Intuit Inc.'s personal financial management service Mint is developing a financial literacy curriculum with the children's book publisher Scholastic Corp. of New York.
Mint said it would provide a curriculum to 30,000 8th-grade classes and 300,000 students throughout the United States. Scholastic will distribute the program, a five-page, two-lesson plan, in digital and worksheet formats. Students will learn how to save, budget, set financial goals and other lessons. The news was announced Dec. 20.
For example, Mint said, students might plan to buy a bicycle and then choose to save for it by getting a job as a babysitter. By examining a babysitter's pay, students will understand how long it would take to earn enough money to pay for the bicycle on that income alone.
The materials are being provided without cost through Intuit's philanthropic arm, Intuit Freedom Foundation. In an online, game-playing component users can earn and budget money to spend on different activities.
"This age group is particularly important because in just a couple years they will get their first jobs and they will be making and managing their own money," said Aaron Patzer, Mint's chief executive, who added that the curriculum could easily fit into social studies or math class plans.
"If you don't set the right lessons in middle school, then as adults we will end up with what we have today, which is a negative savings rate."
