Personal finance given a boost with Next Gen grant

A requirement for graduation was recently approved for the Cornell School District, in the area of understanding personal finance. Because of that, the district applied for, and received, a Next Gen Personal Finance Grant, in the amount of $10,000.

Next Gen Personal Finance is a non-profit organization that partners with teachers, to provide an up-to-date and relevant curriculum to students, in hopes to increase financial education. In the last three years, Next Gen Personal Finance has disbursed over $1.7 million in grants and partnership funding.

Once approval was received to make personal finance courses a requirement, Cornell submitted school board meeting minutes of that approval to Next Gen, along with their application.

After receiving the funding, the $10,000 grant was used to purchase 31 laptops for the personal finance classroom at the middle and high school.

“We will continue to develop the program through updated resources for the students,” said business education teacher Nicole Modl.

Modl’s course is an 18-week model that covers topics such as spending behaviors, taxes, checking and savings, paying for college, types of credit, managing credit, investing and insurance. In outlining the course, Modl’s students will decide what their potential lifestyle will look like and how to manage their earnings to reflect that.

Personal finance will be offered in the spring semester, to the junior class at the Cornell High School.

“I think this will benefit our students,” said Modl, “by providing them with the tools and knowledge to have a successful financial future.”