Providing Campus-Wide Financial Literacy Can Boost Enrollment

April is Financial Literacy Month, a time to focus on the importance of skills such as budgeting, saving, investing, and making smart financial decisions. Higher education institutions can play an important role in helping students develop these skills. Fostering financial literacy to students during their college years can help them navigate everyday financial challenges and build the foundation for a secure future.

To support institutions around this topic, Vector Solutions partnered with Dr. Ann Marie Hibbert, a professor at West Virginia University, for a webinar about how colleges and universities can foster financial confidence in students.

Hibbert serves as chair of West Virginia University’s finance department and is director of its Center for Financial Literacy and Education. For Financial Literacy Month, we are sharing some key takeaways from her webinar that can help higher education institutions build strong financial literacy skills in students.

Financial Stress

Financial issues are a significant source of stress for many college students, and that stress can impact their daily lives and their academics. One survey found that more than 70% of college students were experiencing financial challenges, and more than half were worried about their current monthly expenses and about having enough money to pay for school. Another survey found that 59% of students considered dropping out due to financial stress, and of the 19% who did drop out, financial uncertainty was cited as the leading cause.

Financial literacy skills help students better navigate financial challenges associated with higher education by helping reduce students’ stress and can improve student retention and graduation rates. Financial literacy also empowers students to make good financial decisions in the future, such as investing wisely, making smart borrowing decisions, and planning for retirement.

Learning financial literacy at an early age, even as early as high school is helpful, yet only 27 states require a financial literacy course for high school graduation, which makes it even more important for colleges and universities to provide this foundational knowledge.

Top Four Financial Literacy Concepts College Students Should Know

Financial literacy programs should cover the following:

1. Planning and money management. This includes goal setting, budgeting, managing income and expenses, and understanding income tax.
2. Saving and investing. This includes planning for an emergency fund and a savings account, basic investment strategies, and how to save for retirement.
3. Credit and debt. This includes learning about credit reports and scores, how loans and credit cards work, what is involved in getting a mortgage on a first home, how to avoid getting into debt, and, when in debt, how to get out of it.
4. Risk management. This includes the importance of having home, health, auto, and life insurance. It also covers estate planning and identity theft.

Seven Strategies To Build a Culture of Financial Well-being on Campus

When institutions create a culture that promotes financial well-being, it reduces students’ stress and helps to improve retention, academics, and graduation rates. Here are some key strategies for building such a culture on campus.

1. Enlist academic leaders to champion financial literacy. Establish a financial literacy task force that has broad representation.
2. Involve students in the planning. It’s essential to have students at the table advocating for and getting involved in this work.
3. Integrate financial literacy into existing programs. Financial literacy can be integrated into other career-prep programs such as resume writing and career coaching.
4. Collaborate with faculty and the student affairs department. Invite these staff members to coach students on financial literacy or deliver seminars to support the effort.
5. Employ a range of strategies. Consider offering online programming, blended learning, and peer coaching to teach financial literacy.
6. Identify best practices. Survey successful programs at other institutions and replicate what works.
7. Develop partnerships. Work with local financial institutions, alumni, and industry leaders.

Financial literacy helps students make informed choices that can give them financial independence and ensure long-term financial security—receiving this education while in college will help them succeed in college and beyond.

About the Expert

Dr. Hibbert is a Professor of Finance and the Chair of the Finance Department at West Virginia University. She is also the Director of the Center for Financial Literacy and Education (CFLE). Hibbert’s research is primarily in the area of behavioral finance. She has published articles in top finance journals, including the Journal of Financial Economics, Journal of Finance, Review of Finance, Journal of Banking and Finance, and others.

She was an elected member of the Board of the Eastern Finance Association from 2017-2020 and has been an Associate Editor of the International Journal of Finance and Economics (an A-level journal on the College Journal List) since 2022. She also regularly serves as an ad-hoc reviewer for many high-quality finance and economics journals. Prior to academia, Dr. Hibbert was a successful corporate finance executive for close to ten years.

How Vector Solutions Can Help

Vector Solutions provides online courses to support higher education institutions around a wide variety of critical safety, well-being, and compliance topics, including a Financial Literacy course for students designed to give students the knowledge and skills they need to manage their money wisely now and in the years ahead. The course includes the following modules:

• Budgeting Basics
• Budgeting for a Large Purchase
• Making Smart Spending Decisions
• Managing Checking and Savings Accounts
• Managing Credit Cards
• Setting Financial Goals
• Understanding Credit, Credit Scores, and Credit History
• Understanding Interest, Inflation, and Time Value of Money

Vector’s courses are authored by subject-matter experts and are available in multiple languages.