15 Online Finance Pre-College Programs for High School Students
Online finance pre-college programs give you an early, hands-on way to explore careers in finance, economics, and entrepreneurship before you reach college. Instead of learning financial concepts only in theory, you gain practical exposure to how money, markets, and financial systems operate in real-world contexts.
What do online finance pre-college programs involve?
These programs help you understand what professionals in finance actually do. You’ll learn about analyzing investments, making strategic financial decisions, or evaluating economic trends. By the end, you can better assess your interests and long-term goals while still in high school.
Why participate in online finance pre-college programs?
You learn finance skills you can apply for your own ventures, from budgeting and pricing ideas to understanding risk and returns. Participating in these programs can also strengthen your college applications by demonstrating initiative, quantitative readiness, and clear academic interest in finance-related fields.
If you’re also looking for finance extracurriculars, check here, or go here for paid finance internship opportunities.
Here are 15 online finance pre-college programs for high school students.
15 Online Finance Pre-College Programs for High School Students
1. Financial Decision Making
Location: Online
Cost: $4,099
Acceptance Rate / Selectivity: Selective; limited enrollment
Program Dates: June 15–26 or July 6–17
Application Deadline: Priority deadline: January 28; rolling admission thereafter
Eligibility: High school students in grades 9–12
Financial Decision Making is a two-week virtual program that introduces you to how financial and economic principles guide real-world choices. You explore the reasoning behind common financial decisions, such as how individuals manage money, evaluate loans, or approach investing, while connecting these ideas to larger forces like inflation, interest rates, and market behavior. The program is designed to help you think systematically about financial problems rather than relying on intuition alone. You work with real data and practical tools, including Excel, to analyze scenarios involving risk, returns, and trade-offs. Through applied exercises and case-based learning, you develop quantitative skills that are directly relevant to finance, economics, and entrepreneurship.
2. Young Founders Lab (YFL)
Location: Online (100% virtual with live, interactive sessions)
Cost: Varies by program; need-based financial aid available
Acceptance Rate / Selectivity: Selective; limited enrollment
Program Dates: Offered multiple times per year; schedules vary by cohort
Application Deadline: Rolling, depending on cohort
Eligibility: Open to high school students
Young Founders Lab is a work-learn program that allows you to explore finance, economics, and entrepreneurship by building and refining a real venture idea. Rather than studying finance in isolation, you apply financial thinking to practical decisions such as pricing products, estimating costs, assessing market size, and allocating limited resources. The program is structured around hands-on modules that highlight economic trade-offs, customer behavior, and long-term business viability. Throughout the experience, you participate in live workshops, case-based discussions, and collaborative activities that mirror how founders and investors evaluate opportunities. You receive feedback from experienced mentors who help you think critically about financial assumptions and strategic choices.
3. Young Finance Scholar (YFS) Program – Online
Location: Online (fully self-paced)
Cost: $950
Acceptance Rate / Selectivity: Selective; limited enrollment
Program Dates: On-demand; approximately 50 hours of total coursework
Application Deadline: Rolling enrollment
Eligibility: Students ages 15–18
The Young Finance Scholar (YFS) Program is a self-paced online course designed to help you build a solid foundation in finance, economics, and core business concepts. You learn how companies raise capital, manage finances, and interact with financial markets, gaining exposure to topics such as financial statements, stock exchanges, and initial public offerings. The program connects these concepts to practical decision-making by exploring how individuals and organizations approach saving, borrowing, and long-term financial planning. In addition to technical skills, the course encourages you to think critically about ethics and responsibility in finance, helping you evaluate decisions beyond pure profitability. You also gain insight into the broader financial ecosystem, including banking, insurance, mergers and acquisitions, and global capital flows.
4. Ladder Internship Program
Location: Fully remote; participate from anywhere
Cost: Varies by placement; need-based financial aid may be available
Acceptance Rate / Selectivity: Selective; limited enrollment
Program Dates: Multiple cohorts throughout the year (typically 8–12 weeks)
Application Deadline: Varies by cohort
Eligibility: High school students able to commit 10–20 hours per week
The Ladder Internship Program connects you with a fast-growing startup through a structured, remote internship that offers real exposure to professional business and finance environments. Depending on your placement, you may contribute to projects involving market research, financial modeling, operations, strategic planning, or growth analysis. Your work is integrated into the startup’s ongoing priorities, giving you a realistic view of how early-stage companies make data-driven decisions. Throughout the internship, you work closely with startup team members and receive consistent support from a dedicated Ladder Coach who helps you manage deadlines, communicate effectively, and improve the quality of your work. The program also includes cohort-based workshops focused on transferable skills such as analytical thinking, project execution, and professional communication.
