You don't have to root the phone. You can pay your carrier for the feature, or you can do it over USB with PDAnet. If you want to wifi-tether for free, yes you will have to root. I'm not familiar with that phone, but there are sub-forums for every phone here. Check the sub-forum for your phone for help rooting it.
And Welcome to Wal-Mart! Hopefully I wasn't too condescending or rude to you.