Progress 10/01/14 to 09/30/15
Outputs
Target Audience:Target Audience USU & other students owing student loans (and their parents)- exploring the financial decision-making process with a focus on how students make decisions about student loan borrowing and how they feel about the debt. Current & prospective post-secondary students & their parents. Changes/Problems:Changes/Problems I will retire June 30, 2016 What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Opportunities The team developed Extension Fact Sheets on student loans and financing post-secondary education and contributed to the eXtension website article on student loans. Presentations were made at the American Council on Consumer Interests, Association for Financial Counseling and Planning, and a variety of Extension conferences. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Dissemination Results were disseminated through refereed journal articles, conference presentations, eXtension website (http://articles.extension.org/personal_finance), webinars, and Extension Fact Sheets. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Plan of Work Complete Extension fact sheets on student loans. Complete two journal articles currently in progress: Johnson, C., O'Neill, B., Worthy, S. L., Lown, J. M., & Bowen, C. F. (under review). What are student loan borrowers thinking? Insights from focus groups on college selection and student loan decision-making. Journal of Financial Counseling and Planning. Kiss, E., Kim, J., O'Neill, B., Bartholomae, S., Worthy, S. L., Lown, J. M. (in process). Gender differences in student loan decision-making.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Accomplishments We completed collection of student loan data from online focus groups conducted by SSI International and from students at six land grant universities (University of Georgia, Pennsylvania State University, Purdue University, Rutgers University, South Dakota State University, and Utah State University). This study used data from online focus groups collected from November 2014 to early April 2015 to understand college students' decision-making processes when borrowing money to finance their education. Data were collected using an online course management system. Results suggest that: (a) students relied heavily on advice from parents, guidance counselors, and friends; (b) attending college was not possible without student loans; and (c) students knew very little about the loans they would be responsible for repaying. Recommendations for financial educators and counselors to help student borrowers make prudent decisions about education debt are presented. In addition, the team compiled a comprehensive review of the research literature on student loan borrowing and debts. The manuscript was published in the Family and Consumer Sciences Research Journal. Although I was not an author (deferring to the untenured faculty) I contributed to the review of literature and helped with editing. Another article is in second review with the Journal of Financial Counseling and Planning: What are student loan borrowers thinking? Insights from focus groups on college selection and student loan decision-making. "This study used data from online focus groups collected from November 2014 to early April 2015 to understand college students' decision-making processes when borrowing money to finance their education. Data were collected using an online course management system. Results suggest that: 1) students relied heavily on advice from parents, guidance counselors, and friends; 2) attending college was not possible without student loans; and 3) students knew very little about the loans they would be responsible for repaying." The team developed Extension Fact sheets (in review) and contributed to eXtension website on student loans. Two webinars were presented: Webinar, eXtension Financial Security for All Community of Practice, Paying for College: Learn About the Federal Student Aid Toolkit and Other Student Loan Resources, April 2015. Archived at https://learn.extension.org/events/2080#.VYl8203bKM8. Webinar, eXtension Military Families Learning Network, Student Loans: What Financial Practitioners Need to Know, November 2015. Archived at https://learn.extension.org/events/2161.
Publications
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Progress 07/01/14 to 09/30/14
Outputs
Target Audience: Target Audience USU students owing student loans- exploring the financial decision-making process with a focus on how students and their parents make decisions about student loan borrowing. Changes/Problems: Changes/Problems We encountered considerable delay in receiving IRB approval for each of the seven universities due to widely differing IRB requirements; each university required substantially different information and details on the focus group application. Further, technical problems with the online focus groups delayed data collection with the SSI group, resulting in a delay in the on-campus student recruitment and data collection. Although I received IRB approval on September 25, none of us could start recruitment until all seven IRB approvals were received which wasn't until mid-November. This late in the semester it is harder to get students to participate in research due to pressing class commitments. Thus recruitment for the focus groups will continue in January 2015. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Opportunities I attended the Boulder Summer Conference on Consumer Decision-Making (May 18-20, 2014) which featured a keynote speech on student loan debt by Richard Cordray, head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a panel discussion on student loans, and research presentations on student debt. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Dissemination No dissemination yet as we are still collecting data. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Plan of Work January 2015: Continue to recruit students for participation in the online focus groups. Spring 2015: Analyze data from SSI national online focus groups and the seven university focus groups.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Accomplishments In collaboration with researchers at six other land grant universities (South Dakota S.U., Rutgers, U. of Florida, U. of Georgia, Purdue & Penn State) we are in the process of collecting data from 20 students who owe student loans at each university via online focus groups. Data collection will continue in January 2015. The team compiled a comprehensive review of the research literature on student loan borrowing and debts. A manuscript was submitted to the Family and Consumer Sciences Research Journal.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Publications:
Griesdorn, T. S., Lown, J. M., DeVaney, S., Cho, S-H., & Evans, D. A. (2014). Association between behavioral life-cycle constructs and risk tolerance of low-to-moderate-income households. Journal of Financial Counseling and Planning, 25(1), 27-39.
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