Georgia’s college fintech curriculum expanding into high schools

A new partnership between the state agencies in charge of higher education and K-12 will expand the University System of Georgia’s fintech curriculum into high schools. The new program will build on the success of the Georgia FinTech Academy, which has provided at least one fintech course to more than 1,900 college students at 23 of the university system’s 26 institutions since it was launched two years ago.

Those college courses will now be available to students attending Georgia’s 481 public high schools, allowing them to earn college credit and credentials valued by employers in a fast-growing industry.

“Fintech is a high-demand career field, and we are committed to preparing the state’s workforce to meet that demand,” said Tristan Denley, the university system’s executive vice chancellor for academic affairs.

Georgia is a global financial technology and payments hub, so much so it is home to America’s payments processing “Transaction Alley.” In fact, 70% of all U.S. financial transactions pass through Georgia companies each year. The new partnership between the university system, the Georgia Department of Education and the American Transaction Processors Coalition is aimed at maintaining that momentum.

“Offering an on-ramp at the high school level makes this a first-of-its-kind initiative that can potentially inspire similar programs across the country to feed our growing industry’s workforce demand,” said West Richards, the coalition’s executive director. The high-school fintech program will include three courses modeled after those offered by the Georgia Fin-Tech Academy at the college level. The courses may be provided as a standard high school pathway or for dual high school and college credit. Students interested in the dual-enrollment program should contact their academic advisor or guidance counselor.