Starting next fall, thousands of high school seniors in Miami-Dade County Public Schools will learn how to avoid the pitfalls of personal finances and debt.

Superintendent Alberto Carvalho announced plans Monday for the new financial education unit, which will be funded by a $118,000 grant from Discover Financial Services. Discover’s grant is part of a $10 million company commitment over five years to create a “financial literacy” curriculum in public high schools around the country.

Carvalho said the new economics unit, which is expected to reach 18,000 seniors each year, will boost a curriculum that includes economics classes but doesn’t yet sufficiently prepare students to manage their own finances.

“A single semester of economics is not sufficient to teach them the skills they will need to navigate this knowledge-based economy and to avoid falling victim to many of the traps out there in terms of decisions they will make regarding personal finance,” Carvalho said. “The rapid descent into a life of excessive debt and the individual repercussions are far too daunting.”