5.Wall Street 101
Location: Bentley University, Waltham, MA (in-person, commuter, residential, and online options available)
Cost: $1,490 (online); $2,450 (commuter); $3,380 (residential); limited need-based scholarships available
Acceptance Rate / Selectivity: Competitive; small, faculty-led classes
Program Dates: One-week sessions offered throughout the summer
Application Deadline: Applications open January 15; rolling admission until June 1
Eligibility: Rising high school juniors and seniors who have completed at least two years of high school coursework
Wall Street 101 is an immersive finance program that gives you a college-level introduction to investing, financial markets, and economic decision-making. You choose from specialized one-week courses focused on areas such as stock market analysis, personal finance, macroeconomics and financial markets, fintech for startups, or global finance and trade. The program emphasizes hands-on learning, allowing you to work with real market data and evaluate how financial decisions are made in professional settings. Through small-group instruction led by Bentley faculty, you analyze stocks and bonds, assess market trends, and develop investment pitches. If you attend in person, you gain access to Bentley’s trading room and use professional tools such as Bloomberg terminals and FactSet.
6. Young Equity Analyst (YEA) Program
Location: Fully virtual
Cost: $1,990
Acceptance Rate / Selectivity: Competitive; small, faculty-led classes
Program Dates: August 10–August 21
Application Deadline: Rolling enrollment until seats are filled
Eligibility: Students ages 15–18
The Young Equity Analyst (YEA) Program is a live, online experience that introduces you to how analysts evaluate companies and make informed investment decisions. You study how economic conditions, industry trends, and market cycles influence business performance and investor behavior. The program builds your ability to read and interpret financial statements, teaching you how income statements, balance sheets, and cash flow statements work together to tell a company’s financial story. As the program progresses, you explore core investment concepts including time value of money and how companies finance growth through equity and debt. You also learn practical valuation methods, including the use of free cash flow models to estimate a stock’s intrinsic value.
7. Understanding Your Money
Location: Fully online and self-paced
Cost: $329
Acceptance Rate / Selectivity: Competitive; small, faculty-led classes
Program Dates: On-demand; start anytime
Application Deadline: None; rolling enrollment
Eligibility: Open to high school students
Understanding Your Money is a self-paced online course that introduces you to essential concepts in personal finance, economics, and investing through a practical, real-world lens. You learn how money flows through the economy and how individual financial decisions shape outcomes over time, guided by short video lessons taught by Wharton faculty. The course emphasizes everyday financial situations, helping you make sense of topics such as earning income, managing expenses, saving, and evaluating spending choices. As you progress through the program, interactive quizzes and applied activities help reinforce key ideas and allow you to track your understanding. The flexible, on-demand format makes this course a good fit if you want to strengthen your financial literacy while balancing schoolwork or other commitments.
8. Entrepreneurial Finance and New Venture Management
Location: Online (virtual; Summer B session)
Cost: Varies by year; see program website for current pricing
Acceptance Rate / Selectivity: Selective; limited enrollment
Program Dates: July 20–July 31
Application Deadline: Rolling admission until the course is full
Eligibility: Open to high school students; prior coursework in business, economics, or entrepreneurship recommended
Entrepreneurial Finance and New Venture Management is a two-week online course that introduces you to the financial and strategic decisions involved in building early-stage ventures. You explore how startups move from idea generation to validation and growth, with an emphasis on understanding how founders make informed financial and operational choices. The course covers core entrepreneurial finance topics including startup valuation, funding structures, term sheets, convertible notes, and different paths to raising capital. Each day combines live instruction, applied exercises, and case-based discussions that help you evaluate real startup scenarios and early-stage risks. You learn how investors assess opportunities and how financial assumptions influence long-term business outcomes. The course concludes with a final pitch project that simulates presenting to potential investors,
9. Finance Institute: Wall Street in the Classroom
Location: Online (virtual format available)
Cost: $1,300; need-based discounts available
Acceptance Rate / Selectivity: Small class sizes
Program Dates: June 16–20; June 23–27; July 21–25; July 28–August 1
Application Deadline: Applications open in January; rolling admission
Eligibility: High school students in grades 10–12
Finance Institute: Wall Street in the Classroom is a one-week online program from Fordham University that introduces you to how financial markets operate through a hands-on, applied approach. You study core finance concepts such as the time value of money, investment instruments, and monetary policy while also exploring more advanced topics such as hedge funds, private equity, and risk management. The program is designed to help you understand how financial decisions are made in professional market settings rather than in isolation. Instruction is led by faculty from Fordham’s Gabelli School of Business and enhanced by insights from finance industry professionals. Alongside market-focused material, you also examine practical personal finance topics, including budgeting, saving, and investing, allowing you to connect theory to everyday financial choices
10. Finance Course
Location: Virtual
Cost: $1,595; scholarships available
Acceptance Rate / Selectivity: Small class sizes
Program Dates: Multiple sessions offered year-round with varying program lengths (1–4 weeks)
Application Deadline: Rolling; applications typically close about one week before a session begins
Eligibility: Students ages 13 and up
The Finance Course from Wake Forest University introduces you to the fundamentals of investing and financial markets through a flexible, online learning experience. You explore how financial systems function and how economic forces influence savers, borrowers, and investors. The curriculum is designed to help you build financial literacy while developing an understanding of market behavior and investment decision-making. Throughout the program, you learn through a combination of self-paced video lessons and insights from finance professionals, including investment bankers, portfolio managers, traders, and private equity executives. A key component of the course is a final project where you step into the role of a financial analyst, evaluate a publicly traded company, and prepare a report that considers market conditions and future financial trends.
