To finish my Capstone Project on Student’s Financial Proficiency and Why Small Savings Matter I created a presentation to show a summary of my results as well as provide a walk-through of the prototype app PocketStudent that I designed as a resource for college students. The app provides a combined budgeting resource that is run through an organization at the university so students can receive relevant information about saving money during their years on campus. Creating this research project has been a great experience for my sophomore year in STEM EE Scholars and I hope you enjoy my presentation.

To finish my Capstone Project on Student’s Financial Proficiency and Why Small Savings Matter I created a presentation to show a summary of my results as well as provide a walk-through of the prototype app PocketStudent that I designed as a resource for college students. The app provides a combined budgeting resource that is run through an organization at the university so students can receive relevant information about saving money during their years on campus. Creating this research project has been a great experience for my sophomore year in STEM EE Scholars and I hope you enjoy my presentation.

After observing the answers from the survey, it was clear to see that paying for college is on everyone’s mind. Low financial proficiency has a large effect on a student’s loan repayment in their future years, and those missed payments will have a negative effect on credit scores and abilities to take out new loans later in life. This low proficiency is due to the missing financial education in high school curriculum. Although these resources were not available to the students surveyed, their data shows their interest in learning more. While it will take a while before the Student Debt Crisis is eradicated, currently we can help these students minimize the stress of debt. Learning more about student loans and saving money will help parents and students make smarter decisions while applying for aid and those decisions should continue throughout college. PocketStudent combines multiple aspects of budgeting that can help people manage money better. By connecting to the designated university and interacting with posts consistently, college students can gain more knowledge about ways they can save. Having information compiled into one area will make it easier to find the resources universities have available to help them financially. By making small decisions based on applying for more scholarships, shopping smart, and using discounts, paying for education can get easier.

Designing the app PocketStudent was one of the best parts of my project. I spent multiple days designing each page and working with a website that would bring it to life. I’m so proud with how it came out and I can’t wait to share it with my Scholars class. Working on this research project has been rewarding and I’m very impressed with the outcome. Making smart financial decisions has always been a goal of mine and I hope others can join in too.

The search for academic sources pointed to an article called “Financial literacy and student debt” by Nikolaos Artavanis and Soumya Karra. It provided key claims of how their research proved that students with high financial proficiency had an easier time repaying their student loans and budgeting for the future. The studies even proved how low literacy leads to smaller starting salaries across majors. This chain of less financial knowledge leads to greater shocks in loan repayment, and when starting income is low, these students can struggle with loan repayment after graduation.

Another academic source I found contains major statistics about the student debt crisis. The article, “Crushing Debt or Savvy Strategy? Financial Literacy and Student Perceptions of their Student Loan Debt” by Gail Markle, shows how the outstanding debt reached $1.31 trillion in 2016. The article covers how family and student decision making about college contributes early on to future ability to maintain debt. However, it also covers how students these days have to balance academic and financial needs, and the steps they are taking to achieve this.

The main discussions taken from these articles are how important education about student loans are to students entering college. Those willing to learn and take charge of their finances will be better prepared for life after graduation. The last articles to gather will be about ways students can practice budgeting and healthy money habits in college.

Lastly, after the time spent researching, I wanted to create something to end the project that could benefit students as they save to pay off their debt. The tool will help students manage their money and use their resources to their advantage. It started with the design of an app that targeted 4 main categories. Scholarships, shopping smart, financial advice, and student discounts. The app is different than other financial tools because this is specific for colleges. The app could operate out of each university that wants to use the service. When the app is linked to a university, a board at the college or a student organization could oversee submissions that help the users find deals, scholarships, and locations for discounts. Each account can be connected to the user’s student ID and can even create a specific QR code the student can show for discounts if their ID is at home, but their phone isn’t. The profile page also contains the option to turn on tuition alerts which will remind you when tuition/fees are due, which is helpful in preventing the students from getting fees for late payment.

