Study on Collegiate Financial Wellness
The Study on Collegiate Financial Wellness (SCFW), previously titled the National Student Financial Wellness Study, is a multi-institutional survey of college students that examines the financial attitudes, practices and knowledge of students from all types of institutions of higher education across the United States via an online survey. Topics covered by the survey include: financial education, financial management behaviors, financial self-efficacy, financial stress and optimism, sources to pay for college, student loans and consumer debt.
Three multi-institutional administrations were conducted in 2014, 2017 and 2020 with over 75,000 total participants. While no future administrations of the study are planned, we are continuing to publish briefs and manuscripts using SCFW data. If you are interested in using the multi-institutional dataset for a project, please complete the request form here: go.osu.edu/scfwdata
If you have additional questions, please email us at scfw@osu.edu.
Research Reports and Briefs
2020 Research Reports and Briefs
2017 Research Reports and Briefs
- 2017 Key Findings
- 2017 Descriptive Data Report
- Financial Wellness of Students of Color
- Financial Wellness of Students With Children
- Financial Wellness of Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Students
- Third-Year Students' Financial Habits
- Financial Experiences of First-Generation Students
2014 Research Reports and Briefs
- 2014 Key Findings
- 2014 Descriptive Data
- Factor Analysis of Key Scales
- Student Loans
- Entrance Counseling
- Financial Knowledge
- Community College Student Borrowing Decisions
- Student Loan Borrowing Decisions at Four-Year Institutions
- The Use of Incentives
- Survey Response Rates
Publications
General Financial Wellness
Baker, A. R. (2019). Implications of financial concerns for college goal commitment among undergraduate students in the United States. Social Psychology of Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-018-9467-5
Letkiewicz, J. C., Lim, H., Heckman, S., & Montalto, C. (2019). Parental financial socialization: Is too much help leading to debt ignorance among college students? Family & Consumer Sciences Research Journal. https://doi.org/10.1111/fcsr.12341
Shaulskiy, S., Duckett, K., Kennedy-Phillips, L., & McDaniel, A. (2015). Exploring differences in college student financial wellness by institution type. Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice. https://doi.org/10.1080/19496591.2015.1035382
Letkiewicz, J., Lim, H., Heckman, S., Bartholomae, S., Fox, J., & Montalto, C. P. (2014). The path to graduation: Factors predicting on-time graduation rates. Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory, & Practice. https://doi.org/10.2190/CS.16.3.c
Heckman, S., Lim, H. & Montalto, C. P. (2014). Factors related to financial stress among college students. Journal of Financial Therapy. https://doi.org/10.4148/1944-9771.1063
Lim, H., Heckman, S., Letkiewicz, J., & Montalto, C. P. (2014). Financial stress, self-efficacy and financial help-seeking behavior of college students. Journal of Financial Counseling and Planning. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1048681
Student Loans
Baker, A. R. & Montalto, C. (2019). Student loan debt and financial success: Implications for academic performance. Journal of College Student Development. https://doi.org/10.1353/csd.2019.0008
Montalto, C. P., Phillips, E. L., McDaniel, A., & Baker, A. R. (2019). College student financial wellness: Student loans and beyond. Journal of Family and Economic Issues. https://doi.org/10.1353/csd.2019.0008
Fox, J. J., Bartholomae, S., Letkiewicz, J., & Montalto, C. P. (2017). College student debt and anticipated repayment difficulty. Journal of Student Financial Aid.
https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1151786
Population-Specific
Li, Y., Zuiker, V. S., Mendenhall, T. J., & Montalto, C. P. (2021). Parental financial socialization, financial experiences, and financial behaviors: Comparing Asian American and international Asian college students. Journal of Financial Counseling and Planning, JFCP-19-00008. https://doi.org/10.1891/JFCP-19-00008
Rehr, T. I. & Regan, E. R. (2020). An exploratory analysis of financial wellness of trans-spectrum college students. Journal of LGBT Youth. https://doi.org/10.1080/19361653.2020.1762147
White, K. J. (2020). Financial stress and the relative income hypothesis among Black college students. Contemporary Family Therapy. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10591-019-09531-8
White, K., Watkins, K., McCoy, M., Muruth, B., & Byram, J.L. (2020). How financial socialization messages relate to financial management, optimism and stress: Variations by race. Journal of Family & Economic Issues. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10834-020-09704-w
McCoy, M.A., White, K.J. and Love, K. (2019). Investigating the financial overconfidence of student-athletes. Sport, Business and Management. https://doi.org/10.1108/SBM-10-2018-0091
Regan, E. & McDaniel, A. (2019). Examining DACA students' financial experiences in college. Educational Researcher. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X19875452
Fulk, M., White, K. J., & Serpa, S. (2018). Exploring racial differences in financial socialization and related financial behaviors among Ohio college students. Cogent Social Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311886.2018.1514681