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Felipe Vidal

Marlen Harrison

ENC 1102

April 5, 2019

Financial Security

Abstract: Through the past decade, the significance of U.S. college students have increased

because they are the future leaders of America, however certain information can be inaccurate

regarding financial security. With this inaccuracy influencing college students in the U.S., this

paper will undergo the perceptions of financial security. An electronic survey and methods was

conducted and sent out to college students of public institutions with specific questions regarding

financial stress and financial security. The survey will provide accurate data and benefit me to

answering the research question. With this study, I tend to achieve more knowledge about

financial security and other financial matters and learn more about how college students perceive

of thee financial matters.

Introduction

The life of a college student is very long and filled with with work, stress, and deciding

who they are and who they want to be when they grow up. For a college student the decisions

they make, the mentors they chose to follow, and the major they study in all affect them in the

long run. College students choices are very influential and the decisions they make affect the

outcome of their future as well as the classes they take. Especially with all the false information

and the fake news that corrupt the minds of the public. Also, there are some college teachers that

have no idea what they are teaching or they are just not teaching the things that college students

need. The financial choices that college students make are crucial on how they perceive of

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financial matters. College is a transformation period for young adults to become independent and

have financial independency. This paper will discuss the Florida college students perceptions of

financial security. Furthermore, meaning how these young adults define financial security, how

they prioritize, and the importance of financial security. Financial security can be defined in

many ways but all accurate peer reviewed journals have the same general idea of financial

security. The general definition of financial security is the sense of relief in the mind when

people do not have to worry about their income being enough. Also, financial security can be

defined as having enough money to cover for emergencies. Although, some college students

think financial security is having your money safe and protected. My theory is that college

students would have the wrong idea of what financial security is and would not take it serious.

This paper will further discuss other financial matters that pertain to financial security, the

methods for the study, the discussion of the results, and then the conclusion of the study.

Literature Review

Countless students suffer from financial stress. Financial stress is defined as, “A

condition that is the result of financial and/or economic events that create anxiety, worry, or a

sense of scarcity, and is accompanied by a physiological stress response” (financial health

institute). Financial stress can be defined in many other different ways, but this definition is the

most appropriate and concise. A survey was made and data that came back cited that money

(69%), work (65%), and economy (61%) were causing the most stress for Americans. Financial

stress influences 75% of Americans.

Financial literacy is the ability in understanding how money works, how someone can

make, manage, or invest money. Many people who are in debt suffer from financial illiteracy.

There are several states throughout the U.S. that recognize the need of teaching financial literacy

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in classrooms. Now, 38 states have financial literacy built in their education system and taught to

students around the U.S. A number of college organizations are willing to improve their financial

literacy courses, which is important for college students since financial decisions they make are

influential of their future.

Methods

Financial security is very important in your adult life. The purpose of these questions was

to understand how college undergraduate students perceive of financial security. The perceptions

of financial security is very crucial, especially for college undergraduates because at this time of

their life, certain financial decisions will influence their future. Especially in this generation,

where false information is passed around and put on the internet.Furthermore, there is a vast

amount of people who share information that do not know what they are talking about. Certain

people are misinformed and not properly educated about financial securities and other financial

matters. Surveys are the best way to get first hand information about a specific topic. I made an

online survey and the survey is explicitly for college undergraduate students. The questions are

not just about financial security. Before I can ask how students perceive of financial security, I

must understand how students feel about financial stress, financial literacy, and debt.

Understanding financial stress that the participants go through has helped with my conclusion.

- The information collected by this survey has helped me better understand how

and why US college undergrads perceive financial security. Also from this survey, I have

understood what kind of financial stress they all go through and the factors that took a

role in their lives.

- The point of this study is to fill out the survey to the best of your ability with honest and

educated answers. Expanding my intelligence of college perceptions has improved my

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research and study. If participating, your real name is not mandatory. You can put an

imaginary name or even your nickname. If you can not relate to the question, then select

“other” and elaborate your own personal encounter. Your participation in this project is

optional and at any given time you are taking the survey and you decide that you want to

stop. Your identity and personal information has been concealed and kept private. Your

responses has also been kept private for no one to see except for me. There will be no

electronic record or documents with your identity. If my results and conclusion or any of

my work gets put to use on any scholarly articles or journals. Your identity will erased

from any of the documents.