I always felt as if scholarships were abundant, but hard to find. Schools had their own merit or need-based scholarships, and even the Special Scholarship application, however I would still see a small amount of acceptances back from the applications. The hardest part was trying to find more scholarships that I could apply for outside of the university. Additionally, I believe that students do not apply for a high number of scholarships because they don’t know where to look. The scholarship design of the app has two sections: one based on the university and one specific to the user. The university section will provide scholarships given by different departments in the university that you can apply for, this way they are in one place and easy to find. The next section is specific to the user. You can add tags including your location, (to find local scholarships), your interests, writing prompt requirements and even your major to find scholarships given by larger corporations in your major of interest. Each listing will provide the due date and submission type for the application, along with a link to visit the page. By being connected to the school, the students can find all their resources for scholarships at their fingertips, without having to do a deep search online.

The next section is collaborative with the University and works as an announcement page for financial information from colleges, student organizations, and programs at the university. Each account can be searched for and followed to appear on the user’s home screen. This is a hub for shoutouts about sales for students, events with free food, job applications, blog posts for budgeting, student discounts and more. The great perk of being in college is all the chances we get to save money. However, we learn about them either through a long list of emails, websites we don’t check, university-made apps, GroupMe, and posters on campus. None of the information is ever centralized in an easy way to ensure we never miss a deal. Each organization on campus that wants to make an account would oversee making updates to their page.

Another tab is dedicated for gathering all the ads from local grocery stores and compiles them so users can create a shopping list. It works the same way as the announcement tab, where you can follow the ads of your favorite shops. Instead of looking online at different grocery stores, reading newspaper ads, or going in blind, the user can create their own shopping list to take with them of the weekly deals in the area to save on food each week.

The last tab is a location-based student discount finder. It can work for general student IDs or specifically for school ID (BuckID) merchants. The map asks you to input your location and then the map will place location markers where you can find a discount. Clicking on a marker will give the name, address, and discount available at each location.

The best part about the app is that its interactive with each university. This way the discounts the students can access are all useful and they can have a hub where all information collects about ways to help them financially on campus. The prototype design will be easy to use, but contain a lot of useful aspects that could really make a difference to how students spend.

The survey was sent out to freshman students to grasp their knowledge of finances as they are entering into their college career. More than half of the students are planning on pursuing graduate school after their years at OSU, and considering that 70% of respondents didn’t partake in any financial wellness programs in high school, they might have a long road ahead of them before they learn how to manage their money. Most answered that they have a little knowledge in financial literacy, but what is the most alarming is the responses from those not able to use their resources. Less than 10% had scheduled a meeting with a financial coach at the university. This resource is free out of the University’s Student Wellness Center. Less than half take advantage of using their Student ID or BuckID cash when at off-campus locations, and 62.5% claim to track spending through their bank app at least, while around 30% claim to not track at all. When it comes to financial literacy, it is easy to blame the student for debt they gather while pursuing a degree. But, when we look at the help that is offered, it is not often easy to see. High schools do not have the curriculum or requirement to teach their students about spending before they enter one of their largest financial commitments in their life. If students are not given the chance to explore their options from the very beginning, who is to say they will look for those resources later in life. When surveyed, most students admitted to letting their parents fill out their FAFSA on their own, without getting involved. If schools can help students gain interest in budgeting and saving for college early in life, the students have a chance to grow and learn more during the entire process of living on their own.

Around 90% of those surveyed plan to start budgeting as a way to control their spending when they are in charge of rent and grocery expenses in the future, and almost all surveyors agree that financial proficiency is increasingly important when living on your own. Many accepted the idea to start training in high school to attain financial proficiency. Students are making their best effort to plan ahead with the information they have and save for the future, however, due to varying schedules in college, only 30% of those surveyed are currently working. As they are not to blame for busy schedules, and a little over half have monthly payments, student loans, and credit cards, they seem deserving of help as they further their education at university.

While the survey showed a lot about the student’s prospective of money on campus, it’s also important to learn the university’s statistics. Undergraduate tuition for in-state students reaches about $11084 while out-of-state hits $32061. Housing costs for freshman and sophomores adds on another $12708, creating a range for the underclassmen of $23792-$44769 for full expenses. As of 2020, 46% of Ohio State’s students received need-based financial aid in federal loans and work study. More data was collected about the average student loan debt of OSU students after graduation and how many earn money through scholarships. (https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/ohio-state-6883/paying)

Throughout the next couple months, I’ll find more information about the student debt crisis in journals and academic sources. I want to find links between student’s proficiency in handling financials and how quickly they can pay off their loans. This information can tie together how students need to be educated early on about these topics, and need to pay attention to budgeting as they move onto independent living. After researching, my goal is to create a financial tool that can aid students in making smart choices. So far it’s easy to see that while there are resources out there, we don’t always access them or find them at the right time. Whatever tool or path is the most promising, I hope to make a prototype for the end of my project to show the audience.

