The Michigan Council on Economic Education today announced its endorsement of the Advanced Placement (AP) Business with Personal Finance course, calling on Michigan school districts to offer the course as a learning pathway to satisfy the state’s personal finance graduation guarantee. As an entry-level AP course rooted in real-world financial decision-making, AP Business with Personal Finance has the potential to welcome students who may not have traditionally seen themselves as AP students, opening the door to college-level learning through content that is immediately relevant to their lives. Doing so would help to raise academic standards, expand student access to high-quality personal finance instruction, and better prepare Michigan graduates for financial life in the real world.
“Every Michigan student deserves to graduate with the financial knowledge and skills to navigate adult life successfully and that is why we led the charge for a personal finance graduation guarantee,” said Derek D’Angelo, president of the Michigan Council on Economic Education. “AP Business with Personal Finance delivers exactly that — at a college level of rigor. Offering this course is the right move for students, for districts, and for Michigan.”
“I decided to take AP Business this year to challenge myself and learn skills that will be necessary later in life. As a student interested in pursuing a finance/business career, this class seemed like a perfect fit and would prepare me well for what I will learn in the future. Gaining experience with financial situations and building comfort with the business mindset will expand my thinking and give me confidence to take advantage of opportunities ahead!” says Kenadie Schuemann, student at Gull Lake High School.
The Michigan Council on Economic Education is the state’s leading nonprofit dedicated to advancing economic and financial literacy education. The organization supports the nationally recognized Standards for Personal Financial Education, developed in partnership with the Council for Economic Education and the Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy. Those standards define what students must know and be able to do to make sound financial decisions — covering budgeting, saving, credit, investing, risk management, and long-term financial planning — and serve as the national benchmark for quality personal finance instruction. Michigan’s personal finance standards largely align with and are built from these national standards, ensuring students across the state are learning concepts grounded in a nationally recognized framework.
AP Business with Personal Finance meets that benchmark. The full-year course is explicitly designed to teach and assess those standards at a college level, situating personal finance concepts within broader business and economic contexts to deepen students’ real-world application skills. Rather than give students simple exposure to financial topics, the course requires them to demonstrate mastery through coursework aligned to defined competencies and an externally developed AP exam.
Andrea Hudson, teacher of the 2026 Michigan Personal Finance Challenge state championship team from Gull Lake High School states, “AP Business with Personal Finance is a great addition, especially since majoring in business in college has been the most popular path for decades. Adding this course to the AP options has been a game changer. Providing students who enjoy taking the more challenging courses at the AP level an opportunity to work hands-on with what it takes to start up and manage a business and how to handle money is already proving to be an incredible opportunity for the students. Plus, it is incredibly fun to teach!”
Our endorsement rests on three pillars:
Standards-based integrity. AP Business with Personal Finance fully addresses the competencies outlined in the CEE/Jump$tart standards, making it a principled and rigorous option to fulfill the personal finance graduation guarantee.
Rigor without redundancy. Recognizing this course allows students to satisfy Michigan’s graduation guarantee through a college-level experience with an external assessment. It doesn’t lower the bar; it raises it.
Financial education for all students. Expanding the pathways through which students can meet the personal finance graduation guarantee gives districts, especially those with limited course offerings, greater flexibility to deliver high-quality financial education within existing programs. No student should miss out on essential financial skills because of where they live or what their school can offer.
The Michigan Council on Economic Education urges Michigan school districts to make AP Business with Personal Finance available to all students as a rigorous, standards-aligned pathway for fulfilling the state’s personal finance graduation guarantee. By offering this course, districts can expand access to meaningful financial education, challenge students with college-level learning, and ensure graduates leave high school better prepared to make informed decisions about earning, spending, saving, investing, borrowing, and managing risk.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260914148888/en/
Media gallery
