1. Financial Fridays: Financial Wellness Boostser Shots for
College Students
Valrie Chambers1 and Betty Thorne2
Stetson University, School of Business Administration, Associate Professor of Accounting; DeLand, FL
2. Stetson University, School of Business Administration, Professor of Statistics, DeLand, FL
Problem
Student Financial Literacy Is Often Lacking
There are many laws that protect the student population beyond that of the general population, including the Clery Act, the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act and FERPA. Such laws are often established in reaction to a crisis. Pascual (2015) found that the student population is particularly vulnerable to identity theft. Chambers & Thorne (2016) found that students often lapse in diligently protecting their financial identity. Lusardi, Mitchell and Curdo [2010] found that today’s youth have low financial literacy.
Announcement Example: Should You Rent Or Buy A Textbook?
Should you rent or buy a textbook? New or used? Online or hard copy? These are common questions that students ask, and the answer for each of your classes may be different.
First, follow the syllabus instructions. If the syllabus does not answer this question, consider whether you will need this book after the end of the semester. If the answer is “yes,” you should probably buy the book because most rentals and online access end shortly after the semester. If you purchase the book and later determine that you don’t need it, you can resell it used.
Should you buy a new or used textbook? This is a personal decision. With a used text you do not know what you are going to get. You may get a book that has pages missing, is otherwise damaged, or may be marked up. Being marked up may be a good thing, though, if it is properly highlighted or has useful notes
in the margin.
The preference for an e-book versus traditional hard copy remains a personal decision. There are a variety of factors you should consider when making this decision, from cost to ease of use. For a complete synopsis of the pros and cons of both, click here. Also, consider your budget when making these decisions. Have a great semester!
Purpose
To Provide A Way To Increase Student Financial Literacy
Organizations like the American Institute of CPAs provide remedial tools, but with limited reach.
Universities frequently offer personal finance electives, but there is often little room in degree programs to add this class as an additional requirement
Provide Stetson University (and other non-profit institutions) with a proactive means to educate students financially at a minimum cost.
How Students Today Receive Information
Students on our campus read the daily web-based message board delivered via , but prefer to have important information delivered through social media.
Students are less enthusiastic about reading the student newspaper.
IMPACT
In a rough attempt to estimate the value of this particular announcement, if 10 students on a campus of 3,000-4,000 students (about 0.25% of the campus population) rent books instead of buying them for their first 2 years (4 semesters of college), and if those students had four courses per semester, then at about $150 per course, the savings would be: 10*4*(4*150) = $24,000. If students borrowed money to pay for books, interest could easily be $100/student for the 4 years that they were in college, or ($24,000 + ($100*10)=) $25,000 for each year that the announcement were to run on this college campus.
Proposal
Financial Friday Announcements
We propose preparing a weekly financial education announcement with appropriate hyperlinks that can be easily re-run on social media to promote students’ financial wellness.
49 short financial wellness announcements to be run on Fridays, when school schedules are generally lighter.
Marketing posts these messages, and re-posts them to run on social media.
These core message should need only minor adjustments to run in subsequent years until no longer needed.
There is no marginal cost of this program anticipated.
Significance/Future Plans
We know of no other institution proactively promoting their students’ financial wellness in this or a similar way.
If interested, contact Marie Dinklage, Stetson University Marketing/Media Relations, at to sign up for these announcements for redistribution to your students.
Methodology
The authors developed a survey instrument comprised of 46 Likert-scaled items and additional demographic information resulted in 188 student responses from selected business classes during the academic year at Stetson University. Both graduate and undergraduate students were included in the study.
References
Chambers, V., & Thorne, B. (2016). A Financial Wellness Check-up for Students. Submitted for publication.
Lusardi, A., Mitchell, O. S., & Curto, V. (2010). Financial literacy among the young. Journal of Consumer Affairs, 44(2),
Pascual, A. (2015, March 2) Identity Fraud: Protecting Vulnerable Populations. Retrieved from fraud-protecting-vulnerable-populations
RESEARCH POSTER PRESENTATION DESIGN © 2015