at Oconto High School is meant to help students learn about personal finance in class, instead.
- A personal finance class will be a statewide graduation requirement in Wisconsin, beginning with the class of 2028
- The course is already a graduation requirement at Oconto High School.
- Watch the video to see some of what the course's teacher hopes her students learn in class.
Before it becomes a requirement statewide, a personal finance class is a graduation requirement at Oconto High School.
Monica Veley's son recently took the class.
"...[B]eing an adult, you have to know these things anyway, so I think it's great that they're starting them at a younger age," Veley said.
Beginning with the class of 2028, a personal finance class will be a graduation requirement statewide.
At Oconto High School, the class has been a graduation requirement since 2019, said Alana Eder, who teaches the class.
"A lot of times, these topics, we learn the hard way," Eder said.
"So, I try to share my own personal stories, hoping that I can save them from the expense..."
Topics in the class include budgeting, interest, credit and paying for college.
The hope is that some money lessons can be learned in class instead of out in the real world, which is how Veley learned.
There are "...things I wish I would have known, coming out of high school," Veley said.