Person Conducting Experience: Felipe Vidal-Casanova; Phone #: 305-303-2773; Email:

fvida011@fiu.edu

Person Condoning Experiment: Marlen Harrison

Survey

1. How often are you concerned about financial stress?

___. A great deal

___. Moderately

___. A little

___. Not at all

2. How often does work prevent you from going to class?

___. A great deal

___. Moderately

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___. A little

___. Not at all

___. Do not have a job

3. How often does lack of money prevent you from buying textbooks?

___. A great deal

___. Moderately

___. A little

___. Not at all

4. How important do you think financial security is?

___. A great deal

___. Moderately

___. A little

___. Not at all

5. How did you learn about financial security?

___. Family

___. Friend

___. Google

___. School/educational wise

___. Other

Results

Understanding what financial security is the easy part but applying it to your everyday

adult life is the difficult part. Initially, I did not know how many people would take the survey

because nowadays everyone has a survey and a lot of people are busy and do not want to waste

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their time taking a survey. When 7 participants were willing to take the survey I wish there was

more because it would make the results more accurate and specific but still satisfied with the

amount of participants that volunteered. Q1 (Figure 1) asked the participants about financial

Figure 1

Stress because in order to understand their perceptions of financial security, it is important to

understand the reason why. Financial stress can be a motivating factor for understanding and

taking action for financial security. In Q1 (Figure 1) 57% of the participants are concerned about

financial stress. Which is good for the participants because for most people to realize something,

in most cases they go through a bad experience in order to be aware of a certain situation. Of the

participants, 28% are moderately concerned which is not too bad but once a person is consumed

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in financial stress, it is very difficult to get oneself out of the predicament. Out of the

participants, 28% are barely concerned about financial stress which worries me because they do

Figure 2

not realize the importance of the situation. In Q2 (Figure 2) is to see if the students are being

delayed of an education by working to prevent financial stress or to afford certain

necessities.14% of the participants answered very little and 85% answered not at all. In Q3

Figure 3

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(Figure 3) questioned if students suffered financial stress and could not afford textbooks which

would prevent students from their classes. 14% of the participants answered that they moderately

cannot afford their textbooks, 14% said they can afford buying most textbooks, and 71%

declared they could afford all textbooks.

Figure 4

In Q4 (Figure 4) asked if the participants understood the importance of financial security. All

participants answered the same and find it important. In Q5 (Figure 5) asked where the

participants came to learn the information they knew about financial security. Out of the

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participants, 67% learned from their families, 16% learned from friends, and 33% learned it from

a specific education course or an education class.

Discussion

What are the Florida college students perceptions of financial security? An electronic

survey was used to answer the research question and provide the results I was looking for. Based

Figure 5

on the study and the survey, the major findings were ones I did not hypothesize. The findings to

my study is that the college perceptions of financial security is the general basis of what financial

security is.

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My findings were very helpful for me and help understand what are the college

perceptions of financial security, but this study does not speak for every college student in

Florida. Also, point of views are constantly changing and for every college student the

circumstances are always changing. It may be different for every college student, henceforth

meaning each college students point of views are different considering the factors that brought

them to their insights of financial matter. These findings illustrate that college perceptions are the

somewhat correct perceptions of financial security. The significance of this is that since college

students have the correct overall general basis of financial security which is beneficial for a

better future. The most important finding that was studied is how all the participant found

financial security important because it is the first step. In Q2 (Figure 2) since 14% of the

participants are prevented from going to class from work does not worry me because majority of

the participants are not being delayed from going to class, giving the majority of the participants

the full education they pay for. In Q4 (Figure 4), since all the participants find financial security

important, I hope they prioritize it and and implicate it for their adult lives. In Q5 (Figure 5),

none of them chose Google as their answer which is good because the answers google provide

can come from false sources. All the participant’s answers were that they learned from what they

know about financial security from a person or an educational program or class which is good

and bad. It is bad because when information is passed down orally it is considered a secondary

source which is not as credible and accurate as the primary source. It is good because the person

or persons that taught them financial security could have learned it from their past experiences.

Perhaps if more participants took part in the study the results could have been very different

because I know for a fact that they are college students being mislead by misinformation or false

teachings.

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Conclusion

Financial security is a matter that many college kids today do not really prioritize in their

student lives. This paper showed what are Florida college students perceptions of financial

security. The college kids that took the survey understood that the financial security is important

to them but some of the participants all have different perceptions of financial security. In

general, they somewhat have a good understanding of the topic but they all define it differently.

