Effective with the 2026-2027 school year, all Pennsylvania schools will be required to implement a mandatory personal finance course students must complete during grades nine through twelve. This requirement is a result of Act 35 of 2023 which amended Section 1551 of the Public School Code of 1949 (Act 35). In addition, Act 91 of 2019 amended Section 1605 of the Public School Code of 1949 (Act 91), allowing students to apply credit earned in a personal finance course to other areas.

This guidance document is designed to assist Local Education Agencies (LEAs) as defined by Section 1551^[1] in implementing the new personal finance course requirements.  

• Definition
• Content
• Course Titles & PIMS Reporting
• Credit & Completion
• Timing
• Educator Certification

While this guidance document is specific to the new personal financial literacy course requirements, users are encouraged to review information regarding the new Pennsylvania Academic Standards for Personal Finance which go into effect July 1, 2026. For more information, visit the Academic Standards for Personal Finance section of the toolkit.

At present, financial education varies from one LEA to another. Some LEAs already require students to take a standalone personal finance course or offer it as an elective. Others provide more limited personal finance instruction. With the passage of Act 35, all Pennsylvania high school students will be required to take a personal finance course once during grade nine, ten, eleven, or twelve , beginning with the 2026-2027 school year. Notably, this requirement applies to both public school entities and nonpublic schools and stipulates that the mandatory course must have a value of at least one-half credit or half of a full credit.

Research indicates numerous benefits of financial education. Students taking personal finance courses can make more thoughtful and well-informed decisions in areas such as earning, spending, saving, using credit, etc.—each of which can affect their career pathway and life choices. For example, studies conclude that students who are required to take a high school personal finance course are more likely to apply for financial aid and receive grants and federal aid,^[2] pay off credit cards in full each month,^[2] and save money^.[3] They were also less likely to borrow from private student lenders^[1], carry a credit card balance,^[1] max out their credit cards,[2] pay off credit cards in full each month,^[2] make late credit card payments,[2] pay off credit cards in full each month,^[2] obtain payday loans^[4], and be compulsive buyers.[2] pay off credit cards in full each month,^[2] Over time, these benefits can make a financial difference for students. A recent study^[5] quantifies the cumulative financial benefit of financial education which averages approximately $100,000 per student. These include reduced costs related to credit and debt, student loans, insurance, and borrowing. In addition, individuals who receive financial education accumulate larger retirement funds and assets.

Standalone Course

Both Section 1551 and Section 1605 of the Public School Code of 1949 pertain to a course in personal financial literacy. The Department defines this as a standalone course in personal finance. The terms personal financial literacy, personal finance, and financial literacy are often used interchangeably. Course content must align with the Pennsylvania Academic Standards for Personal Finance. The standards describe personal finance as focusing on the fundamentals of personal finance, income, spending, saving and investing, risk and insurance, and credit, with a goal of developing individuals who can manage their personal finances. LEAs determine the structure and delivery of the personal finance course.

Section 1551 stipulates that students take a “course in personal financial literacy with a value of at least one-half credit or half of a full credit.” For LEAs currently integrating personal finance into an existing course, compliance with Section 1551 requires separating the personal finance content into its own half-credit course.

Sequenced Approach

To accommodate a variety of scheduling scenarios and allow for local decision-making, the Department recognizes that some LEAs may choose to offer a series of courses over the course of a student’s high school career that would meet the half-credit requirement once they are combined. Together, these courses would satisfy the half-credit course requirement. LEAs choosing this approach should pay close attention to course content and standards alignment. The Department recommends LEAs document in their course catalog or program of study which standalone courses are required to satisfy the financial literacy proficiency requirement. Below are examples of scenarios LEAs might consider to meet the requirement:

1. 1. Students complete both Personal Finance A (0.25 credit minimum) and Personal Finance B (0.25 credit minimum) in the same year.
   2. Students complete Personal Finance A (0.25 credit minimum) in ninth grade and Personal Finance B (0.25 credit minimum) in eleventh grade.

Multiple Course Approach

An LEA may offer multiple courses that meet the definition of a standalone course in personal finance. By way of example, an LEA might differentiate course offerings by providing an honors or advanced-level personal finance course for students who meet certain academic prerequisites. Similarly, an LEA might offer courses approaching personal finance from different perspectives and/or with different credit amounts. When the requirement goes into effect, LEAs must identify which course(s) in their program of study or course catalog satisfy the financial literacy proficiency requirement. For example, an LEA might offer the following:

• • Personal Finance (0.5 credit)
  • Honors Personal Finance (0.5 credit)
  • Financial Algebra (1.0 credit for students to reinforce algebraic concepts in the context of personal finance)

Method and Timing

The method and timing by which the course is delivered are determined by each LEA. Courses may be delivered in person, online, or through a hybrid approach. 22 Pa. Code § 4.41 (related to Scheduling) allows planned instruction offered in summer school to be designed as credit or non-credit offerings. Courses offered during the summer or during the school year in an online or hybrid format may provide additional flexibility for students with scheduling conflicts. For LEAs offering multiple options, each course must be reported separately and with the associated method of delivery via PIMS.

