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International Handbook of Financial Literacy pp 213–247Cite as

Do the Financial Behaviours of College Students Vary by Their State’s Financial Education Policies?

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Abstract

This study assesses the effectiveness of state mandates regarding high school financial education in the United States. Data (N = 12,967) were collected from current college students aged 18 and over via a web survey from 15 college campuses from various regions across the United States. A stratified random sampling method was employed. Overall, this study shows that the financial behaviours of college students vary by high school state mandates on financial education, even when controlling for students’ characteristics, financial knowledge, financial socialisation and financial dispositions. In the current study, a policy of “course required” was associated with financial behaviours in terms of regular saving, not “maxing out,” and paying off credit card balances fully each month.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Florida, 1047 McCaraty, Hall D, Gainesville, FL, 32653, USA

    Michael S. Gutter

  2. Faculty of Economics & Administrative Science, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey

    Zeynep Copur

  3. University of Florida, Gainesville, USA

    Selena Garrison

Authors
  1. Michael S. Gutter
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  2. Zeynep Copur
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  3. Selena Garrison
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michael S. Gutter .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Friedrich Schiller University Jena , Jena, Germany

    Carmela Aprea

  2. Goethe Universität Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany

    Eveline Wuttke

  3. Johannes Gutenberg Unversity Mainz, Mainz, Germany

    Klaus Breuer

  4. National Institute of Education Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore

    Noi Keng Koh

  5. University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom

    Peter Davies

  6. Vienna University of Economics and Business, Vienna, Wien, Austria

    Bettina Greimel-Fuhrmann

  7. California State University, East Bay, Long Beach, California, USA

    Jane S. Lopus

Appendix

Appendix

See Tables 15.6, 15.7 and 15.8.

Table 15.6 Breakdown of the sample by high school states and mandates category
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Table 15.7 Students characteristics by mandates categories
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Table 15.8 Descriptive table
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Gutter, M.S., Copur, Z., Garrison, S. (2016). Do the Financial Behaviours of College Students Vary by Their State’s Financial Education Policies?. In: Aprea, C., et al. International Handbook of Financial Literacy. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0360-8_15

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0360-8_15

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-10-0358-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-10-0360-8

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