What Indiana requires
Indiana's financial literacy mandate is a graduation requirement, not merely a set of optional standards. Senate Enrolled Act 35 and the current Indiana Code require students expected to graduate in 2028 or later to complete personal financial responsibility instruction as a separate subject, and the school must certify completion before awarding a diploma.[1][2]
The first covered students are the Class of 2028. IDOE's implementation memo names course 4540 Personal Financial Responsibility as the preferred route. It is a one-semester, one-credit directed elective. A finance-career alternative requires both Principles of Business Management and Personal Finance and Banking, totaling two semesters and two credits.[4]
Indiana's redesigned diploma changes where the requirement sits, but not the need to complete it. For the Class of 2029 and later, one personal finance credit counts within the diploma's seven mathematics credits. The February 2026 eligibility memo lists Personal Financial Responsibility, AP Business with Personal Finance, and Personal Finance and Banking as approved options.[7][8]
Indiana's current course 4540 framework contains 33 competencies across financial decision-making, income and careers, money management, credit and debt, insurance, and saving and investing. The competencies appear in the current state career-pathways review document; the 2024 state correlation guide maps them to Indiana's earlier grade-eight and grade-twelve financial literacy standards without treating the older standards as a substitute for the required course.[5][6][3]
- Grades / placement
- Grades 8-12, Class of 2028 and later
- Responsible agency
- Indiana Department of Education and Indiana State Board of Education
- Assessment required
- No
- Evidence
- 9 primary sources
Implementation timeline
- Milestone 01
Governor Eric Holcomb signed Senate Enrolled Act 35, creating the separate-subject graduation requirement for the Class of 2028 and later.[2]
- Milestone 02
Senate Enrolled Act 35 took effect.[2]
- Milestone 03
IDOE published course implementation guidance for the Class of 2028 requirement.[4]
- Milestone 04
IDOE published the current course 4540 correlation guide containing 33 competencies.[5]
- Milestone 05
The State Board finally adopted the redesigned Indiana Diploma rule; the rule became effective July 1, 2025.[7]
- Milestone 06
IDOE updated course eligibility for the 2026-27 transition year and confirmed three one-credit personal finance options for the redesigned diploma.[8]
- Milestone 07
The first covered cohort must complete separate-subject personal financial responsibility instruction to graduate.[2]
- Milestone 08
The redesigned diploma applies statewide and counts one approved personal finance credit within mathematics.[8]
Indiana personal finance standards
The complete list below contains all 33 required personal finance topics currently identified in the controlling state materials. Each topic remains separate so educators and search engines can find the exact requirement.
Personal Financial Responsibility Course Competencies
Adopted by Indiana Department of Education and Indiana Commission for Higher Education.
Open the official documentFinancial responsibility and decision making
Students use reliable information, legal protections, goal setting, communication, and privacy practices to make financial decisions.
- 01
Managing individual and family finances
Apply reliable information and systematic decision-making to individual and family financial management.[5]
- 02
Responsibility for financial decisions
Explain lifelong financial responsibility and analyze how responsibilities differ for people with and without dependents.[5]
- 03
Evaluating financial information
Analyze financial sources for objectivity, accuracy, relevance, and currency and investigate current consumer fraud and online scams.[5]
- 04
Consumer protection
Use Indiana consumer-protection services, analyze legal safeguards, and demonstrate steps for resolving a consumer complaint.[5]
- 05
Goals, alternatives, and consequences
Set measurable financial goals, evaluate results, and apply systematic decision-making to long-term goals.[5]
- 06
Financial communication and contracts
Discuss financial goals and information with a potential partner and describe essential elements of personal and business contracts.[5]
- 07
Protecting personal information
Use strategies to control personal information and identify actions an identity-theft victim can take to restore security.[5]
Income and careers
Students connect education, work, entrepreneurship, taxes, and employee benefits with income and long-term financial goals.