Only 33% of the participants got a proper education on financial securities and other matters

correlating with financialities. Previous research has proven that perceptions financial security on

young adults such as college students influence their financial behavior and that certain impacts

during their college lives can affect them long term. There has not been any studies on peer

reviewed Florida college students perceptions of financial security. This study benefits college

kids all around the world with false insights of financial security. Even though the study is based

on Florida college students, this study can remain helpful for college kids throughout the world,

the information can remain helpful. Furthermore, this study would also benefit adults in the

workforce and in the U.S. because they get their sense of relief knowing that the future leaders of

America has a good perception of financial matters such as financial security. Throughout the

duration of this study I was limited. First of all, the research question is not exactly concrete. The

research question is theoretical to the sense of where perceptions constantly change. No one can

truly understand the perception the college students. The perceptions of the young adults are

spontaneous and is always altering. Another limitation would be the lack of resourcefulness.

Henceforth meaning that not every college student could not take the survey and therefore their

output would not be included in the results. Another limitation would be that there has been no

particular study about the perceptions of college kids involving financial security. Another

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limitation is that my results are only accounted for 7 college students which does not contribute

for all college students in Florida. Most of the research about financial security often define the

matter, explain its importance, and talk about how influential college students are. For this study,

there are a few recommendations that would help get better results. First, for this study to

improve I would add a lot more participants to take the survey. Also for the survey, I would have

asked a couple more questions to get more data about this topic.

Works Cited

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1. Britt, Sonya L., et al. “Student Loans, Financial Stress, and College Student Retention.”

Journal of Student Financial Aid, vol. 47, no. 1, Jan. 2017. EBSCOhost,

http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?dir]rue&db=eric&AN=EJ1141137&site=eds-live.

2. Hagadorn, Michelle B. .. “The Role of Colleges and Universities in Students’ Financial

Well-Being.” Journal of Higher Education Theory & Practice, vol. 17, no. 8, Dec. 2017, pp. 18–

29. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?

direct=true&db=eue&AN=128943717&site=eds-live.

3. Berrett, Dan, and Eric Hoover. “College Freshmen Seek Financial Security Amid

Emotional Insecurity.” The Chronicle of Higher Education, no. 22, 2015. EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsgao&AN=edsgcl.404064764&site=eds-

live.

4. FLYNN, DEBORAH M. .., and STEPHANIE1 MACLEOD. “Determinants of Happiness

in Undergraduate University Students.” College Student Journal, vol. 49, no. 3, Fall 2015, pp.

452–460. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?

direct=true&db=eue&AN=109506018&site=eds-live.

5. Edwina Hefley Grieser. “Education in Family Financial Security.” The School Review,

vol. 63, no. 3, 1955, p. 143. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?

direct=true&db=edsjsr&AN=edsjsr.1083569&site=eds-live.

6. Pamela M. LaBorde, et al. “Personal Financial Literacy: Perceptions of Knowledge,

Actual Knowledge and Behavior of College Students.” Journal of Financial Education, vol. 39,

no. 3/4, 2013, p. 1. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?

direct=true&db=edsjsr&AN=edsjsr.23608645&site=eds-live.

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7. Ergün, Kutlu. “Financial Behaviour and Financial Literacy among University Students.”

Research in Economics & Business: Central & Eastern Europe, vol. 9, no. 2, July 2017, pp. 77–

94. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?

direct=true&db=bth&AN=128492402&site=eds-live.

8. Jones, Payton J., et al. “Contemporary College Student Anxiety: The Role of Academic

Distress, Financial Stress, and Support.” Journal of College Counseling, vol. 21, no. 3, Oct.

2018, pp. 252–264. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?

direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ1193141&site=eds-live.

9. Britt, Sonya L., et al. “Financial Stress, Coping Strategy, and Academic Achievement of

College Students.” Journal of Financial Counseling and Planning, vol. 27, no. 2, Jan. 2016, pp.

172–183. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?

direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ1161821&site=eds-live.

10. Darolia, Rajeev, and Casandra Harper. “Information Use and Attention Deferment in

College Student Loan Decisions: Evidence from a Debt Letter Experiment.” Educational

Evaluation and Policy Analysis, vol. 40, no. 1, Mar. 2018, pp. 129–150. EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ1168378&site=eds-live.

11. “College Students Lack Financial Management Skills.” Journal of Accountancy, vol. 220,

no. 5, Nov. 2015, p. 15. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?

direct=true&db=bth&AN=110603481&site=eds-live.

12. Lieber, Ethan M. J., and William Skimmyhorn. “Peer Effects in Financial Decision-

Making.” Journal of Public Economics, vol. 163, July 2018, pp. 37–59. EBSCOhost,

doi:10.1016/j.jpubeco.2018.05.001.

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13. NETEMEYER, RICHARD G., et al. “How Am I Doing? Perceived Financial Well-

Being, Its Potential Antecedents, and Its Relation to Overall Well-Being.” Journal of Consumer

Research, vol. 45, no. 1, June 2018, pp. 68–89. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1093/jcr/ucx109.

