Camera Needed for a Class

Hi, I'm taking an Intro to Digital Photography course and (as expected) a digital camera is needed. While I think photography is awesome, I'm not yet at the point where I want to invest too much money into a camera, so I'm looking for a camera that has "manually adjustable lens openings and shutter speed settings." The FZ55 seems to be my front runner as of right now, but I'm not sure if it has those two features. Thank you so much for any help!