11. Finance: From Personal Literacy to Global Markets
Location: Fully online; self-paced
Cost: $1,990 + $35 application fee
Acceptance Rate / Selectivity: Small class sizes
Program Dates: Rolling monthly start dates throughout the year; approximately 20–25 hours total
Application Deadline: Rolling enrollment
Eligibility: Students ages 14 and up; must be enrolled in a high school or secondary program
Finance: From Personal Literacy to Global Markets is a self-paced online course that introduces you to finance from both an individual and global perspective. You begin by learning how to manage personal finances, including planning, saving, and investing toward long-term goals. The course then expands to corporate finance, where you explore how companies raise capital through financial instruments such as stocks and bonds and how these decisions affect business growth and valuation. In the final portion of the program, you examine emerging areas of finance, including digital currencies and blockchain technology, to understand how financial systems are evolving. Instruction is led by a USC Marshall School of Business faculty member and combines conceptual explanations with applied exercises that reinforce key financial formulas and terminology.
12. Finance: Think Like an Investor
Location: Fully online; flexible and self-paced with structured modules
Cost: $1,895
Acceptance Rate / Selectivity: Small class sizes
Program Dates: Rolling start dates; 2-week or 4-week sessions (approximately 20–30 hours total)
Application Deadline: Rolling enrollment
Eligibility: Students ages 13 and up
Finance: Think Like an Investor is an online pre-college course from Northwestern University that shows you how investors analyze opportunities and make informed financial decisions. You begin by learning how financial markets operate and why concepts such as risk, return, and the time value of money are central to investing. The course then explores how economic trends and consumer behavior influence company performance and investment outcomes. A major focus of the program is financial statement analysis, where you learn to interpret balance sheets, income statements, and cash flow statements to assess a company’s financial health. As you progress, you examine different asset classes, investment strategies, and risk-management approaches.
13. Economics, Finance, and Public Policy
Location: Online (7-week SSP Online option)
Cost: Varies by course selection and credit load; financial aid available
Acceptance Rate / Selectivity: Selective
Program Dates: Seven-week summer session
Application Deadline: Varies by program and enrollment option
Eligibility: High school students accepted into Harvard’s Secondary School Program
Economics, Finance, and Public Policy through Harvard Summer School’s Secondary School Program allows you to create a rigorous, college-level online summer experience centered on how economic systems, financial choices, and public policy influence societies. In the seven-week virtual format, you can enroll in one or two courses, giving you the flexibility to either survey core economic principles or dive deeper into specific areas such as finance, data analysis, or public policy. You choose from a broad range of offerings, including microeconomics, macroeconomics, financial and managerial economics, accounting, econometrics, statistics, and public finance. The courses emphasize analytical thinking, quantitative reasoning, and practical application, helping you understand how individuals, businesses, and governments respond to incentives, constraints, and policy decisions.
14. Finance, Georgetown University
Location: Online
Cost: $3,995
Acceptance Rate / Selectivity: Open enrollment (college credit course)
Program Dates: Multiple 8- and 12-week sessions offered throughout the year
Application Deadline: Varies by session (typically one week before start date)
Eligibility: Students ages 13 and up
Finance is an online, college-level course from Georgetown University that allows you to explore finance through independent academic research while earning college credit. Instead of following a traditional lecture-based format, you design and complete an original research project focused on a finance-related topic of your choice. You begin by identifying a meaningful research question and learning how financial markets function, including the role of investment, valuation, and risk. As the course progresses, you build research skills like conducting literature reviews, evaluating sources, and applying financial models to support analytical arguments. You also explore contemporary topics in finance, including portfolio construction and emerging technologies like cryptocurrency and blockchain. With guidance from teaching assistants, you draft, revise, and present a full academic research paper that demonstrates critical thinking and intellectual independence.
15. Introduction to Business, Finance, and Economics
Location: Online (virtual option available; in-person sessions also offered)
Cost: Varies by session and enrollment type; see program website for current tuition
Acceptance Rate / Selectivity: Open enrollment (subject to course availability)
Program Dates: Online Summer A: July 6–17, Online Summer B: July 20–31
Application Deadline: Varies by session
Eligibility: High school students eligible for summer pre-college enrollment; laptops recommended
Introduction to Business, Finance, and Economics is a college-level course that helps you understand how firms make financial and economic decisions in real markets. You explore how companies identify worthwhile investments, raise capital, and interact with financial markets, while learning how markets value firms, securities, and investment opportunities. The course introduces you to core financial instruments such as stocks and bonds and examines how accounting information, risk, and uncertainty influence decision-making. Through case studies and independent analytical work, you apply valuation models and microeconomic frameworks to real business scenarios. You also study the structure and history of financial markets to understand better how modern financial systems evolved. In the online format, you participate in live virtual classes and complete structured assignments that build analytical reasoning and quantitative skills.
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