Section 1551 specifically states that the course must be completed while a student is in ninth, tenth, eleventh, or twelfth grade. As such, courses taken in any other grade do not meet the requirement. Students cannot be exempted from the course by taking an assessment. In other words, there is no test-out provision.

Standards

The State Board of Education approved new Pennsylvania Academic Standards for Personal Finance along with updates to Chapter 4 which require instruction aligned to the new standards. The new standards go into effect on July 1, 2026 in alignment with the timing of the mandatory personal finance course. 

Curriculum

LEAs are responsible for designing curriculum aligned to the Pennsylvania Academic Standards for Personal Finance. There is no mandated personal finance curriculum, nor is there a list of approved resources. For LEAs designing curriculum, the Department is in the process of updating its model personal finance course for LEAs to use in designing curricula at the local level. Section 1551 requires the Department to complete this update by the beginning of the 2025-2026 school year. Once available, educators may use all or parts of the personal finance curriculum for their instructional purposes.

Local leaders will determine the best approach to implementation of the mandatory high school personal finance course along with how best to align instruction across grade levels. Tools will be available to assist educators in selecting instructional resources. However, the choice of what to use, how to sequence content, and the best way to assess student knowledge will be at the LEA’s discretion.

Course Name

LEAs determine the local name of the mandatory course used in their programs of study, student schedules, etc. For example, local course names may include Personal Finance, Personal Financial Literacy, Personal Financial Management, or Financial Literacy. This local course name does not need to match the name associated with the state course code being reported in PIMS.

PIMS Course Code

Each course code submitted to PIMS is based on the 5-digit course code in the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) School Codes for the Exchange of Data (SCED) classification system. The current course codes are available in Appendix A of the PIMS Manual (PIMS > Manuals and Calendar > Course Codes—App A). The Department strongly encourages LEAs to use course code 19262 Consumer Economics/Personal Finance for the mandatory personal finance course. The course description for this course (below) most closely aligns with the content of the Pennsylvania Academic Standards for Personal Finance. While other courses and codes may appear to align, they generally have a broader array of content, minimal alignment, or focus on business-related financial topics rather than personal finance. LEAs offering courses with different names (for example, Personal Finance and Advanced Personal Finance), the same PIMS course code can be used for each one.

Credit Value

Section 1551 stipulates that students take a “course in personal financial literacy with a value of at least one-half credit or half of a full credit.” LEAs determine the credit value of courses and should maintain consistency with any local requirements for courses with similar course credits. If full-credit courses meet daily for a specified amount of time, then a half-credit course would be expected to meet for half this amount of time. The course might take place for one-half of the academic year (for example, a semester-long course on a traditional schedule) or meet on alternating days throughout the year. If an LEA uses a semester-based block schedule with full-credit courses meeting daily for a semester, then a half-credit course would be expected to meet for half of this time (for example, daily for a marking period or alternating days for the semester).

Completion 

Section 1551 stipulates that “students shall be required to complete the course.” The department expects LEAs to apply the same criteria for completion of the personal finance course as they would any other course (i.e., seat time, passing grade, and any other locally-determined requirements). Section 1551 recognizes that a student’s individualized education program may provide for adaptations and modifications.

NOTE:  Section 1551 requires students to complete the mandatory personal finance course; a “test out” option may not occur.

Local Requirements

When revising local graduation requirements to include the mandatory personal finance course, LEAs have a number of options:

1.  Increase the total number of credits each student must obtain by the value of the personal finance credit
2. Reduce the number of elective courses a student must take
3. Replace another locally-required course with the mandatory course in personal finance
4.  Make no changes if the LEA already requires students to complete a course in personal finance with a credit value of 0.5 or more

Application of Course Credit

LEAs may also develop local policies allowing students to apply up to one credit earned in a personal finance course toward locally determined graduation credit requirements in social studies, family and consumer sciences, mathematics, and/or business. This flexibility is granted to LEAs in Section 1605 of the Public School Code of 1949 relating to Courses of Study. In developing these local policies, LEAs may choose which of the areas to allow. For example, an LEA may permit students to apply their personal finance course credit for the purpose of fulfilling a math credit but not social studies, family and consumer sciences, or business. LEAs may also adopt policies with student-level flexibility. In other words, some students completing the personal finance course might choose to apply the credit in math and others in social studies.

