In general, most people have some financial struggles through
college. Sure, it’s possible to get through college without incurring years of
debt, but that typically requires a rich family or an incredible stroke of
luck. Rather, many college students fight their way through college while
struggling with money. But it can be hard to understand the general experience
of college financial wellness if you’re only using your own experience and your
friends’ experience. With this study regarding how much money students
have in their bank account, you can get the real details.
Getting the Numbers
First off, it’s important to look at the numbers. OneClass asked students,
“How much money is in your bank account right now?” This number included both
checking and savings accounts. Here’s the raw data regarding those answers.
- $0-$50: 13.5%
- $51-$500: 22.8%
- $501-$1,000: 10.5%
- $1,001-$2,000: 10.3%
- $2,001-$5,000: 20.1%
- $5,001-$10,000: 13.0%
- $10,001 or more: 9.8%
These numbers can be immensely helpful in understanding
students’ financial wellbeing. But how do you translate that into actionable
information?
It’s Most Common for Students to Have
$51-$500 in Their Bank Accounts
Out of all the responses, the most common response was $51-$500, with 22.8%
of responses overall. That’s close to a quarter of responses, all pointing to a
pretty unfortunate state of financial affairs. $500 isn’t really enough to
cover a significant surprise expense, and $51 barely covers a low-cost date
night.
True, some of these responses may just be due to bad timing — perhaps an
individual just paid bills and will get their paycheck tomorrow. But not all of
these responses can be flukes. The fact that this is the most common response
means that it’s a very common occurrence overall.
Students Overwhelmingly Don’t Have a
Proper Emergency Fund
If you’ve been reading about financial wellness, you probably know about
emergency funds. These funds, sometimes called “rainy day funds,” should be
able to cover around 3-6 months of expenses, and they’re there in case of an
unexpected life event like a layoff or medical emergency.
But 3-6 months of expenses easily amounts to at least a few thousand dollars,
and an overwhelming number of students don’t have that. 57.1% of students
reported having less than $2,000, which would probably barely cover three
months’ expenses in a city with a low cost of living; an incredible 77.2% of
students reported having less than $5,000, which would make for a much more
substantial emergency fund.
Different Majors Report Different
Amounts of Financial Wellbeing
Traditionally, people have seen more math-heavy majors as being more likely
to have better financial wellness. The numbers do seem to back that up.
Mathematics and Business majors most commonly reported having $2,001-$5,000,
while the other majors most commonly reported having $500 or less. The median
answers also placed Mathematics and Business majors at the top.
Of course, there may be some antecedents coming into play here. It may be a
feedback loop whereby Mathematics and Business majors come out on top because
people consistently expect them to be on top. But either way, the fact remains
that they’re staying up there.
Third-Year Students Have the Least Money
on Average
When comparing students’ years, it turns out that third-year students on
the whole have less money than their first and second-year counterparts. This
is true for both the most common responses and the median ones.
In general, it may just be that third-year students have started running out of
emergency funds and money stashed away in barely-touched savings accounts. It
may also be that as college goes on, people are more likely to want to indulge
and therefore less likely to save money. Either way, it’s clear that college
takes a progressively more intense toll on your financial wellness.
Conclusion
In trying to interpret this study, it’s important that you pay attention to
all aspects of it. Obviously, you shouldn’t draw all your conclusions from a
single study. Learn more about financial wellness as a whole, and use this
information to supplement that knowledge. But overall, it’s definitely
interesting to see the impact that college has on its students’ bank accounts
and general financial wellness.
