A Brief Budgeting Intervention’s Association With Financial Self-Efficacy in a College Student Success Course

Abstract

This study examined whether a budgeting intervention offered in a student success course was related to self-reported changes in college students’ financial self-efficacy, financial management behaviors, or financial stress. Participants from a midwestern public university were asked to complete an optional survey prior to the intervention and a postintervention survey 6 weeks after the intervention. Descriptive analyses were used to determine whether students’ responses significantly changed over time. The budgeting intervention was positively and significantly related to financial self-efficacy; however, students’ self-reported financial management behaviors and financial stress did not significantly change. The results lend support for the role that a financial literacy and budgeting intervention can play in relation to college students’ financial self-efficacy among a sample of students who did not specifically self-select into a financial information course and with a relatively short-term and low-cost intervention that can be easily replicated.