While Section 1605 permits a student to satisfy a mathematics credit with a course in personal finance and/or a course in computer science, no more than one total credit may be used between the two for the purpose of satisfying a mathematics credit for graduation. For example, a student may take a half-credit course in personal finance and a half-credit course in computer science and apply the combined one credit to satisfy their mathematics credits for graduation. Thus, LEAs offering semester-long courses in each subject could allow students to apply a one-semester or half-credit course in each subject towards their mathematics graduation requirements.

Transfer of Students

For students who transfer from out of state or some other locality, several factors must be considered:

1. If the student already completed a personal finance course in their prior school setting, the LEA should evaluate the course to see if it meets state guidelines.
2. If the student has not completed a personal finance course of at least one-half credit in their previous setting, the student’s grade and the grade level in which the course is required by the LEA will determine what must occur.
3. If the student can still complete the course in accordance with the LEA policy, then the student must meet the requirement.
   • If the student transfers into a new LEA in tenth grade and the LEA requires the course of all eleventh-grade students, the student would be expected to complete the course in eleventh grade. If, however, the course is required of all ninth-grade students, the LEA may exempt the student from the requirement.
4. Whether students who transfer during twelfth grade may be exempted from the requirement.

Section 1551 stipulates that “beginning with the 2026-2027 school year and in each school year thereafter, all school entities and nonpublic schools shall provide a mandatory course in personal financial literacy." Once in effect, students in all school entities and nonpublic schools will be required to complete a mandatory personal finance course.

LEAs must revise local policies and documents to reflect this requirement. In doing so, each LEA is responsible for determining the grade(s) in which students will take the course, so long as it is completed in grades 9, 10, 11, or 12. LEAs may require all students to take the course in a specific grade or provide grade-level flexibility. As such, the timing of student completion of the mandatory course may vary from one LEA to another.

LEAs have flexibility in determining which educator(s) teach the mandatory high school course in personal finance. With regards to educators teaching in public school entities, the Department has updated the following Certification and Staffing Policy Guidance (CSPGs) to identify the certifications for those who may teach a high school personal finance course:

• • CSPG 30 Agriculture
  • CSPG 33 Business, Computer and Information Technology PK-12
  • CSPG 35 Citizenship Education 7-12
  • CSPG 44 Family and Consumer Sciences 7-12
  • CSPG 49 Marketing/Distributive Education PK - 12
  • CSPG 50 Mathematics 7-12
  • CSPG 59 Social Studies 7-12 

The certification of the teacher and the credit awarded by the LEA may be different. If, for example, an LEA’s governing body develops a policy permitting students to apply credit in a personal finance course towards their mathematics credit for the purpose of graduation, that course can be taught by an educator(s) with any of the certifications noted above.

Section 1551 stipulates that an educator assigned to instruct the mandatory personal finance course may not lose a planning period as a result of the assignment, except in accordance with a collective bargaining agreement. Educators are also not to bear any costs related to earning an add-on certification necessary to provide the instruction.

The State Board of Education approved new Pennsylvania Academic Standards for Personal Finance along with updates to Chapter 4 which require instruction aligned to the new standards. The new standards go into effect on July 1, 2026. 

The Pennsylvania Academic Standards for Personal Finance are organized by grade bands (K-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12). Personal finance is described as focusing on the fundamentals of personal finance, income, spending, saving and investing, risk and insurance, and credit, with a goal of developing individuals who can manage their personal finances. Aligned with this description, the standards are organized in the following areas:

• • Personal Finance Fundamentals
  • Income
  • Spending
  • Saving & Investing
  • Risk & Insurance
  • Credit

Note: The terms personal financial literacy, personal finance, and financial literacy are often used interchangeably.

The Department will be providing additional resources to aid LEAs in implementing the new standards. This section will be updated as more information is available and key information will be included in the New and Noteworthy section.

In the fall of 2022, the State Board of Education charged the Department of Education with conducting a review of the existing standards for Career Education and Work, Economics, and Family and Consumer Sciences. To accomplish this task, the Department announced the formation of committees to review these standards. The committees met and issued a report with recommendations to update the three standards under review and create a distinct set of Personal Finance Standards. The draft set of standards was presented to the Board and then made available for public comment. This feedback was reviewed by the committees, and a revised set of Personal Finance Standards was included in the Board’s proposed rulemaking in January 2024. In addition to the new Personal Finance Standards, the Board made additional changes to Chapter 4 and updated the standards for Career Education and Work, Economics, and Family and Consumer Sciences.

