Meeting diploma requirements may have gotten more challenging, as the classes of 2015 and onward will now be obligated to follow one additional provision. The Virginia Department of Education, (VDOE), has added an additional credit in economics and personal finance as a graduation requirement for the Standard, Standard Technical, Advanced Studies, and Advance Technical Diplomas. This requirement does not apply to the class of 2014 because it doesn’t take effect until the 2011-2012 academic year. For those students who aren’t particularly interested in Economics or a Finance course, they can opt to take Microeconomics and Macroeconomics, which will also fulfill the finance credit. The VDOE has issued this required credit with an “our kids are our future” mindset, where students will be prepared to be responsible citizens “in a constitutional democracy.”