Half a credit in personal finance
Students must complete a half credit personal finance course, or equal content with proficiency shown, before the diploma is awarded.
High school · Michigan
The Michigan personal finance graduation requirement
Michigan students who entered 8th grade in 2023 or later must complete a half credit personal finance course before they receive a diploma. Here is how it fits into the schedule and how to help your teen.
Private 1-on-1 on Zoom · $250 / hour
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The requirement
What Michigan asks for.
Taken from the state's own law and education department. Your school counselor can confirm how your district applies it.
8th graders from 2023
Students who entered 8th grade in 2023 or later, which for most students means the class of 2028.
It replaces another half credit
The local board decides whether it replaces a half credit of math, the arts, or a world language. It can also be met through an approved career and technical program. It cannot replace economics.
Topics
What we cover.
Bring your slides, problem sets, and your last midterm. We work from your actual course.
- Earning income
- Spending and budgeting
- Saving
- Credit
- Investing
- Insurance
Practice with the free budget, compound interest, credit card payoff and loan payoff calculators, or browse the teen money library.
High school · Michigan
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.
Can the Michigan personal finance credit replace economics?
No. The law says it can replace a half credit of math, the arts or a world language, but not the economics half credit.
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