The main part of the research for this project will be compiled from a survey of students at the university, financial statistics from previous university students, and research on financial practices. Over the course of the project, the survey will be collected first.

Personal data will be collected from the surveyor first with questions regarding their year in school, gender, dining plan, and amount of BuckID cash and dining dollars in their account. The next questions include ones focused on their school account, financial proficiency, and opinion on the upcoming election:

1. Did you know that the amounts roll over into the next semesters?
2. Did you spread out your BuckID and dining dollar credit throughout the semester?
3. Do you use BuckID cash on off-campus locations where its accepted or do you still use your own money?
4. Do you plan to pursue Graduate/Professional school after graduation?
5. Did you take any financial wellness/spending programs in high school that taught you about balancing your budget?
6. Have you spoken with a financial wellness coach at the university?
7. How do you keep track of your spending?
8. Do you plan to create a budget once you have monthly rent and grocery expenses to take care of?
9. Are you working this semester?
10. Rate your proficiency in financial literacy: (Budgeting, tax planning, interest rates, etc.) 1-5
11. Rate the importance of financial proficiency when living independently: 1-5
12. How much do you take part in when it comes to figuring out your FAFSA and filling out your payment information for each semester?
13. Select the options that you own: (They have been taken out in your own name, not your parents) (Leave blank if none apply)
14. Select the payments that you make: (Leave blank if none apply)
15. Do you believe students could benefit from a required financial class, dealing with loan repayment, interest rates, paying taxes, etc.?
16. Would you say that a candidate’s policy on the Student Debt Crisis is a factor you look for when choosing your 2020 election candidate?

The survey’s information will be used to collect firsthand data on students currently in college. The data and spending of BuckID cash and dining dollars will help reflect the student’s spending habits in order to gain insight on their habits regarding paying back their debt in the future. The data can be converted into graphs using excel in order to display the data for the people to see.

The next part of the process includes researching and pulling data from online resources about the average financial aid students require for the university along with the costs of attending. The purpose of this is to see how much students are borrowing, and the average price students have to pay after graduation.

After collecting the surveys and data on financial need, the last part of research will focus on normal patterns in student’s financial health, and plans that students can take to plan in advance for repaying their debt after college and preparing for their future payments.

The first part of data collection will happen towards the end of the fall semester before winter break. This way, the data collected from students can represent spending during a whole semester. During winter break, the statistics from online resources about financial aid will be collected, and the first round of updates will be ready by February.

The Sophomore year requirement of STEM EE Scholars revolves around the Capstone project which is a 40hr research project to be presented at the end of the year. Since the project should be based on your major, I ventured into the business side of research and chose a topic on Finance. My project focuses on the spending habits and financial knowledge of students living independently in college.

I chose this topic because currently, the student loan debt reaches up to 1.53 trillion dollars (Nitro College), and as most students aren’t lucky enough to have FAFSA bestow a glorious amount of money upon them, we all seem to be in the same boat. Also, in September the Student Debt Crisis will hit Capitol Hill in hopes to resolve small issues in the crisis (Forbes), however, the process takes time which is why it’s important to have a game plan.

Throughout my research, I hope to get a glimpse of student’s spending habits by watching their BuckID cash and dining dollar amount throughout the semesters. Comparing the trends of first years and second years along with aligning their spending with their household income should result in a good representation of how students manage their money. By comparing different age ranges I can see how students develop financial awareness overtime as they try to be more cautious towards spending when trying to pay off student debt. Keeping in mind that although most students are not financially independent from their parents yet, their lifestyle is.

Nitro College- https://www.nitrocollege.com/research/average-student-loan-debt

Forbes- https://www.forbes.com/sites/zackfriedman/2019/09/10/student-loans-consumers-crisis/#3ab04e52224d