Date of Conferral

2021

Degree

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

School

Education

Advisor

Vicki Underwood

Abstract

Undergraduate students are a vulnerable population faced with college costs and a lack of financial management knowledge, issues that have led to high student debt, failure to repay this debt, and sometimes dropping out of college. Facing these financial matters often serves as a leading source of stress, which, according to Selye’s stress theory, can negatively affect the lives of these college students, but may also be experienced differently by various demographic groups. This quantitative study compared financial stress reported on an anonymous online National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) financial stress survey by respondents from a stratified random sample of 2,130 undergraduate students across all 4 years of a public university in the Southeastern United States. Multiple regression analysis was used to determine if a relationship existed between financial stress and demographic characteristics including grade classification (first-year, sophomore, junior, senior), sex, race/ethnicity, and parental educational levels. The only statistically significant relationship was between NSSE financial stress index scores and grade classification (p = .039). Most literature on financial stress of college students and the findings reported by NSSE focus on first-year and senior students; however, this study showed an increase in financial stress index scores for sophomores and seniors, suggesting the need for interventions beyond those typically offered in the first and final years of college. Findings were used to develop a policy recommendation on the need for financial literacy education to address financial stress, decrease loan default rates, and improve academic outcomes such as retention and graduation, especially for demographic groups who already face multiple barriers to college success.

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