14. Montalto, Catherine P., et al. “College Student Financial Wellness: Student Loans and

Beyond.” Journal of Family and Economic Issues, no. 1, 2019, p. 3. EBSCOhost,

doi:10.1007/s10834-018-9593-4.

15. Sami Al Kharusi, and Sree Rama Murthy Y. “Financial Sustainability of Private Higher

Education Institutions: The Case of Publicly Traded Educational Institutions.” Investment

Management & Financial Innovations, no. 3, 2017, p. 25. EBSCOhost,

doi:10.21511/imfi.14(3).2017.03.

16. “Top Performers in Financial Literacy.” PISA 2012 Results: Students and Money

(Volume VI) PISA, 2014, doi:10.1787/9789264208094-graph12-en.

17. Conzelmann, Johnathan G., and T. Austin Lacy. “Financial and Student Loan (Il)Literacy

among US College Students.” Brookings, Brookings, 15 Oct. 2018,

www.brookings.edu/blog/brown-center-chalkboard/2018/10/15/financial-and-student-loan-

illiteracy-among-us-college-students/.

18. “What Is Financial Security?” Quicken, 1 Sept. 2016, www.quicken.com/what-financial-

security.

19. Nicole Dieker October. “How Important Is Financial Security to Happiness?” The

Billfold, 24 Oct. 2017, www.thebillfold.com/2017/10/how-important-is-financial-security-to-

happiness/.

20. “About Us.” Family Financial Security, fyi.extension.wisc.edu/money/.

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REQUIRED FINAL DRAFT CHECKLIST*Needs to accompany your final paper in the same file.

Audience Awareness Checklist

1) Who is your target audience of readers? List 2-3 journals or academic conferences where you would realistically share your paper (this defines the audience). Why these audiences?

a) US College Students

-This group is directly affected by the results of this study.

b) US University Officials

-This group has a vested interest on the financial security of college students in order to make a profit of their post-secondary education.

c) Parents of College Students

-This group has the most personal interest on ensuring that their children are financially independent and capable.

List some information related to your topic that you can assume your audience will already be familiar with such that you did not need to provide great detail. (You simply mentioned and cited research on this info rather than actually discussed, quoted, and/or explained it).

-How “fake news” really affects the financial livelihood of college students.

-How there are “some college teachers thathave no idea what they are teaching or they are just not teaching the things that college students need”. (Introduction).

2) List some information that you feel your audience may not be as familiar with that you needed to provide ample detail about. This is information that may not be shared in articles or presentations typically encountered by your target audience.

-The fact that college students are “filled with with work, stress, and deciding who they are and who they want to be when they grow up”,

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Introduction Checklist

1) What is the major research question/argument this paper is responding to?

-Financial security of US college students is lacking and their interests in financial responsibility is not explicitly focused.

Where do you explicitly state this?

“My theory is that college students would have the wrong idea of what financial security is and would not take it serious”. (Introduction).

2) What is the significance/purpose of this question/argument (who cares)? In other words, why is this important/interesting/useful?

- This questions/argument is significant because it can help to alleviate financial woes of college aged students and provide them a platform to succeed financially in life.

Where do you explicitly state this?

- I cannot find where this is stated.

3) What do we know about this topic? In other words, what are some of the major conversations we can find about your topic in peer-reviewed journals and other relevant scholarship? Even if your topic is not specifically written about, how about discussions of your chosen phenomena, methods, concepts, theories, etc?

-There are no Peer-Reviewed journals properly cited or refeenced.

Where do you explicitly state this?

-N/A

4) What/how will this paper contribute to the existing academic conversations mentioned above? How is it responding to a gap and thereby a beneficial project?

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- I cannot find where the GAP is identified or explained as to how this research is beneficial to the groups identified above.

Where do you explicitly state this?

- N/A

5) What are the major contents of the paper beyond the intro?

- The methods for the study, the discussion of the results, and then the conclusion of the study.

Where do you explicitly state this (forecasting section)?

- “This paper will further discuss other financial matters that pertain to financial security, the methods for the study, the discussion of the results, and then the conclusion of the study”. (introduction).

Background Info Checklist

1) What is your method of organization in this section of the paper and why did you organize the info in this manner?

- Starting with an introduction of the research and ending in a conclusion that analyses the results of the research’s findings.

What are the major sections of this part of the paper?

a) Abstract

b) Introduction

c) Literature Review

d) Methods

e) Results

f) Conclusion.

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2) How do you explicitly transition from one major section to another?

