Michigan · MCL 380.1278a
Michigan requires a half-credit of personal finance to graduate.
Here's the course that delivers it.
Your Next Chapter™ is a complete, standards-aligned semester built by a Michigan CFP® — mapped statement-by-statement to all seven MDE content expectations.
Ready to deploy in 2–4 weeks.
Michigan's law, stated exactly.
Under MCL 380.1278a(3), beginning with students who entered grade 8 in 2023, no Michigan district may award a diploma unless the student completes a half-credit course in personal finance aligned to the subject-area content expectations developed by the Michigan Department of Education. Economics is a separate half-credit and cannot be satisfied by this course — Michigan is explicit on that, and our documentation reflects it.
MCL 380.1278a(3) · Michigan Merit CurriculumIt doesn't cost a student an elective.
The half-credit requirement fulfills a half-credit of math, visual/performing/applied arts, or world language — the district chooses which. Total credits stay at 18. This course displaces a half-credit the board elects; it doesn't add one.
Credit is proficiency, not seat time.
The Michigan Merit Curriculum awards credit for meeting the content standards, and districts set their own proficiency measures — exactly how this course is built. Students earn credit by producing a real financial plan, not by logging hours.
CTE is an explicit route.
Michigan permits the requirement to be met through a department-approved CTE program that aligns to the content expectations. Run this inside a CTE pathway and the alignment documentation is already prepared.
The time is now.
The first affected class graduates in 2027–28 — the students in your building today. The course has to be running this year.
Standards crosswalk
Aligned to all seven MDE Personal Finance content expectations (PF1–PF7).
| MDE code | MDE content expectation | Your Next Chapter™ unit |
|---|---|---|
| PF1 | Earning Income | Unit 1 — Your Story, Your Income |
| PF2 | Buying Goods and Services | Unit 2 — Spending with Intention |
| PF3 | Budgeting and Saving | Unit 3 — Building Your Foundation |
| PF4 | Using Credit | Unit 4 — Borrowing Wisely |
| PF5 | Financial Investing | Unit 5 — Growing What You Have |
| PF6 | Protecting and Insuring | Unit 6 — Protecting What Matters |
| PF7 | Paying Taxes | Unit 1 + Unit 7 capstone |
Verified statement-by-statement against MDE's Appendix A. PF7 Paying Taxes is introduced in Unit 1 and integrated in the Unit 7 capstone; the other six each map to a single unit. Full crosswalk available for your curriculum committee.
Built for Michigan, not relabeled.
Michigan taxes and Michigan law, taught with Michigan numbers — everything else pointed at the student's own community by design.
Michigan taxes, taught with Michigan numbers.
Unit 1 uses Michigan's 4.25% flat state income tax — verified against the Treasury notice every April, since the rate is subject to annual statutory recalculation. Students whose first job lands in one of Michigan's 24 local-income-tax cities learn the wrinkle most adults get wrong: city tax follows both where you live and where you work. Take a job in Detroit and 1.2% comes out whether you live there or not; live in the city and it doubles to 2.4%.
No-fault insurance, taught as a real decision.
Unit 6 teaches Michigan's no-fault system as it actually works after the 2019 reform — students work through which PIP coverage level fits their situation, not a generic buy-insurance lesson.
Everything else is Michigan-neutral by design.
Career research, rent anchors, and cost-of-living work point students at their own county and nearest metro — so the course fits a district in the U.P. as well as one in metro Detroit.
Seven units. Twenty-eight lessons. One plan.
Every unit produces one real portfolio artifact — a document the student will actually use after graduation.
Unit 1
Income & Career Snapshot
Your Story, Your Income.
Unit 2
Spending Values Map
Spending with Intention.
Unit 3
First-Year Budget
Building Your Foundation.
Unit 4
Credit & Debt Strategy
Borrowing Wisely.
Unit 5
Investment Starter Plan
Growing What You Have.
Unit 6
Risk Protection Checklist
Protecting What Matters.
Unit 7 · The Capstone
A plan they can use at 20, at 25, at 30.
Students assemble all six artifacts into a complete personal financial plan for their first year after graduation, stress-test it against three disruption scenarios, and present it in a structured five-minute format. They don't finish with a grade. They finish with a plan.
Five life-transition tracks — chosen on Day 1.
Students pick one track on Day 1, and it becomes the lens for every decision across the semester — career research, budget assumptions, debt choices, and investment projections all reflect their specific path.
College
University or community college: tuition, loans, housing, part-time work.
Career Launch
First full-time job: benefits, first apartment, first car, 401(k) decisions.
Skilled Trades
Apprenticeship: earn while you learn, union benefits, tool costs.
Entrepreneurship
Your own business: variable income, self-employment taxes, startup costs.
Military Service
Enlistment and active duty: base pay and tax-free allowances, the Blended Retirement System, and benefits few 18-year-olds know how to read.
Built by a practitioner, not a curriculum company.
Mark H. Johnson · CFP® · AEP® · CEPA® · CDFA® · BFA™ · JD · MBA
Founder of Reviresco Financial Planning & Wealth Management in Monroe, Michigan, Mark has sat across the table from clients working through every financial mistake this curriculum is designed to prevent. Every unit is built around decisions your graduates will face within five years of graduation — not hypothetical, not textbook. Real.
Proof you can take to your board.
Every licensed district receives three structured outcome reports per cohort: a pre/post knowledge assessment (target ≥25-point gain), statement-level verification that all seven MDE areas were delivered, and capstone proficiency, completion, and teacher-satisfaction rates. At semester end you'll have a documented record of what percentage of students completed the course, what percentage produced a proficiency-level financial plan, and how much the average student's financial knowledge grew — the evidence base for renewing the license and reporting to your board.
Michigan's first affected class graduates in 2027–28.
Let's talk about what this looks like for your district.
Request the Michigan Sample UnitPricing — by scope, not by state
A per-district site license by enrollment, all units and materials included. Choose your course:
Semester course
A half-credit, one-semester course — most states.
| Enrollment | Annual license |
|---|---|
| Up to 150 students | $2,000 |
| 151–500 | $4,500 |
| 501–1,500 | $9,500 |
| 1,501–5,000 | $18,000 |
| 5,001+ / consortium | Custom |
Full-year course
A full-credit, two-semester course — e.g. Louisiana. About 40% more, because it's nearly twice the course.
| Enrollment | Annual license |
|---|---|
| Up to 150 students | $2,800 |
| 151–500 | $6,300 |
| 501–1,500 | $13,300 |
| 1,501–5,000 | $25,200 |
| 5,001+ / consortium | Custom |
Semester course
A half-credit economics course.
| Enrollment | Annual license |
|---|---|
| Up to 150 students | $2,000 |
| 151–500 | $4,500 |
| 501–1,500 | $9,500 |
| 1,501–5,000 | $18,000 |
| 5,001+ / consortium | Custom |
For states that require a separate personal finance course and a separate economics course (e.g. Michigan). Each semester course is 20% off.
| Enrollment | Per course (−20%) | Both, total |
|---|---|---|
| Up to 150 | $1,600 | $3,200 |
| 151–500 | $3,600 | $7,200 |
| 501–1,500 | $7,600 | $15,200 |
| 1,501–5,000 | $14,400 | $28,800 |
| 5,001+ / consortium | Custom | Custom |