The College Board is introducing a new Advanced Placement (AP) Business with Personal Finance course nationwide in the 2026-27 school year. This course is designed to provide high school students with essential financial literacy and business acumen, addressing a critical gap in education where many Americans reach adulthood without fundamental money management skills. Intuit has partnered with College Board to offer free supplemental tools and resources, including interactive exercises and a comprehensive financial-planning project, leveraging its products like TurboTax, QuickBooks, and Credit Karma. These resources aim to immerse students in realistic scenarios such as filing taxes, understanding credit, and managing a small business.
The curriculum emphasizes project-based learning over rote memorization, with students engaging in activities like developing entrepreneurship business plans and conducting financial advisor simulations. For instance, students might create a business from scratch, defining target markets, analyzing competitors, and building financial projections, culminating in a pitch for investment. Another key project involves advising a client through real-life financial decisions, requiring students to apply learned concepts holistically and justify their recommendations. This approach helps students grasp complex ideas like compound interest and the long-term impact of financial decisions.
The course is already being piloted successfully, for example, at Hamilton Southeastern High School in Fishers, Indiana, where teacher Kristin Lidstrom has observed students connecting financial concepts to their own lives and future goals. The program fulfills Indiana's new diploma requirements for personal finance and is part of the AP Career Kickstart initiative, which aims to provide students with practical, real-world skills relevant to both college and career paths. The goal is to move beyond theoretical knowledge to practical application, ensuring students can actively use concepts like budgeting, credit scores, and interest rates in realistic scenarios, thereby fostering deeper and more meaningful learning.
