Academy of Finance

The Academy of Finance (AOF) is an American educational program first established in 1982 by the National Academy Foundation. The Academy of Finance is one of the four member programs sponsored by the National Academy Foundation (AOF, AOIT, AOHT, AOE). It is a small learning community that offers high school students an opportunity to study accounting, international trade, leadership, and the use of technology in preparing for college and the financial services industry. It also allows students to earn college credit while still in secondary education. The program is offered in more than 260 secondary education institutions nationwide.

The National Academy Foundation was the vision of P. Frankfort, the Director of the Academy of Finance that she established in 1989. In 1981, she designed a program for the New York City Department of Education and for Shearson Lehman Brothers chaired by Sanford I. Weill. Her proposal for the "Institute for the Study of Finance" recommended a program for public high school students. Weill's gave $100,000 to develop the program through the firm's foundation, headed by D. Topol. This was matched by the New York City Board of Education. Frankfort designed and implemented the program and the first Academy of Finance opened at John Dewey High School in Brooklyn in 1982 with 35 students. The program was designed to introduce young people in New York City to potential careers in the financial services industry.

Weill explained in his testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee: "You saw young people playing in the street, young people without having a clue of what life was about, and how they can become part of the system. That was the beginning of the idea that maybe the private sector should get together with the public sector and see if we can create a high-school level program that can expose young people for a career in the financial services industry."[1]