How do young people learn financial skills?

By Evan Dawson,

Published November 13, 2024 at 3:12 PM EST

Five smiling people wearing headphones sit around a table in a radio talk studio: a woman front left has short blonde hair and is wearing a black and white sweater, black pants, and black shoes; a young woman front center has long brown hair and is wearing a blue sweater, khaki shirt, and white sneakers; a woman back left has long dark hair and is wearing and short-sleeved back shirt; a woman back center has shoulder-length dark hair and is wearing glasses, a white top, and a black blazer; a man at right has short dark hair and is wearing a grey button-down shirt, jeans, and sneakers — (foreground) Beth Mannix, Bailey Weigel, (background) Angela Rollins, and Kristin Larsen on "Connections with Evan Dawson" on Wednesday, November 13, 2024

A smiling man with short dark hair wearing a blue button-down shirt and a grey blazer. He is holding a pair of eyeglasses. The word "Connections" appears on the left side of the photo in vertical letters.

The vast majority of U.S. students can't answer a set of basic questions related to money, markets, and economics. That's according to a new study of thousands of higher ed students.

The questions were focused on matters like how to reduce the interest one pays on a mortgage, to understanding the effect of compound interest on payments. Even more concerning was the fact that students who are carrying loan debt scored worse overall on financial literacy than students who carry no debt.

We examine how young people are learning financial skills from their schools, as well as from the city of Rochester.

Our guests:

Angela Rollins, director of the Office of Financial Empowerment at the City of Rochester
Beth Mannix, teacher at Our Lady of Mercy High School
Bailey Weigel, student at Our Lady of Mercy High School
Kristin Larsen, assistant superintendent at Honeoye Fall-Lima Central School District