Personal Finance is a High School Requirement, Why Synchrony is Supporting Teachers
This April, Synchrony, a leading consumer financing company headquartered in Stamford, announced a $2 million commitment through its Empowering Financial Futures philanthropic program to support K-12 public school teachers who teach personal finance classes. It’s Financial Literacy Month, and Synchrony’s timing is deliberate.
With $3 million now committed to Empowering Financial Futures since its launch last year, the company is making a sustained argument that personal finance requires more than a checkbox in a state curriculum. For the students walking into Stamford High School’s new Financial Literacy Lab, that has already become a reality.
Synchrony transformed a standard classroom into a Financial Literacy Lab in partnership with Connecticut Financial Scholars. It is the first Lab to open, with nine more school labs set to follow nationwide. In the dedicated space, students will learn how to budget, plan for an emergency, build credit, and think critically about their financial futures.
“We are teaming up with education experts and investing millions of dollars to equip America’s educators and community organizations with the resources to bring personal finance lessons to life,” said Denise Yap, President of the Synchrony Foundation. “When students learn how to budget, save, and manage credit early, we know economic opportunity and security follows.”
In the United States, financial literacy education faces two challenges: not enough students have access to it, and not enough teachers feel prepared to teach it. A Synchrony-commissioned survey of nearly 400 K-12 public school educators, conducted in August of 2025, found that even though more than 80 percent of teachers believe financial education is essential to their students’ success, fewer than 60 percent feel confident teaching it. Nearly two-thirds reported struggling with student engagement and a lack of relevant, usable content.
The urgency is clear in Connecticut. More than 600 Stamford High School students are taking a personal finance course this year as part of a new statewide graduation requirement beginning with the Class of 2027. The Council for Economic Education’s 2026 Survey of the States found that 39 states now require students to complete a personal finance course before graduation. As that number continues to grow, the demand for well-prepared teachers is outpacing the supply, with the consequences falling hardest on students in under-resourced communities.
The Stamford Lab opened in March and was co-designed with the school’s personal finance teachers to create a space built for how teenagers actually learn. It is a vibrant, high-energy environment with resources that encourage participation. The Lab features digital monitors, a stock ticker, interactive games and modern money resources that make budgeting, savings, and credit feel less like a lecture and more like a life skill. The accompanying $150,000 grant to Connecticut Financial Scholars (CTFS) funds 30 hours of paid teacher training, ongoing instructional coaching, classroom visits from CTFS staff and customizable lesson plans.
“When community partners work together, students and teachers benefit and that’s what we’re here for. So, partners like Synchrony help expand access to resources that are absolutely necessary for learning and growth,” said Betsy McNeil, Executive Director, Connecticut Financial Scholars. “When community partners like Synchrony and Connecticut Financial Scholars partner together, we can help level the playing field so that all students regardless of their background can gain the essential financial skills to achieve financial empowerment and their own financial freedom.”
Beyond Stamford, the Empowering Financial Futures grants direct funding to a consortium of national nonprofits; each focused on a different part of the teacher-support process. One of the more distinctive elements of the program is its focus on the financial health of teachers themselves, by providing free, one-on-one financial counseling services for eligible U.S. public school teachers. Nearly half of the grant funding supports these services, recognizing that teachers who are managing their own financial stress are better positioned to teach others financial confidence.
For Synchrony, the Stamford Lab is just the beginning. With more Financial Literacy Labs planned near Synchrony offices nationwide, what started in one Connecticut classroom is becoming a blueprint for what personal finance education can look like across the country.
