The Financial Behavior of College Students in a Private Academic Institution in the Philippines

Abstract

Both money management and budget planning are required for effective financial behavior. However, many disregards exercising these two practices that eventually lead to certain financial dilemmas. College students of the present era are at a distinct point in their lives where the management of their money and finances are solely left upon themselves. For most of them, attending college and universities is the time that they experience financial independence with less supervision of their parents and guardians. The study intends to identify respondents’ profile about sex, college, and financial influences; determine students’ financial behavior in terms of cash/money management and financial planning and budgeting; to test significant differences on financial behavior and profile variables, and to propose a plan of action to enhance financial behavior. The data gathered were tallied, encoded and interpreted using different statistical tools such as frequency distribution, weighted mean and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). All data were treated using statistical software, PASW version 18 to further analyze the result of the study. The majority of the respondents of this study were male maritime students and the most favored source of financial influence is their parents/guardian. They exhibit fair financial behavior in terms of both cash management and financial planning and budgeting. There was a significant difference observed in cash management when grouped according to gender and college and in terms of financial planning, when grouped according to college. Researchers recommend that schools may integrate financial subjects in all colleges, host events and activities such as finance-related seminars, establish financial behavior assessment exams and financial counseling to better enhance student’s over-all financial behavior.