Final-form amendments to 22 Pa. Code Chapter 4 (Academic Standards and Assessments, Regulation #6-354) took effect upon publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin on February 8, 2025. This rulemaking was approved by the Board in September of 2024 and by the Independent Regulatory Review Commission on December 5, 2024.

The final-form amendments to Chapter 4 establish new Academic Standards for Personal Finance and make updates to three sets of current academic standards (Career Education and Work, Economics, and Family and Consumer Sciences). This final-form rulemaking was informed by input from interested stakeholders and from members of the General Assembly, as well as by recommendations formed by standards review content committees that were convened at the outset of the review process.

 LEAs may use the checklist below when implementing the mandatory personal finance course. Other steps may be warranted, depending on the LEA's needs and local practices.

• Determine which course(s) will meet the requirement, including:
  • Local course name(s)
  • Credit granted
  • Student grade level(s)
  • Method(s) of delivery
• Establish which graduating class will be the first to satisfy the new requirement
• Update graduation requirement policies to reflect the new requirement
• Adopt a policy allowing students to apply personal finance credit in other areas (optional)
• Revise the high school master schedule with enough sections to ensure student completion of the mandatory course
• Cross-reference allowable certifications with those of school personnel for staffing options
• Update school documents and websites to reflect changes, such as
  • Lists of graduation requirements
  • Program of study/course catalog
  • Course registration forms
• Share information about changes with students, parents, and community members

Join the Personal Finance Learning Community for access to additional resources and information. A Standards Aligned System (SAS) account is required to join. To create one, follow the Creating a SAS Account directions. .

The Department defines this as a standalone course in personal finance. The terms personal financial literacy, personal finance, and financial literacy are often used interchangeably. The new Pennsylvania Academic Standards for Personal Finance describe personal finance as focusing on the fundamentals of personal finance, income, spending, saving and investing, risk and insurance, and credit, with a goal of developing individuals who can manage their personal finances. LEAs determine the structure and delivery of the personal finance course. 

No. Act 35 requires that students take a “course in personal financial literacy with a value of at least one-half credit or half of a full credit.” For LEAs currently integrating personal finance into an existing course, compliance with Section 1551 requires separating the personal finance content into its own half-credit course. 

The timing of student completion of the mandatory course may vary from one LEA to another depending on locally adopted policies. LEAs may require all students to take the course in a specific grade or provide grade-level flexibility so long as it is completed in grades 9, 10, 11, or 12.

LEAs must revise local policies and documents to reflect this requirement. In doing so, each LEA is responsible for determining the grade(s) in which students will take the course, so long as students complete the course in grades 9, 10, 11, or 12. LEAs may require all students to take the course in a specific grade or provide grade-level flexibility (i.e., students can select from two or more grades in which to complete the course). As such, the timing of student completion of the mandatory course may vary from one LEA to another. Below are examples that meet the requirements of Section 1551. These examples are intended to be illustrative and not exhaustive. 

• Example A: An LEA develops a policy requiring all students, effective with the Class of 2027, to take the mandatory personal finance course. It meets the requirement by providing the course in the 2026-2027 school year or earlier to allow all students in the Class of 2027 time to complete it before they graduate. 
• Example B: An LEA develops a policy requiring all eleventh-grade students to take the mandatory personal finance course, effective with the Class of 2028. The LEA meets the requirement by providing the mandatory course for the 2026-2027 school year with that year’s eleventh-grade students. Students in twelfth grade at that time would not be required to take the course. 
• Example C: An LEA develops a policy requiring all ninth-grade students to take the mandatory personal finance course, effective with the Class of 2030. The LEA meets the requirement of providing the mandatory course in the 2026-2027 school year with that year’s ninth-grade students. Students in grades 10, 11, or 12 would not be required to take the course. 
• Example D: An LEA develops a policy requiring all students to take the mandatory personal finance course at any time in grades 9, 10, 11, or 12, effective with the Class of 2030. The LEA meets the requirement of providing the mandatory course in the 2026-2027 school year by offering the course to students in any grade. Students graduating before 2030 may complete the course as an elective but would not be required to do so.

Act 35 requires students in all school entities and nonpublic schools to complete the mandatory personal finance course. Act 35 defines a school entity as any public school district, charter school, cyber charter school, regional charter school, intermediate unit, or area career and technical school. Nonpublic schools include nonprofit schools, other than a public school, where a resident of Pennsylvania may legally fulfill the compulsory school attendance requirements of the Pennsylvania School Code of 1949 and which meet the requirements of 42 U.S.C. Ch. 21 Subch. V (relating to federally assisted programs).

