The University of Rhode Island released a survey to all students at URI as part of an initiative to learn more about student financial independence nationwide and how it affects students’ academic success.
The Human Development and Family Science Program, which sent out the survey, received 983 responses from the URI community as of Wednesday, according to Nilton Porto, an associate professor of consumer finance and an author of the study. An additional 200 people have responded from other universities.
Two major groups of URI students emerged from survey results, according to Jing Jian Xiao, a URI professor of human development and family science and corresponding author of the study.. The first group has a higher level of financial independence and tends to struggle either financially or academically. The other group has a low level of financial independence and is able to plan ahead for their life after graduation because they are supported financially by either their parents, scholarships or grants.
HDF hopes to determine how financially independent students are through student feedback, according to Xiao. HDF is also interested in releasing this survey in other countries, including Poland, to see how the results compare. Moving forward, the department hopes to assess how financial independence impacts other factors in students’ lives, such as mental health.
“The idea was to learn more about how students define financial independence,” Porto said. “Then we ask them how important it is to them to be financially independent.”
With the results of the survey, Xiao and Porto hope that the finance courses offered at URI can be focused more on what students aren’t knowledgeable about, according to Xiao. This could create a movement for opportunities for students to learn more about financial strategies outside of courses.
The survey asked students questions regarding what percentage of their finances they are responsible for, where their funding is sourced from and what topics are important to them in terms of their financial independence, according to Xiao. The survey aims to determine how a student’s level of financial independence impacts their academic performance.
“College life is like a semi-independent life, it’s a transition,” Porto said.
The survey was initially released to students enrolled in finance courses at URI, according to Xiao.
However, students in these classes have already been exposed to some level of financial knowledge and have a better understanding of finances, according to Porto.
“When you publish to all of URI, you might get a real answer,” Porto said.
Porto and Xiao hope that by assessing the financial independence of all URI students, who might not have a good understanding of finances, they can get a more realistic understanding of how college students nationwide understand financial independence.
There is a demand for people to be educated about finance, according to Xiao.
“Most people learn from their parents and their relatives,” Xiao said. “But because of the social demand, more and more universities offer these courses.”
Students need to have good habits, work on developing their careers and should not be worried if they aren’t currently financially independent, according to Porto.
“It’s not rocket science,” Porto said. “It’s not that difficult to learn the basics of personal finance.”
Other studies have been done to measure the financial independence of young adults, according to Xiao. Those studies, however, take into account people from ages 18 to 35, whereas this survey was targeted specifically at college students ages 18 to 25.
Xiao and Porto’s research will be published in their paper “The Vulnerable on Campus: Financial Independence of College Students.”