At Shadow Ridge High School, a new opportunity is reshaping how students approach financial literacy. Beginning next year, students will be able to take this graduation requirement as a dual enrollment course, adding both college credit and a new layer of expectations to an already practical class. Nevada requires every student to complete an economics/financial literacy course before graduating. Until now, that class has stayed firmly within the high school setting. The addition of a dual enrollment option changes that.
Shadow Ridge Counselor, Lisa Hebb stated, “The reality is that most people are not going to fully understand the concept of real-world finances, budgets, paychecks, paying taxes, how our government is funded, etc. from a class or a book. We learn from the experience of going through it, probably making mistakes, and from watching it happen in real time.”
The introduction of a dual enrollment option brings a new layer of purpose to the requirement. While students may not walk away as financial experts, the course is designed to bridge the gap between theory and experience. By exposing students to college-level expectations and real-world topics earlier, the class aims to build both confidence and curiosity.
Hebb continued, “The value I see in the class is that hopefully good conversations about the basics can happen and as you go through life you can access resources or ask the right questions in order to make the best sense of it all.”
In addition to learning the basics of budgeting, taxes and personal finance, students enrolled in the dual enrollment course will also experience the expectations of a college-level classroom. The course is designed not only to teach financial concepts, but also to strengthen academic skills that students will use long after high school graduation.
AP and Dual Enrollment Government teacher Matthew Nighswonger stated, “They will receive college credit for taking the class. It is a college level class so we will do more writing than a typical financial literacy class. We will focus on writing a thesis statement and finding information from the class readings.”
Because the class is offered as dual enrollment, students will complete more advanced assignments than those in a traditional financial literacy course. This allows them to earn college credit while also preparing for the workload and structure of future college classes.
He continued, “I am excited that my students will get college credit. We will do some career exploration and some career connecting this next school year. I think that will be interesting.”
