Financial Literacy and the College Student

Abstract

A multi-school, multi-state survey of 513 students is utilized to determine the financial literacy of college students as it relates to their own financial situation. We find that over one fourth of college students are not participants in the financial system, over one third do not know how much credit card or student loan debt that they currently owe, and they overestimate their future earnings by more than 20%. We do find that these troubling statistics are lowered when the students receive their financial information from college personnel rather than high school personnel and family and friends. Our findings illustrate the importance of financial literacy training for all college students.