Been there, said that.

In today’s Business First:

The University at Buffalo School of Management and M&T Bank are jointly promoting the program, which is a personal finance curriculum, that already is in use at a number of public and parochial schools in Erie and Niagara counties.

…

Mandell said nationwide surveys he began in 1997 to determine how well 12th graders know the basics of personal finance found students’ financial literacy scores in the low- to mid-50 percent ranges.

“This indicates that, despite the attention now paid to the lack of financial literacy, the problem is not about to resolve itself anytime soon,” he said.

A program like this is exactly what I was saying was needed back in this post a few weeks ago. Continued…

“We see a lot of young people making poor financial choices and they end up starting out life in the hole,” said David Rutecki, vice president for government banking at M&T.

“There’s a need for personal finance education, but many schools are already strained with limited resources. This is a free program that could have a positive impact in the classroom and we think partnering with UB is a great way for M&T to offer support to local high schools,” he said.

M&T is one of the best corporate citizens this area has. Kudos to them for recognizing this issue and stepping up to combat it!