Yes. An LEA may offer multiple courses that meet the definition of a standalone course in personal finance. For example, an LEA might differentiate course offerings by providing an honors or an advanced-level personal finance course for students who meet certain academic prerequisites. Similarly, an LEA might offer courses approaching personal finance from different perspectives and/or with different credit amounts. When the requirement goes into effect, LEAs must identify which course(s) in their program of study or course catalog satisfy the financial literacy proficiency requirement. For example, a district might offer the following:

• Personal Finance (0.5 credit)
• Honors Personal Finance (0.5 credit)
• Financial Algebra (1.0 credit for students to reinforce algebraic concepts in the context of personal finance)

LEAs determine the credit value of courses and should maintain consistency with any local seat time or other requirements for courses with similar course credits. If full-credit courses meet daily for a specified amount of time, then a half-credit course would be expected to meet for half this amount of time. The course might take place for one-half of the academic year (for example, a semester-long course in a traditional schedule) or meet on alternating days throughout the year. If an LEA uses a semester-based block schedule with full-credit courses meeting daily for a semester, then a half-credit course would be expected to meet for half of this time (for example, daily for a marking period or alternating days for the semester).

Yes. LEAs may develop local policies allowing students to apply up to one credit earned in a personal finance course toward locally determined graduation credit requirements in social studies, family and consumer sciences, mathematics, and/or business. This flexibility is granted to LEAs in Section 1605 of the Public School Code of 1949 relating to Courses of Study as a result of Act 91 of 2019. In developing these local policies, LEAs may choose which of the areas to allow. For example, an LEA may permit students to apply their personal finance course credit for the purpose of fulfilling a math credit but not social studies, family and consumer sciences, or business. LEAs may also adopt policies with student-level flexibility. In other words, some students completing the personal finance course might choose to apply the credit in math and others in social studies.

While Section 1605 permits a student to satisfy a mathematics credit with a course in personal finance and/or a course in computer science, no more than one total credit may be used between the two for the purpose of satisfying a mathematics credit for graduation. For example, a student may take a half-credit course in personal finance and a half-credit course in computer science and apply the combined one credit to satisfy their mathematics credits for graduation. Thus, LEAs offering semester-long courses in each subject could allow students to apply a one-semester or half-credit course in each subject towards their mathematics graduation requirements.

No. Act 35 of 2023 specifically states that the course must be completed while a student is in ninth, tenth, eleventh, or twelfth grade.

LEAs have flexibility when determining which educator(s) will teach the mandatory high school course in personal finance. With regards to educators teaching in public school entities, the Department has updated the following Certification and Staffing Policy Guidance (CSPGs) to indicate which certifications may teach a high school personal finance course: CSPG 30 Agriculture, CSPG 33 Business, Computer and Information Technology PK-12; CSPG 35 Citizenship Education 7-12; CSPG 44 Family and Consumer Sciences 7-12; CSPG 49 Marketing/Distributive Education PK - 12; CSPG 50 Mathematics 7-12; and CSPG 59 Social Studies 7-12.  Any educator holding one of these certifications may teach a high school personal finance course.

No. The certification of the teacher and the credit awarded by the LEA may be different. If, for example, an LEA’s governing body develops a policy permitting students to apply credit in a personal finance course towards their mathematics credit for the purpose of graduation, that course can be taught by an educator(s) with any of the certifications noted above.

No. Act 35 requires students to complete the personal finance course.

For students receiving modifications and adaptations to the general education curriculum per their IEP, the content of the course may be adapted and/or modified to complete the requirements.

Yes. LEAs may use evidence collected in personal finance courses to meet career portfolio

evidence requirements of the Career Readiness Indicator in the Future Ready PA Index. For example, if students research the income they can expect to earn in a career of interest and complete a personal budget based on this income amount, the budget they produce could serve as a piece of evidence for the Career Readiness Indicator.

Act 35 of 2023 amended Section 1551 of the Public School Code to require all school entities and nonpublic schools to provide a mandatory personal finance course for students beginning with the 2026-2027 school year

Act 91 of 2019 amended Section 1605 of the Public School Code to allow students to apply credit earned in personal finance courses to satisfy local graduation credit requirements in mathematics, social studies, business, and family and consumer sciences

The State Board of Education approved new Pennsylvania Academic Standards for Personal Finance along with updates to Chapter 4 which require instruction aligned to the new standards. The new standards go into effect on July 1, 2026.