A required money course
State law requires a course in personal financial literacy and money management for high school students. A state exam is given at the end of the course.
High school · Alabama
The Alabama personal finance graduation requirement
Alabama students who started 9th grade in 2024-25 or later have to complete a course in personal financial literacy and money management, and they sit a state exam when they finish it. Here is what that means for your teen and how to help.
Private 1-on-1 on Zoom · $250 / hour
Book a session
The requirement
What Alabama asks for.
Taken from the state's own law and education department. Your school counselor can confirm how your district applies it.
9th graders from 2024-25
Students who entered 9th grade in the 2024-25 school year or later, which makes the class of 2028 the first group.
Approved courses
The law lets the state approve financial literacy courses, and those courses may count toward a math credit. Your school counselor can tell you which course your district uses.
Topics
What we cover.
Bring your slides, problem sets, and your last midterm. We work from your actual course.
- Bank accounts and checking
- Credit scores and credit card debt
- Types of loans
- Personal insurance
- How taxes are figured
- Interest rates
- Simple contracts
- Saving and investing
Practice with the free budget, compound interest, credit card payoff and loan payoff calculators, or browse the teen money library.
High school · Alabama
Where students get stuck.
Compound interest feels abstract
Teens can recite the formula and still not feel why starting at 16 beats starting at 26. We run their own numbers, a summer job paycheck saved for ten years, until the idea sticks.
A pay stub is a wall of codes
Gross pay, withholding, FICA, net pay. Most students meet these words for the first time on a test. We read a realistic stub line by line and then build one from scratch.
Credit sounds like free money
Minimum payments, interest that grows on interest, and scores that follow you for years. We use the credit card payoff calculator so the cost of carrying a balance is a number, not a warning.
For parents
This class is usually your teen's first real contact with money rules, and it is a good moment to talk at home too. Ask what they are learning each week, show them a real bill or bank statement, and let them run one family purchase through a budget. If the class moves fast, or your teen wants to go beyond it, one-on-one sessions follow the teacher's materials and never complete graded work.
How a session works
Diagnosis first. Then the fix.
- 01
Before we meet
Send me what you're stuck on: a problem set, slides, your last midterm, a practice exam, last week's quiz.
- 02
On Zoom
You walk me through a problem out loud. It usually takes a few minutes to hear where the reasoning goes sideways. We fix that piece and rebuild from there, so you know why each step works.
- 03
Before we finish
The real test: a fresh problem with new numbers and different wording, the way a midterm would ask it, and you solve it yourself. I don't complete assignments or hand over answers. You leave able to do the work.
Your tutor
Studied it. Worked in it. Now I teach it.
I’m Chi Odogwu. I have a B.S. in Business with a finance specialization from Liberty University, earned summa cum laude in three years, and a Master’s in International Economics and Finance from Brandeis. I tutored IB students in grad school, did valuation and private equity consulting at PwC, taught MBA finance at Florida State, and spent three years as an adjunct professor teaching Business Finance.
Questions
Before you book.
Does my teen have to pass the Alabama financial literacy exam to graduate?
The law requires the exam to be given when students finish the course, and the results are reported to the state. Ask your school how it uses the score, and use the practice problems on this site to prepare either way.
Is a personal finance class hard?
The ideas are not hard, but the vocabulary and the math in loans, interest and taxes trip students up. Most of the lost points come from setting a problem up wrong, which practice fixes quickly.
Can you tutor my teen for this class online?
Yes. Sessions are one-on-one on Zoom, built around the course your teen is actually taking, and scheduled in your local time.
Will tutoring get in the way of my student's teacher?
No. I work from the teacher's materials and never complete graded work, so sessions support the class instead of replacing it.
Get started
Bring the problem you’re stuck on.
Tell me your course and what isn’t clicking. I’ll tell you honestly whether I can help.
Book your first session