- There are not explicit transitions from one section to another.

3) How does the information you provide in each section supportively respond to your thesis question/argument?

a) Literature review is supported by percentage and one source and that is the only information provided outside of the research’s findings.

b)

c)

d)

e)

f)

4) What are the major themes you discussed in this section?

- Financial independence, education, and success of college students.

5) How did you establish the major gap in the existing research? Where do you explain that?

- The gap is not easily interpreted from the text.

Methods Checklist

1) Why were your chosen methods for data collection and analysis the best choices for your project? Where do you explain that?

- A survey of current college students provides raw data towards the research objective. It is explained here: “Surveys are the best way to get first hand information about a specific topic. I made an online survey and the survey is explicitly for college undergraduate students”. (Methods).

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2) How did you collect and analyze data? With whom? When? Where? For how long? Where do you explain that?

- Data was collected via an online survey with current college students of Florida International University. This is explained in the methods section.

3) If applicable, how did you protect participants’ privacy? Where do you explain that?

- Personally Identifiable Information is kept private and is explain in the Methods section of this paper.

Results/Discussion

1) What is your method of organization in this section of the paper and why did you organize the info in this manner?

- Each question asked in the survey is accompanied by a bar graph and further analysis on the question.

What are the major sections of this part of the paper?

a)Figure 1

b)Figure 2

c)Figure 3

d)Figure 4

e)Figure 5

f)Further analysis.

2) How do you explicitly transition from one major section to another?

- There are no explicit transitions.

3) How does the information you provide in each section supportively respond to your thesis question/argument?

a) Figure 1 shows concern over financial stress.

b) Figure 2 shows the conflict of working a job while in college.

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c) Figure 3 illustrates the hurdle of buying textbooks as a college students.

d) Figure 4 demonstrates the perception of college students in regards to financial security

e) Figure 5 examines how college students initially learn about financial security

f) An analysis is provided to further demonstrate the relation of these results towards the research thesis.

4) What do your results mean and how do they relate to previous research (background info) on your topic? Where do you explicitly explain this?

- The results show that college actually do care about financial security. There is no relation to background info and it is not explicitly explained.

5) What do you do in this section, generally, to help your reader easily understand the major results?

- Provide an analysis at the end of the section.

Conclusion Checklist

1) Clearly restate your thesis question/argument purpose and offer a concise summary of your major conclusions.

- Financial security is not important to college students and this results in financial issues getting in the way of academic success.

Where do you explicitly do this?

- “Financial security is a matter that many college kids today do not really prioritize in their student lives. This paper showed what are Florida college students perceptions of financial security”.

2) What are the major implications of your conclusions as related to better understanding your author(s), chosen work(s), theories/concepts, chosen methods (autoethnography), teaching approaches, etc? What do your conclusions mean for others such as teachers, artists, historians, researchers, students, scholars, curriculum developers, engineers, writers, etc? Where do you explicitly state this?- “This study benefits college kids all around the world with false insights of

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financial security. Even though the study is based on Florida college students, this study can remain helpful for college kids throughout the world, the information can remain helpful. Furthermore, this study would also benefit adults in the workforce and in the U.S. because they get their sense of relief knowing that the future leaders of has a good perception of financial matters such as financial security”.

3) What are the major limitations of your study? Where do you explicitly state this?

- The research question is not concrete, not enough participants, and the survey questions could be better formulated and or added. (Conclusion).

4) What recommendations would you make for future study based on your work in this paper? Where do you explicitly state this?

- More participants. (Conclusion).

Editing, and Format Checklist

Which MLA/APA/CMS resources have you utilized to check your formatting to ensure accuracy? How do you know your formatting is correct? Typical features to consider:GoodNeeds WorkBad

- Running head (last name and page number)- Front page heading- Placement and format of title- Paragraph indentation - In-text citations (including citations with more than one source)- Block quote format, corresponding citations, subsequent sentences (no indent should be present in subsequent sentences as new paragraphs should not follow quotes.- Section headings- Tables, images, charts, etc.- Indirect quotes (info by an author quoted in another author’s work)- Works Cited heading- Works Cited list (Hanging indents? Capitalization? Italicization?)- Non-sexist language- The word “you” is not used in your writing- Spelling

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- Quotes are not floating but introduced- All sources with page numbers available are properly cited

List all of the academic, peer-reviewed journals you cited in your paper (I suggested ~10-20 sources, +50% peer-reviewed)

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What do these journals collectively indicate about the info you discussed in the Thesis Audience Checklist?

- That financial security is important for all people but especially for college students.

Remember, proofreading your own work is never enough!