High Schools Roll Out New AP Business and Personal Finance Course

A new Advanced Placement course in business and personal finance is now available in high schools across the United States.

The College Board introduced the class for the first time this academic year. It is currently being taught in over 1,500 schools. Students can take an exam at the end of the course to earn college credit.

The curriculum covers management and financial principles. It also examines external factors that affect businesses. These include political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal elements.

David Coleman, the CEO of the College Board, stated that the organization created the course based on student surveys. Students indicated they wanted to turn their ideas into jobs. Coleman described business as a core part of the liberal arts. He said the mix of practical and theoretical learning is highly useful today.

The course appeals to students seeking a more practical alternative to standard AP economics. At Hoover High School near Birmingham, Alabama, students are enrolled in the class. The school is the largest high school in Alabama with a student body just under 3,000.

In one class session, students discussed how they manage part-time job paychecks. Junior Darshan Parmar said he invests in index funds such as S&P, QQQ, and VOO. He confirmed that he handles the investing himself without his parents. Another student allocates 70 percent of his income to a Roth IRA. A third student contributes to a 401(k).

Senior Bramley Williams called the material a foundational piece of business. Sophomore Damola Kukoyi said the AP course allows her to boost her grade point average. AP classes are often weighted higher than other courses in GPA calculations.

Hoover High School also offers a four-year business academy. That program includes classes in accounting and entrepreneurship. Senior Rachel Deschaine, who is enrolled in the AP business course, said general business knowledge helps students understand how people and companies interact financially. Her father owned a trucking company and her brother is studying economics. Deschaine noted that business concepts appear in her family dinner conversations.

The new AP course is part of a wider trend in financial education. Thirty-nine states now require a personal finance class for graduation. That is four more states than two years ago, according to the Council for Economic Education. A Federal Reserve paper found that families in states with financial education mandates made better financial decisions. These families were more likely to use stimulus checks to pay down credit card balances and refinance mortgages during the pandemic.

Jennifer Steele, a professor of education at American University, said youth are effective at using money responsibly when they receive proper education. The College Board manages the SAT and develops AP courses for public and private schools. The new business course is now part of that national portfolio.