Students that are given the responsibility to manage their own expenses coupled with a higher cost

of education puts the students in a situation that it is vital to live on a restricted budget. In aiding
the students to learn how to make clever choices with their money and achieve financial obligations
makes their lives safer and stress-free (Oloba, 2011). In order to magnify their cad inflow, some
may resort to unthinkable band-aid solutions such as short-range savings, managing their personal
health and borrowing to suffice for their expenses. Some would dedicate a considerable time in
order to plan key future purchases and visualize the future outcomes of one’s spending. Allowing
the youth to manage their own expenses would allow them to have freedom in practice of spending
responsibly because the capability to manage one’s personal funds is an important facet in today’s
world economies. Knowing how to budget wisely is a discipline that requires time to master, it
cannot be achieved through attendance of various forums, lectures or an economic course.

J. Oloba (2011) Financial Literacy in College: Students’ Budgeting and Spending Habits.
Livingstone International University. Retrieved from
https://www.academia.edu/11087350/_Financial_Literacy_in_College_Students_Budgeting_and
_Spending_Habits_

Financial literary has become one of the most concerned issues in the developing countries in
recent years especially after the economic crisis of 2008 since the effects of personal finance are
significant to societies (Opuku, 2015). Personal finance is the idea that has been described in
literature as the awareness and use of financial knowledge in a person’s day to day economic
activities, this would apply financial knowledge and technologies by an individual in order to make
a rational decision. The personal finance literacy is conceptualized on critical areas such as savings,
borrowing, interest rate and most importantly, budgeting. The need to inculcate financial literacy
amongst people paid attention to the financial behavior of the youth in recent time, this is inevitable
due to the market that is full of various products. The desire to acquire all material things makes
the youth impulsive buyers that put them in debt and face the realities of economic hardships at an
early age. There is a need to equip the youth with financial literacy skills in order for them to make
wise choices in regards on how they spend and save their money.

A. Opoku (2015) Financial Literacy Among Senior High School Students. Retrieved from
http://ir.knust.edu.gh/bitstream/123456789/8511/1/ARMSTRONG%20OPOKU.pdf
Students are considered to be in a unique situation in regard to their financial standing because
they have restricted incomes and high expenses, it is correct to imply that they manage money
differently. The more knowledge students have about their financial responsibility and status, the
less likely they are to be in debt (Stollak, Vandenberg, Steiner & Richards, 2011). The more
knowledgeable students are about their financial responsibility and status the less likely they are
to be endowed in debt. Students are said to be concerned about their future financial status but
most of them are more concerned about paying their tuition fees. The study concludes that women
are much better at planning and budgeting compared to men as they matured, it suggests that it is
vital to inculcate the younger male population regarding financial literacy.

Stollak, Matthew. (2011). Student Budgeting and Spending Behaviors: A Comparative Study.
Journal of Behavioral Studies in Business. 3.

With the recent economic slowdown, it has changed the economic environment gravely, with this,
it includes changes in the way people think about their finances. Students face many hard-financial
decisions, errors in money management can impact them long after graduation, this costly mistakes
cause damage that lingers for decades (Wong, 2013). As a young adult, it is vital to learn how to
pay for expenses, earn money at the same time, get a good education. The number of students
experiencing financial difficulties has increased significantly these past few years and would
continue to do so if they are not properly educated regarding financial management. Empirical
studies shown that saving practices and financial literacy increased with age, students in college
are much better in handling their finances compared to secondary level students, these secondary
level students have many weaknesses towards saving practices since their saving behavior are still
mostly influenced by their parents. With the results of the study, it is recommended that the school
curriculum should integrate financial management to students in order for them to be exposed to
the world of money managements at an early age.

B. Wong (2013) Practices of Savings among students. Retrieved from

https://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/9080/1/Practices%20of%20Savings%20Among%20Students%20(24pgs).p
df

One element of personal development in the youth is managing their own financial resources since
students have a more diverse financial support, background and skills in this contemporary time. Students
are more responsible for keeping track of their expenses, learning how to make individual decisions that
promotes financial literacy is a must for personal development. A lot of research focused on lack of
comprehensive consumer education, money management issues, debt and other issues concerning
financial literacy, yet it still neglected by some institution such as the government or schools. Many
consumer educators agree that financial management is an essential component of education, studies on
the behaviors of students use to manage their finances are scarce (H. Nick, 1997). The study shown that
not budgeting on a monthly basis allows expenditures to exceed the income or available resources of a
student. It was also shown that students are unable to discuss personal finance situation or responsibilities
among their peers, this demonstrates the lack of basic financial management skills among the youth. It
was clearly shown that young adults are still not prepared for such responsibility since schools do not
provide enough education for such matters, the schools needs to inculcate financial literacy in their
curriculum to change this prevailing situation or else, students would continue to be unprepared for the
said adult life that is awaiting them after graduation.

H. Nick (1997) Money Management Behaviors of Traditional-aged College Freshmen and Sophomores: A
Qualitative Study. Retrieved from
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.197.5069&rep=rep1&type=pdf