- 01
Education, income, and life choices
Analyze how education, income, career, and life choices relate to achieving financial goals.[5]
- 02
Factors affecting income
Analyze how personal circumstances, career choices, economic conditions, and entrepreneurship affect income and career potential.[5]
- 03
Sources of personal income
Compare wages, gifts, rent, interest, dividends, capital gains, tips, commissions, and business profits and analyze government-assistance participation.[5]
- 04
Taxes, benefits, and disposable income
Analyze employee benefits and employer-sponsored or personal saving options and explain their relationship to disposable income.[5]
Planning and managing money
Students build budgets and records, use financial services, make consumer choices, plan charitable giving, and examine estate planning.
- 01
Financial goals and budgets
Manage money effectively by developing financial goals and budgets.[5]
- 02
Personal financial plan
Create and adjust a budget, build a one-year financial plan, and plan funding for a major financial goal.[5]
- 03
Financial records
Record income, spending, purchases, services, and taxes using organized and digital financial-management systems.[5]
- 04
Financial institutions and payment services
Evaluate payment methods, perform basic account tasks, and investigate applications for postsecondary financial assistance.[5]
- 05
Consumer purchase decisions
Evaluate marketing and economic influences, justify buying decisions, compare opportunity costs, and recognize fraud and online threats.[5]
- 06
Giving and community
Connect charitable giving, volunteer service, and philanthropy with community development and budget resources for a contribution.[5]
- 07
Estate planning
Compare wills, living wills, trusts, pensions, retirement benefits, Social Security, and annuities as estate-planning tools.[5]
Managing credit and debt
Students evaluate borrowing, maintain creditworthiness, manage excessive debt, and understand consumer-credit law.
- 01
Creditworthy and financially secure
Manage credit and debt to remain creditworthy and financially secure.[5]
- 02
Costs and benefits of credit
Evaluate borrowing costs, grace periods, interest methods, fees, and purchase alternatives for student, home, auto, and credit-card debt.[5]
- 03
Credit reports and ratings
Analyze how positive and negative credit reports affect creditworthiness and identify steps for rebuilding credit.[5]
- 04
Avoiding and correcting debt problems
Evaluate living beyond one's resources and actions that reduce or better manage excessive debt.[5]
- 05
Consumer credit laws
Use current information about consumer-credit rights and describe the rights of debtors and creditors when debt is unpaid.[5]
Risk management and insurance
Students compare financial risks and insurance choices across different stages of life.
- 01
Insurance in financial planning
Analyze insurance features and the role insurance plays in balancing risk and benefit.[5]
- 02
Managing financial risk
Examine financial risks and manage them through avoidance, reduction, retention, assumption, or transfer.[5]
- 03
Insurance purposes, types, and costs
Evaluate coverage and cost factors for health, property, life, disability, and liability insurance at different life stages.[5]
Saving and investing
Students use saving, investment, interest, inflation, taxes, and regulatory protections to build long-term financial security.
