College Students Personal Finance Grade a C or Worse

In a LendEDU study of 455 college students, 59% rated their ability to manage their money and their finances at a C grade or worse. The survey posed 25 questions to the students, covering how they felt about their financial knowledge to spending habits, budgeting, and saving.

Here are some of the key findings of the survey:

• 73% of students work part or full time and earn income
• 58% are not saving any money each month
• 82% of those who are saving put away less than 30% of their money
• 43% don’t track their monthly spending
• 81% don’t have an emergency fund
• 41% don’t know how to budget properly
• 25% reported their biggest expense was alcohol and/or drugs
• 48% don’t know how to save for retirement
• 68% did not know what a 401(k) or IRA was for
• 70% don’t know much about financial investment
• 86% received little or no financial education in high school
• 30% reported that their parents did not teach them anything about managing money
• 43% could not name one difference between a credit and a debit card

“Young adults are entering the world with dangerously little knowledge about how to manage their money and plan for their financial future,” said David Lerner Associates Executive Vice President Daniel Lerner. “The knowledge that was tested in this survey is critical for every person, but when students graduate with no financial knowledge, they are at a huge disadvantage.”

A Gallup study of the nation's business leaders found that just 11% of these leaders strongly agree that graduating students have the skills and competencies their business needs. The experiences teens and young adults have with money, both good and bad, can influence spending habits in adulthood.

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