Oregon retained a C grade in the 2026 National Report Card on State Efforts to Improve Financial Literacy in High SchoolsTM, issued by the Denver-based National Endowment for Financial Education® (NEFE®). But the state is projected to raise its grade to an A by 2027.
NEFE is issuing this sixth report card, which reflects how well personal finance is taught in high schools. The previous five report cards were issued by the Center for Financial Literacy (CFL) at Champlain College in Burlington, Vt. The first report was issued in 2013. Beginning with this latest edition, NEFE assumes responsibility for the report card, expanding its reach and influence as a leading measure of state-level financial education policy for years to come.
“Adopting a standalone, full-semester high school personal finance graduation requirement is a vital first step in delivering effective financial education to all students,” says Billy Hensley, Ph.D., president and CEO of NEFE. “NEFE applauds Oregon and supports educational leaders as they work to effectively implement these programs in the classroom.”
John Pelletier, senior fellow at NEFE, says Oregon does not yet require a standalone personal finance course for all high school students, the main criteria for earning an A grade in the report card. Currently, the state’s social sciences standards for economics include some personal finance content. It is currently left to local control to determine how this financial literacy content should be taught to high school students. Thus, the quality and quantity of the content varies greatly from district to district.
“But beginning with the Class of 2027, students will be required to complete a half-year course in personal finance,” says Pelletier. “This change will raise the state’s grade to an A.”
Pelletier notes that it is not clear how Oregon measures student achievement in financial literacy or how the state monitors local school district implementation of the financial literacy education requirement.
National Report Card Overview
Pelletier projects that when the Class of 2031 graduates, 29 states will require high school students to take a standalone personal finance course, with an estimated 73 percent of public high school students who graduate in 2031 taking a substantive personal finance course prior to graduation. When the first report card was issued in 2013, only three states earned an A grade, representing just five percent of students in the nation’s public schools.
“Financial literacy is linked to positive outcomes like wealth accumulation, stock market participation, effective retirement planning and avoiding high-cost alternative financial services. Conversely, poor financial literacy and negative financial behaviors often go hand in hand,” says Pelletier. “High school personal finance education can help alleviate the cycle of poverty that exists in our nation. Requiring all students to take a standalone financial literacy course, regardless of their race, ethnicity or economic status, is an important step our nation can take toward reducing inequality.”
A 2025 nationwide opinion poll from NEFE found that 83 percent of U.S. adults believe the state they live in should require a semester- or year-long course focused on personal finance as a graduation requirement, while 82 percent of respondents who attended high school say they wish they were required to complete a personal finance class while they were in school.
“NEFE’s data reflect strong public support for financial education in high school. The vast majority of Americans agree their state should require a semester- or year-long course for graduation, and that personal finance is equally as important as core subjects like math, science and English. Furthermore, most Americans believe the quality of their financial life would be better had they received financial education in school,” Hensley adds.
To produce the report card, NEFE conducted detailed reviews of high school graduation requirements, state academic standards for personal finance education, and laws, regulations and guidelines related to how each state delivers personal finance education in its public high schools. A national map with information on the 50 states and the District of Columbia and a downloadable copy of the full report card is available:
https://www.nefe.org/initiatives/national-report-card/default.aspx
