Indiana, Personal Finance Graduation Requirement

Indiana requires it.
We teach it.

Indiana requires a personal finance course for every public high school student. Below is the complete alignment between The Crescara//Project curriculum and Indiana's personal finance education standards.

The Law

What Indiana Senate Bill 35 actually requires.

Governor Eric Holcomb signed Senate Bill 35 on May 4, 2023, making Indiana the 19th state to guarantee personal finance education for high school graduates. Indiana has required a standalone personal finance course for high school graduation since 2015. The requirement applies to all public high school students and demands a dedicated half-credit course covering income, banking, credit, insurance, and investing, with no substitution from economics or other courses.

Indiana's requirement has been in place long enough that schools are now evaluating the quality of what they're teaching, not just whether they're meeting the mandate. The Crescara//Project offers Indiana schools the most comprehensive personal finance curriculum currently available.

2015
Year Indiana established its personal finance graduation requirement for public high school students
Half credit
Standalone personal finance course required for graduation, no substitution permitted
10 Required Content Areas
Every content area in this state's personal finance standards is covered across Units 1, 2, and 3 of The Crescara//Project.
Full Curriculum Alignment

Every required topic. Covered.

Indiana Senate Bill 35 Required Topic
Crescara//Project Coverage
Unit
Income and Employment
Ch. 2 Paycheck and Benefits, Ch. 10 Career and Resumes, Ch. 11 Negotiating
Units 1 and 2
Taxes
Ch. 13 Taxes, what a paycheck actually takes, why, and how to file
Unit 2
Budgeting and Money Management
Ch. 3 Budgeting, Ch. 4 Know Where Your Money Is, Ch. 5 Exponential Growth of Money
Unit 1
Saving and Building Wealth
Ch. 5 Exponential Growth of Money, Ch. 6 Banks and Accounts, Ch. 23 High Yield Savings, CDs, and Treasuries
Units 1 and 3
Credit and Debt
Ch. 12 Credit Scores, Ch. 14 Interest Rates, Ch. 16 Credit Cards, Ch. 17 Student Loans
Unit 2
Banking and Financial Services
Ch. 6 Types of Banks, Credit Unions, and Accounts, Ch. 26 Platform Simulations
Units 1 and 3
Insurance and Risk Management
Ch. 18 Healthcare and Disability, Ch. 24 Life Insurance, plus the Consequence Engine insurance scenarios
Units 2 and 3
Investing
Ch. 19 Investment Overview, Ch. 20 Stocks and Bonds, Ch. 21 Funds, Ch. 22 Costs of Investing, Ch. 26 Brokerage Platforms
Unit 3
Consumer Rights and Responsibility
Ch. 15 reading fine print, borrower rights, total cost of borrowing, Ch. 7 Psychology of Money
Unit 2
Financial Goal Setting
Ch. 8 Setting Goals, Ch. 7 Psychology of Money, Ch. 9 How to Build Wealth, Ch. 27 Capstone
Units 1 and 3
Beyond Compliance

Meeting the mandate is the floor. We teach past it.

Indiana Senate Bill 35 sets the minimum. A checklist of topics is not a curriculum. The Crescara//Project sequences Indiana's required content areas in the order students will actually encounter them in life, connects them to each other, and builds habits through repetition, not review sheets.

You can't teach investing without first teaching budgeting. You can't teach credit without first teaching income. The sequence is the curriculum.

Personalized by geography
Content adapts to each student's real financial context. A student in rural Indiana and a student in a major city are not facing the same realities.
Habits built in, not bolted on
Budgeting, saving, reading fine print, reinforced across all three units through the Consequence Engine, not addressed once in a single chapter.
Zero prior knowledge assumed
Every concept is introduced from scratch. Teachers do not need a financial background. Students do not need one either.
Ready to meet the mandate?

The curriculum is ready now.

Indiana schools that connect now will be ahead of the requirement. Reach out at info@crescaraproject.org.

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