The Financial Educational Needs, Financial Knowledge Level, and Financial Behaviors of College Students

대학생의 소비자재무지식, 소비자 재무행동, 소비자재무교육 요구도

The purpose of this paper is to examine levels of financial knowledge, to identify the financial education needs of college students, and to show how financial knowledge and education needs correlate. The results of this study indicated that the level of understanding of economy was the highest among the seven categories, whereas the overall level of financial knowledge was less than 50%. The need for financial education was relatively high in various topics of financial management, especially financial planning and savings. There was no significant relationship between knowledge level and educational needs except between financial planning and investment. Students who understand financial planning better want more financial education. College students in this study were not financially independent from their parents, receiving allowance and assistance in tuition payment, so their financial experiences were limited. Students who understood financial management showed greater need of financial education and had more financial experience. The findings in this study suggested that college should provide formal financial education as an elective course, which should include content related to financial planning and various financial products.