From Junior Achievement annual Teens and Personal Finance Survey (from MarketWatch):

The 2015 survey reveals that nearly half of teens (48 percent) think their parents will help pay for college but only 16 percent of parents (of teens) report planning to pay for post-secondary education. Junior Achievement USA has commissioned the Teens & Personal Finance Survey for the last 16 years. The 2015 study was conducted online on Junior Achievement’s behalf by Harris Poll in January 2015 among 801 parents of teens ages 13-18 years old and 800 teens ages 13-18 years old.

Here are some other interesting findings from the survey which would make for a lively class discussion:

• Gender gap exists when it comes to parental conversations about money:  “Teen girls are more likely than boys to say their parents don’t talk to them enough about money management (40 percent to 24 percent) and paying for college (34 percent to 23 percent).”

• Most influential source for managing personal finances continues to be parents:  “Eighty-four percent of teens report looking to their parents for information on how to manage money, but more than a third (34 percent) of parents says their family’s approach to financial matters is to not discuss finances with their children and “let kids be kids.”

What a great opportunity to create assignments that involve students talking to their parents about money.  When I asked students if they had discussions with their parents about money after our six week workshop, I was heartened to see about 2/3 of the students raise their hands.

About the Author

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.