Financial Literacy of Senior College Students of Liceo de Cagayan University

College is a time of new found freedom for many students.  But that can spell trouble if that freedom applies to personal finances too.  Students need to understand basic money management skills such as living within a budget and handling credit and debt.  A solid financial foundation can lead to a lifetime of financial success. This study surveys 244 senior/graduating college students of Liceo de Cagayan University from 12 different course programs or colleges in the university to examine senior college students’ financial literacy. This study used a comprehensive questionnaire designed to cover major aspects of personal finance. It includes financial literacy on general knowledge: money management, saving and borrowing, insurance, and investments. The survey participants were asked to answer 12 multiple-choice questions. An in-depth interview with selected respondents was also conducted to gain deeper insights into the attitudes of the respondents. The overall percentage of correct scores is 6.24 or 52.06% suggesting that they have relatively low level of knowledge in personal finance, indicating only half of the survey questions are answered correctly.   Results suggest that college students need to improve their knowledge of personal finance. By far, the weakest area is Insurance, where the average score is 36.36%. Nine out twelve course programs were found to be with lower level of financial literacy and most of them are young adults with less family income. The conclusion is that the senior/graduating college students are not knowledgeable about personal finance. This incompetency will limit their ability to make informed financial decisions. Thus, this illiteracy and its costly consequences will make individuals worry about their finances to the extent that their productivity in the workplaces will be affected.

Keywords:  financial literacy, money management, Insurance, credit, deb