Before It Ties Up Their Future

How One Teacher Is Helping Students See the Cost of Today's Decisions

Most students think student loans are a college problem. But LaQuita Haywood knows better. She's still living with the ones she took out at 19.

“I didn’t realize once I finished college and got a job, my income wouldn’t match the loans I’d taken out. It tied up my future,” she says. “My four children weren't even thought of,” she continues. “They didn’t exist when I was making those decisions. Because of that, there are things I can’t provide for them.”

Now she has her students’ full attention. For many, it's the first time they see how money decisions can impact people they care about.

That's why LaQuita wants students to understand that borrowing money for school isn’t just a college decision. It's a future paycheck decision.

Living the Curriculum 

Since 2020, LaQuita has taught at Kingsbury High School in Memphis, Tennessee.

When her district brought in Foundations in Personal Finance, LaQuita finally got a curriculum built around the same belief she'd carried since her first year of teaching. 

“I absolutely love it,” she says. "Whether you're a doctor, a lawyer, work at McDonald's, build houses, a plumber—I don't care what you do," she says. "If you receive money, this class is going to help you." 

And because she wants students to use it immediately, she starts with situations they're already experiencing.

Reaching Students Where They Are

Most of LaQuita’s students are juniors and seniors. For many, their first paycheck is the first chance they get to make real money decisions.

To make lessons relevant, she teaches practical skills like reading a pay stub, understanding the difference between a W-4 and a W-2, and checking whether they’re being paid correctly.

“At first they’re like, ‘This is just another class,’” she says. “But then they come back asking questions.” Some even ask their parents, “Hey mom, have you [done] your taxes yet?”

LaQuita also wants students to understand that unexpected expenses are a normal part of life. During the emergency fund unit, LaQuita hands out fake $20 bills and asks, “How would you spend it?” Then she follows up with another question, “What if something very important came up?”

She shares examples from her own life. Her water heater broke, then her washing machine stopped working. Those moments help students see that life doesn’t wait for convenience, and neither do bills.

“It makes a difference to have money saved,” she tells them, because it turns a crisis into an inconvenience.

Lessons That Last

As she enters her twentieth year of teaching, LaQuita wants to give students the kind of money knowledge she didn’t have at their age. 

“They get a chance to hear this stuff now,” she says.  

Every year, a new group of students walk in thinking they'll figure out money after graduation. 

LaQuita makes sure they don’t wait that long.