| Financial literacy is poised to become the new hot topic in higher education as institutional cohort default rates, and average student loan debts are on the rise. Traditional, education regarding basic financial knowledge can be acquired through a variety of method, either through trial-and-error in real life experience, from learned observation from parents or through educational training through higher education. Higher education institutions are forced into a position of needing to provide basic financial literacy education for students in order to prepare them for life after college. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of a precisely defined intervention that was designed to educate a participant on the two financial literacy topics of budgeting and student loans. This non-experimental, qualitative study explored the effectiveness of a financial literacy intervention on first-time students at a 4-year, public, municipal, higher education institution with an open admissions policy which grants Master's level degree in the State of Kansas. The 39 respondents completed a pre-test and post-test examination to two online financial literacy education modules. The pre-test, post-test scores, and overall scores were analyzed using a paired t-test analysis. The findings of this study identified that individual increases in financial literacy knowledge are not attributed to specific financial literacy interventions, but an increase in overall financial literacy knowledge could be measured. Based on the findings of this study, it is recommended that the research site focus on an overall approach to financial literacy education which educates their student on a variety of financial matters. |
