Personal finance instruction is in short supply. A Glendale credit union founded by teachers has built its own answer.
Your teenager can tap a phone to pay for lunch, split a pizza bill in seconds and order nearly anything online. Ask that same teenager what happens when a credit card balance goes unpaid and the answer may be less certain.
Most high schoolers have never taken a class that covers financial literacy. Money habits get picked up at home, from friends or from social media, so what a student knows depends on who happens to be around them.
Teens have access, but not a comprehensive understanding
Nationally, financial education classes are starting to spread but are still far from universal. A 2025 Junior Achievement survey of 1,000 teens found that most high school students have not taken a personal finance class.
- 80% either had never heard of a FICO credit score or didn’t fully understand what it is for.
- 43% thought debt at 18% interest was manageable.
- 42% said they were “terrified” of not having enough money for their future.
Meanwhile, teens are already using financial products. In Everfi’s 2026 survey of more than 161,900 high school students entering its courses, 49% of students had a checking account and 21% had a credit card. But only a little more than half of them felt prepared.
Those numbers describe teens who have the tools before they have the training. Today’s middle school and high school students are not always provided the information that they need to learn about these complex issues.
Money habits form through practice: receiving money, deciding what to do with it and living with the result. A teen saving toward a first car has a reason to care how an auto loan works. That is the case for pairing lessons with a real account. It also gives parents a view of the spending and a natural opening for conversations that are otherwise hard to start.
A Credit Union Started by Teachers
Glendale Area Schools Credit Union (GASCU) was founded in 1937 by two Glendale teachers. Nearly 90 years later, it serves La Cañada Flintridge, Glendale and neighboring cities as a community-owned, not-for-profit cooperative.
That structure matters to families. GASCU is owned by the people it serves, not by outside stockholders, and it is built around personalized service and collaborative financial options.
As its 90th anniversary approaches, the credit union keeps adding products designed around what members need. Its newest one is aimed at students. It has just launched its new teen financial program – Extra Credit.
How Extra Credit Works
Extra Credit is GASCU’s all-in-one platform for building money-smart habits in teens. It combines a checking account for students ages 13-17 with financial education tools from leading online financial education provider Banzai so a teen can learn a concept and then use it. They even bonus the new account recipient $100 for opening the account.
The account features:
- A teen checking account with a debit card.
- Initial deposit matching up to $100
- Parental controls that let parents decide what their teen can and can’t do, including card management.
- Savings goals that teens set and track in the app.
- Access to digital services such as Zelle. Transfers between accounts, with parental oversight.
And the education side of it:
- Self-paced online courses, available on any device.
- Lessons built around real situations teens will face, such as budgeting a first paycheck, using a credit card and taking out an auto loan.
- The benefits and risks of credit, the importance of saving, and harder topics like interest rates, mortgages and P&L statements.
- Content aligned to California’s state learning standards.
GASCU’s view is that access to financial learning is critical to young people’s long-term success and independence.
Getting started
Parents do not need to be GASCU members to open an Extra Credit account. A parent or guardian is a joint owner of the account and must be present to open it. Three easy steps to get started:
- Visit a GASCU branch with your teen’s Social Security card, your driver’s license showing your current address and a $5 opening deposit.
- Your teen gets access to the financial literacy program once the account is open.
- The debit card arrives by mail in 7-10 days.
For new members ages 13-17, GASCU currently matches the opening deposit dollar for dollar, up to $100. Matched funds are held for 180 days and are forfeited if the account closes before then, with a limit of one match per person.
Anyone can be a member of GASCU. The credit union welcomes students, teachers, and community members, and offers low-interest-rate loans, free checking and savings accounts, and mortgage services. To learn more, visit gascu.org.
