Wisconsin Personal Finance Standards & Graduation Requirements
Wisconsin requires a half credit of personal financial literacy to graduate, beginning with the class of 2028.
Wisconsin at a glance
- Requirement
- Standalone course required
- Legislation or authority
- 2023 Wisconsin Act 60
- Passed
- Signed December 2023
- Takes effect
- Applies to students entering grade 9 in 2024-25
- First graduating class affected
- Class of 2028
- Course length
- One-half (0.5) credit personal financial literacy
- State standards
- Wisconsin Standards for Personal Financial Literacy (DPI)
What Wisconsin requires
2023 Wisconsin Act 60 requires a half credit of personal financial literacy for graduation, applying to students who entered grade 9 in 2024-25 — the class of 2028 and beyond.
DPI provides the Wisconsin Standards for Personal Financial Literacy and implementation guidance.
Wisconsin’s standards are unusual in naming mindset and psychology alongside the mechanics: financial mindset and decision-making open the framework rather than closing it, and financial psychology is bundled with risk management and insurance. The remaining strands cover earning income and careers, spending and saving, credit and debt, and investing and saving for the future. The timing is tight by design — Act 60 was signed in December 2023 and attaches to students who entered grade 9 the following school year, so the cohort it binds started grade 9 the school year after it was signed — a class that is now well into high school, with the half credit being built around it in real time.
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How Rapunzl maps to Wisconsin standards
Rapunzl's curriculum is built on the Council for Economic Education's six pillars. Here is how they line up with the Wisconsin framework.
| Wisconsin strand | CEE pillar | Rapunzl modules |
|---|---|---|
| Financial mindset & decision-making | Financial Decision-Making | Financial StatisticsTop Investor Strategies |
| Earning income & careers | Earning Income | Taxes & IncomeCareers In Finance |
| Spending & saving (budgeting) | Spending | The Basics Of BankingBuying Your First HomePaying For College |
| Credit & debt | Managing Credit | The Power & Risks Of CreditHow To Make Loans Work For You |
| Investing & saving for the future | Investing | Welcome To The Stock MarketWhat Makes A Good Stock?ETFs & Mutual Funds |
| Risk management, insurance & financial psychology | Managing Risk | Diversification & RiskInsurance & Retirement |
Educators can request a full Wisconsin standards crosswalk through the Educator Dashboard.
Why Wisconsin schools choose Rapunzl
Wisconsin's 2023 Act 60 added a half credit of personal financial literacy for students who entered grade 9 in 2024-25, making the class of 2028 the first bound by it. That cohort is already in high school, so districts are building the course now rather than later. Rapunzl gives it substance: a live-market simulator where students manage a $10,000 portfolio, backed by modules that run from a three-week unit to a full semester. DPI's implementation guidance pairs with Rapunzl's crosswalks, so a district is not translating standards on its own.
- 150,000+students have completed Rapunzl's curriculum
- 93%average financial literacy scores on national test over past 5 years, 26% higher than average
- 31interactive modules that can be customized into a course progression for your classroom
- 20+hours of gameplay in 2 interactive mini-games alongside our investment simulator and financial calculators
Teachers get a dashboard that exports grades and crosswalks each lesson to the Wisconsin Standards for Personal Financial Literacy, with materials in English and Spanish that work with a screen reader. Rapunzl's January scholarship competition gives students a reason to keep managing their portfolio once the half credit is done.
Wisconsin personal finance requirement FAQ
Wisconsin requires a half credit of personal financial literacy to graduate, beginning with the class of 2028.
The requirement is set by 2023 Wisconsin Act 60.
Takes effect: Applies to students entering grade 9 in 2024-25.
One-half (0.5) credit personal financial literacy.
Wisconsin's requirement is a standalone course requirement.
In practice that means a dedicated class of its own, taken for credit, rather than a few personal finance lessons folded into another subject.
The Class of 2028 is the first graduating class that has to meet it, so earlier classes are not held to the requirement.
Timeline: Applies to students entering grade 9 in 2024-25.
If you are planning a course now, that timeline is the window to have curriculum in place before Wisconsin starts holding students to it.
Wisconsin Standards for Personal Financial Literacy (DPI).
Rapunzl is built on the Council for Economic Education's six pillars: earning income, spending, saving, investing, managing credit, and managing risk. The Wisconsin Standards for Personal Financial Literacy cover the same topics, so the crosswalk above matches each to the modules that teach it.
Yes. Rapunzl's modules and live simulator cover the six CEE pillars, and those map onto the Wisconsin strands on this page, so the half-credit course the class of 2028 needs has curriculum ready.
Students learn by investing a simulated $10,000 in real market conditions, and teachers run the class from a dashboard with grade export, bilingual materials, and screen-reader support.
Request a demo and we'll send the Wisconsin crosswalk plus classroom access so you can see how it fills the new half credit.
2023 Wisconsin Act 60 requires a half credit of personal financial literacy for students who entered grade 9 in 2024-25, so the class of 2028 needs the course on its transcripts before graduation. The open items are where the half credit sits in each student's remaining years and who teaches it, since the law gave districts little runway between signing and the first cohort.
DPI's Wisconsin Standards for Personal Financial Literacy open with financial mindset and decision-making and pair financial psychology with risk management and insurance, so a course built only on mechanics will miss part of the framework. Rapunzl's simulator puts students' own decisions at the center, and its modules cover earning income, credit, and investing.
Bring Rapunzl to your Wisconsin classroom
Explore the curriculum and real-time simulator free for 30 days. Tell us about your school and we'll send your all-access demo along with the Wisconsin standards crosswalk.
Request DemoPersonal finance requirements in other states
- Alabama Standards
- Alaska Standards
- Arizona Standards
- Arkansas Standards
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