Adulting 101: Free MSU courses teach balanced budgets, cooking, pet care

Michigan State University Extension offers free ‘Adulting 101’ courses to teach life skills to teens, young people
Monthly virtual sessions address money management, responsibilities and transition anxiety
Courses aim to alleviate stress young people face as they step into adulthood

Balancing a budget, building credit or even knowing what it takes to care for a pet are skills many young people may not learn in school. Now, Michigan State University Extension is stepping in to help fill that gap with a free, online “Adulting 101” course aimed at preparing students for independent life.

The program offers monthly virtual sessions for teens and young adults, covering practical topics from money management to everyday responsibilities. MSU Extension educators say the course responds to a growing anxiety among participants about the transition to adulthood and a lack of life-skills education in many school curricula.

“We were finding that it can be very stressful for young people when they think about transitioning to adulthood and taking that next step to be independent, thriving adults,” said Laurie Rivetto, an MSU Extension 4-H educator.

The program includes 11 monthly virtual sessions covering topics like budgeting and credit management, as well as less commonly discussed responsibilities like pet ownership, cooking “with confidence” and maintaining a healthy diet. Sessions are led by experts from a range of fields, including educators within the MSU Extension network.

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Rivetto said many participants are relieved to learn they are not alone in feeling unprepared for adulthood.

“We’ve also gotten feedback that a (session) might have been about something that they haven’t been thinking about and now they know that there are resources out there or there is more information that they can find out.”

The first workshop of this year, set for Wednesday evening, will cover fraud and give participants tips on how to avoid fake job offers, phishing texts and scams.

Michigan State University is not alone in offering “Adulting 101” courses. The University of California, Riverside, offers a similar program for college students who meet certain eligibility requirements. The course focuses on three areas: basic needs, career development and financial wellness.

The program spans two semesters and participants can earn a $600 stipend upon completion. To qualify, students must attend at least six events, including two from each focus area, as well as the program’s opening and closing ceremonies.

A need for Gen Z

Skills like driving, cooking and child development, once commonly taught through home economics classes, have largely disappeared from many school curricula.

Bradley MacDonald, social studies and economics teacher at Melvindale High School, recalls taking home economics courses at Divine Child High School during the 1990s and those courses still being offered when he began his teaching career 20 years ago.

“I’ve heard a lot from kids, graduating seniors and really everybody that this is a huge need,” MacDonald said. Students would often say, “they don’t teach us things that are relevant in school.”

MacDonald believes the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002 was one of the major reasons why some schools stopped offering those courses.

The act, signed into law by former President George W. Bush, aimed to close achievement gaps by focusing on core subjects like reading and math. The act also required mandatory standardized testing every year for students in grades 3 through 8.

Michigan does not require schools to offer home economics or similar courses. However, high school students must complete a personal finance course and a civics or government course to graduate, each amounting to half a credit, or one semester.

“With snow days, with testing, with all of the other macro and micro concepts you have to fit in as a graduation requirement, I think there’s a lot of gaps with tax preparation … and monthly budgets,” MacDonald said.

Michigan is one of 20 states that require a stand-alone economics course, according to a 2024 report by the Council for Economic Education, an organization that provides financial literacy to K-12 students. But, the survey shows that Michigan’s financial literacy course is only required to be integrated into another course.

“I think having (a course), that’s relevant, that’s going to be interesting and applicable to the “real world” for kids … could even improve attendance because kids are going to see more relevance and value in school rather than just abstract knowledge that they can just use ChatGPT to cheat their way through,” MacDonald said.