Keywords

budgeting, college students, emerging adults, personal finance

Abstract

Using a sample of more than 500 college students from a large, private university, this study seeks to analyze spending expectations of students, their realized habits, and the dispersion between the two. We first ask the students to project what they think their monthly budget will be throughout the semester. We then ask them to track their expenses for three months. The students do the same for income they receive. The students then report their actual spending habits and answer various questions related to their demography, family, and life experience. We use simple univariate correlation methods to explain factors that may influence their expected income and spending as well as their actual income and spending. Additionally, we consider the association specifically between these factors and credit spending, both projected and realized. Using the same estimation method, we determine the degree to which a student adheres to a personal budget, which is known as expenditure dispersion. We then estimate a multivariate model on expenditure dispersion. Our findings identify factors that predispose college students to favorable and unfavorable budget outcomes.

Original Publication Citation

Budget Habits of College Students: An Empirical Analysis of Expectations and Realizations, with Marshall Ringwood and Jessica West, Journal of the Academy of Business Education, Vol. 21, Winter 2020, 1-25.

Document Type

Peer-Reviewed Article

Publication Date

2020

Publisher

Journal of the Academy of Business Education

Language

English

College

Marriott School of Business

Department

Finance

University Standing at Time of Publication

Full Professor

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