IMPACT OF FINANCIAL STRESS ON STUDENTS ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT (EDUCATION PROJECT TOPICS AND MATERIALS)
CHAPTER ONE
- INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
Student wellness is an important topic on college campuses nationwide as higher education and student life administrators are becoming increasingly concerned with stress among students. Given that stress has been shown to negatively impact student persistence (Letkiewicz, in press), increased scrutiny of graduation rates from federal and state governments should motivate administrators to understand the causes of stress among students. More specifically, stress resulting from personal financial difficulties is worth exploring in more detail given the challenge college students and recent graduates face regarding the growing burden of student loans. The institutional environment surrounding the college education decision has changed dramatically – grants and other forms of aid have not kept pace with the rapid increase in tuition (College Board, 2011; Draut, 2007). As a result, students are relying more heavily on student loans in order to pay for their education (Draut, 2007). “Working your way through college” is no longer realistic since tuition has increased more rapidly than inflation for the last few decades.
Research regarding sources of stress confirms the influential role that personal financial problems play in the lives of college students. Financial difficulties are often cited among college students as sources of stress (Northern, O’Brien, & Goetz, 2010)
can also include psychological or emotional effects (Northern et al., 2010). Much of the literature on financial stress has focused on stress outcomes. Research has documented the following negative outcomes of financial stress: (a) depression (Andrews & Wilding, 2004; Clark-Lempers, Lempers, & Netusil, 1990), (b) anxiety (Andrews & Wilding, 2004), (c) poor academic performance (Andrews & Wilding, 2004; Harding, 2011), (d) poor health (Northern et al., 2010), and (e) difficulty persisting towards degree completion (Letkiewicz, in press; Joo, Durband, & Grable, 2008; Robb, Moody, & Abdel-Ghany, 2011). Other research has focused on coping behavior of financially-stressed students, such as seeking help (Britt et al., 2011; Lim, Heckman, Letkiewicz, Fox, & Montalto, 2012). Hayhoe, Leach, Turner, Bruin, and Lawrence (2000) examined spending habit differences among college students and included financial stress as a variable in their model. Financial stress was measured by summing the number of positive responses to seven financial stressors, such as “not able to save for an emergency” and “not able to pay utilities.” Hayhoe et al. (2000) found that the number of good financial behaviors was negatively associated with number of financial stressors. Very few studies have examined factors related to the likelihood of reporting financial stress. Brougham, Zail, Mendoza, and Miller (2009) examined different sources of stress, including academics, financial, family, social, and daily hassles, but the primary focus of their study was to identify coping behavior among students. They found that college students were more likely to report financial stress than college men (Brougham et al., 2009). Anticipated debt has also been shown to be a strong predictor of financial stress among medical students (Morra, Regehr, & Ginsburg, 2008). Archuleta, Dale, and Spann (2013) found that among college students, higher levels of financial satisfaction were significantly and negatively related to financial anxiety.