- 01
Long-term financial security
Analyze saving and investing as tools for building long-term financial security and wealth.[5]
- 02
Saving and financial well-being
Evaluate saving strategies and compare simple and compound interest at different rates.[5]
- 03
Building wealth and assets
Compare investment strategies, apply time value of money and opportunity cost, and calculate lump-sum and periodic investment values.[5]
- 04
Saving and investment alternatives
Compare investment options by earnings, risk, liquidity, inflation, and other economic factors.[5]
- 05
Buying and selling investments
Compare investment channels and the objectives and historical returns of different investment options.[5]
- 06
Investment rates of return
Analyze returns using time value of money and economic conditions and calculate taxes on investments and tax-free earnings.[5]
- 07
Financial-market regulation
Explain how Indiana and federal regulators reduce risk and identify services that protect savers and investors.[5]
Relevant law, rule, or board action
IC 20-30-5-19
Personal financial responsibility instructionRequires covered schools to include specified personal finance content and requires the Class of 2028 and later to complete it as a separate subject.[1]
IC 20-32-4-17
Personal financial responsibility graduation conditionMakes successful completion a condition of graduation for the Class of 2028 and later and requires the school to certify completion.[1]
511 IAC 6-7.2
Indiana Diploma requirementsEstablishes the redesigned diploma for students entering high school in 2025-26 or later, including personal finance within required mathematics credits.[7]
Notes for teachers and curriculum leaders
- Use the student's expected graduation year first. Class of 2028 students follow the 2024 implementation memo, while Class of 2029 and later students are governed by the redesigned diploma and its current course-eligibility list.[4][8]
- Do not satisfy the covered-cohort requirement by placing a few personal finance units inside an unrelated course. SEA 35 requires the instruction to be completed as a separate subject.[2]
- A locally developed or commercial curriculum may be used for course 4540 when it aligns with the state competencies. The standards determine coverage; Indiana does not prescribe one vendor curriculum.[4][5]
Official sources
- 1Indiana Code Title 20: IC 20-30-5-19 and IC 20-32-4-17Locator: IC 20-30-5-19(d)-(e) and IC 20-32-4-17Supports: separate-subject instruction, Class of 2028 and later, graduation condition, school certification
- 2Senate Enrolled Act 35: Financial literacyLocator: Sections 1-2; IC 20-30-5-19(d)-(e) and IC 20-32-4-17Supports: separate-subject requirement, Class of 2028, graduation condition, school certification, July 1, 2023 effective date
- 3Personal FinanceLocator: Indiana High School diploma and course 4540 guidanceSupports: current agency overview, Class of 2029 diploma treatment, standards guide
- 4High School Personal Financial Responsibility Course and Career Planning and Coaching StandardsLocator: Personal Financial Responsibility, pages 1-2Supports: Class of 2028 implementation, eligible courses, course duration and credits, local curriculum option
- 5Personal Financial Responsibility Course and Financial Literacy Standards Correlation GuideLocator: Course 4540 competencies D1.1-D6.7, PDF pages 1-14Supports: all 33 course competencies, six domains, correlation to earlier standards
- 62026-2027 Next Level Programs of Study Review DocumentLocator: Course 4540 Personal Financial Responsibility; competencies D1.1-D6.7Supports: current course competencies, course 4540, six domains, durable state-hosted standards source
- 7Final Rule LSA Document #24-220: Indiana Diploma RequirementsLocator: 511 IAC 6-7.2-1 and 6-7.2-20; effective-date clauseSupports: new diploma applicability, credit framework, personal finance within mathematics, July 1, 2025 effective date
- 8Updated 2026-2027 New Indiana Diploma Course EligibilityLocator: Pages 1-2, Mathematics: Personal FinanceSupports: Class of 2029 statewide implementation, one-credit requirement, three eligible courses
- 92026-2027 High School Course Titles and DescriptionsLocator: Current course descriptions and course codesSupports: course titles, course descriptions, current reporting codes
Frequently asked questions
Does Indiana require a personal finance course to graduate?
Yes. Students in the Class of 2028 and later must complete personal financial responsibility instruction before graduation, and their school must certify completion.[1][2]
Does Indiana require personal finance as a stand-alone subject?
Yes for the covered cohorts. Indiana Code says the required instruction must be completed as a separate subject rather than only as units inside another course.[1]
How long is Indiana's required personal finance course?
The preferred Class of 2028 option, course 4540 Personal Financial Responsibility, lasts one semester and awards one Indiana credit. The approved finance-pathway alternative for that cohort requires two semesters and two credits. The redesigned diploma requires one approved personal finance credit for the Class of 2029 and later.[4][8]
Which Indiana class is first covered by the financial literacy requirement?
The Class of 2028 is first. The redesigned Indiana Diploma then applies statewide beginning with the Class of 2029.[2][8]
Which courses satisfy Indiana's personal finance requirement?
For the redesigned diploma, the February 2026 state list includes course 4540 Personal Financial Responsibility, course 4519 AP Business with Personal Finance, and course 7150 Personal Finance and Banking. Class of 2028 implementation guidance identifies course 4540 as preferred and a two-course finance pathway as the alternative.[4][8]