Mississippi has earned an A grade in the 2026 National Report Card on State Efforts to Improve Financial Literacy in High Schools for requiring students to complete a standalone personal finance course before graduation.
The report, released by the National Endowment for Financial Education, evaluates how states incorporate personal finance education into high school graduation requirements, academic standards and education policies.
Mississippi has required students to complete a standalone personal finance course beginning with the graduating class of 2022. The state also provides training to teachers who teach the subject, according to the report.
“A stand-alone course has been shown to be the most effective method of teaching personal finance,” said John Pelletier, a senior fellow at the National Endowment for Financial Education.
However, the report noted that it is unclear how Mississippi monitors school districts’ implementation of the requirement to ensure all students have equal access to personal finance education. It also questioned how the state measures students’ financial literacy achievement.
The 2026 report is the sixth edition of the national assessment. Previous editions were published by the Center for Financial Literacy at Champlain College, beginning in 2013. The National Endowment for Financial Education took over responsibility for the report with the latest edition.
Nationally, the report projects that 29 states will require students to complete a standalone personal finance course by the time the class of 2031 graduates. An estimated 73% of public high school graduates that year will have completed a substantive personal finance course before graduation.
When the first report was released in 2013, only three states earned an A, representing about 5% of students in the nation’s public schools.
The report also highlighted public support for financial education. A 2025 nationwide poll conducted by the National Endowment for Financial Education found that 83% of U.S. adults believe their state should require a semester- or yearlong personal finance course for high school graduation. Additionally, 82% of respondents who attended high school said they wished they had been required to take a personal finance class.
Billy Hensley, president and CEO of the National Endowment for Financial Education, said requiring a standalone course is an important step toward providing students with financial education.
The organization said financial literacy can help people make informed decisions about saving, investing, retirement planning and managing financial services.
The report was developed through reviews of high school graduation requirements, state academic standards and laws, regulations and guidelines governing personal finance education in public high schools across all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
