College student interest in personal finance education

Abstract

This study investigates demand for investing in financial literacy while in college using survey responses from a cross-section of students at a medium-size, private university. Results indicate that student interest in personal finance education is largely a function of perceived return, time cost, financial independence, and gender where female students have relatively more interest. Income, patience in consumption, credit experience, numerical ability, and other factors are not consistently significant to demand. The results support offering learning opportunities for individual personal finance topics in addition to a personal finance course.