Course Syllabus
Personal Finance

Description

Personal Finance examines the decision-making processes behind earning income, spending money, saving and investing, using credit, managing risk through insurance, and planning for future education and career goals. This course is aligned to Michigan’s K–12 Personal Finance Standards adopted in 2023 and is designed to fulfill a ½ credit personal finance requirement approved by the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) and the State Board of Education (SBE) for high school graduation. This course does not provide dual credit opportunities. Students engage with real-world financial scenarios to build practical skills for lifelong financial decision-making. Prerequisites:  Middle School Math

Course Objectives: Upon completion of this course, students will be able to...

• Investigate factors that influence personal income, including potential earnings, employee benefits, education and training costs, taxes, and alternative income sources, in order to make informed career and financial planning decisions
• Describe the factors that consumers may consider when purchasing a good or service
• Identify the incentives people have to set aside income for future consumption
• Evaluate the impact of time, interest rates, and inflation upon the value of savings
• Evaluate the benefits, costs, and potential impacts of using credit to purchase goods and services
• Analyze the risks, expected rate of return, tax benefits, impact of inflation, and the importance of diversification when investing in financial assets
• Assess the financial risk of lost income, assets, health, or identity, and determine whether to accept, reduce, or transfer risk

Course Outline:

Unit 1: Getting Started with Financial Decisions

Unit 2: Earning Money

Unit 3: Spending Smart

Unit 4: Save, Invest, and Build Wealth

Unit 5: All About Credit

Unit 6: How Insurance Works

Unit 7: School and Money

Resources Included: Online lesson instruction and activities, opportunities to engage with a certified, online instructor and classmates, when appropriate, and online assessments to measure student performance of course objectives and readiness for subsequent academic pursuits.

Additional Costs: None

Scoring System: Michigan Virtual does not assign letter grades, grant credit for courses, nor issue diplomas. A final score out of total points earned will be submitted to your school mentor for conversion to their own letter grading system.

Time Commitment: Semester sessions are 18-weeks long: Students must be able to spend 1 or more hours per day in the course to be successful. Summer sessions are 10 weeks long: Students must be able to spend a minimum of 2 or more hours per day, or about 90 hours during the summer, for the student to be successful in any course. Trimester sessions are 12-weeks long: Students must be able to spend 1.5 or more hours per day in the course to be successful.

Technology Requirements: Students will require a computer device with headphones, a microphone, webcam, up-to-date Chrome Web Browser, and access to YouTube.

Ensure that your school or district network and device administrator establishes network access permissions or exceptions for online resources relevant to the course in which you are choosing to enroll. Ref., Michigan Virtual Course Allow List

Please review the Michigan Virtual Technology Requirements.

Instructor Support System: For technical issues within your course, contact the Customer Care Center by email at [email protected] or by phone at (888) 889-2840.

Instructor Contact Expectations: Students can use email or the private message system within the Student Learning Portal to access highly qualified teachers when they need instructor assistance. Students will also receive feedback on their work inside the learning management system. The Instructor Info area of their course may describe additional communication options.

Academic Support Available: In addition to access to a highly qualified, Michigan certified teacher, students have access to academic videos and outside resources verified by Michigan Virtual. For technical issues within the course, students can contact the Michigan Virtual Customer Care by email at [email protected] or by phone at (888) 889-2840.

Required Assessment: Online assessments consist of formative and summative assessments represented by computer-graded multiple choice, instructor-graded writing assignments including hands-on projects, model building, discussion-based assessments (one-on-one conversations with your teacher), and other forms of authentic assessments.

Technical Skills Needed: Basic technology skills necessary to locate and share information and files as well as interact with others in a Learning Management System (LMS), include the ability to:

• Download, edit, save, convert, and upload files
• Download and install software
• Use a messaging service similar to email
• Communicate with others in online discussion or message boards, following basic rules of netiquette
• Open attachments shared in messages
• Create, save, and submit files in commonly used word processing program formats and as a PDF
• Edit file share settings in cloud-based applications, such as Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides
• Save a file as a .pdf
• Copy and paste and format text using your mouse, keyboard, or an html editor’s toolbar menu
• Insert images or links into a file or html editor
• Search for information within a document using Ctrl+F or Command+F keyboard shortcuts
• Work in multiple browser windows and tabs simultaneously
• Activate a microphone or webcam on your device, and record and upload or link audio and/or video files
• Use presentation and graphics programs
• Follow an online pacing guide or calendar of due dates
• Use spell-check, citation editors, and tools commonly provided in word processing tool menus
• Create and maintain usernames and passwords

Additional Information: This course fulfills the Michigan high school personal finance graduation requirement and is aligned to the Michigan K–12 Personal Finance Standards (2023). It does not offer dual credit opportunities. Students will need consistent access to a computer device with internet connectivity to complete course activities. No additional materials or fees are required.