Abstract/Bibliography

Abstract:

This research project examines the costly short-term and long-term choices that college students make due to psychological and emotional theories or because of a lack of assistance from universities. College students in the 21st century have a tendency to spend money on things that deepen the financial hole of college debt. The absence of “thrift,” the practice of spending money wisely and frugally, in the minds of college students may be contributing to the matter. By spending thousands of dollars on entertainment annually and by failing to save money when the opportunity presents itself, college students exhibit a necessity for financial literacy courses in universities in order to become thriftier spenders. The project also considers the costs of the directionless student and his/her lack of interest in education, despite its high price tag. By skipping classes, students may diminish their intellectual potential as well as their bank accounts. However, all universities, including Harvard University, have an opportunity to solve the matter by engaging their students in better classes. The research in this essay reveals striking truths about the financial shortcomings of college students and the dependence of college students on their universities to assist them.

Bibliography:

Arum, Richard, and Josipa Roksa. Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses. Chicago: U of Chicago, 2011. Print.

Becker, Dana. "Chapter 1." One Nation Under Stress: The Trouble with Stress as an Idea. N.p.: Oxford Scholarship Online, 2013. 14. Print.

"Chegg Reports Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2014 Results." Chegg Inc. -. N.p., 23 Feb. 2015. Web. 31 Oct. 2015. <http://investor.chegg.com/press-releases/press-release-details/2015/Chegg-Reports-Fourth-Quarter-and-Fiscal-Year-2014-Results/default.aspx>.

"CONSUMER EXPENDITURES--2014." U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, n.d. Web. 05 Dec. 2015. <http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cesan.nr0.htm>.

"EFFECTIVE PRACTICES OF FINANCIAL EDUCATION FOR COLLEGE STUDENTS: STUDENTS' PERCEPTIONS OF CREDIT CARD USE AND FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY. By: ANDERSON, CARLA, CARD, KAREN, College Student Journal, 01463934, Summer2015, Vol. 49, Issue 2." N.p., n.d. Web.

Ilgunas, Ken. "I Live in a Van down by Duke University." Saloncom RSS. N.p., 6 Dec. 2009. Web. <http://www.salon.com/2009/12/07/living_in_a_van/>.

Jacobs, Lynn F., and Jeremy S. Hyman. "12 Ways to Get Your Money's Worth out of College." The Secrets of College Success. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2010. N. pag. Print.

Jacobs, Lynn F., and Jeremy S. Hyman. "20 No-Brainers to Save Money at College." The Secrets of College Success. 2nd ed. N.p.: n.p., n.d. N. pag. Print.

Joselow, Maxine. "How College Students Can Waste Less Money." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 8 June 2015. Web. 17 Oct. 2015.

Light, Richard J. Making the Most of College: Students Speak Their Minds. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 2001. Print.

"Money Matters." Uberpreneurs (2013): n. pag. EverFi, Higher One, 2015. Web. <http://moneymattersoncampus.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/MoneyMatters_WhitePaper_2015_FINAL.pdf>.

Severns, Maggie. "The Student Loan Debt Crisis in 9 Charts." Mother Jones. N.p., 5 June 2013. Web. 31 Oct. 2015.

Shaffer, Leigh S. Live Like the Affluent in College, Live Like a Student After Graduation. Mar. 2012.

Snider, Susannah. "Universities Where the Most Students Brought Cars to Campus." N.p., 21 Apr. 2015. Web. 31 Oct. 2015. <http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/the-short-list-college/articles/2015/04/21/universities-where-the-most-students-brought-cars-to-campus>.

Sparshott, Jeffrey. "Congratulations, Class of 2015. You’re the Most Indebted Ever (For Now)." Real Time Economics RSS. N.p., 8 May 2015. Web. 31 Oct. 2015.

Sumpter, Samantha. "College Students' Spending Habits: Survey Results." Study Breaks Magazine. N.p., 2 July 2014. Web. <http://studybreakscollegemedia.com/2014/college-students-spending-habits-survey-results/>.

Thompson, Derek. "Your Brain on Poverty: Why Poor People Seem to Make Bad Decisions." The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 22 Nov. 2013. Web. 12 Oct. 2015.

Literature Review #5

Citation: Light, Richard J. Making the Most of College: Students Speak Their Minds. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 2001. Print.

Summary:
In Making the Most of College: Students Speak Their Minds, author Richard J. Light reveals some college students' surprising answers to common questions and issues of college life. By using college students, Light is able to provide the reader recommendations on how to excel both academically and socially. Particularly useful for my research was chapter 6: "Faculty Who Make a Difference." It was interesting to hear what students found particularly engaging in their professors and classes.

Author: Richard J. Light - Professor in the Graduate School of Education and the John. F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He is coauthor of By Design and Summing Up (both from Harvard) and has won many teaching awards.

Quotes: 

One student "was critical of Harvard for having too many large classes. And an even bigger point, he said, was that too few professors who taught large classes engaged their students actively in their classroom activities" (p. 114). 

"...classes are already putting into practice exactly the features that students describe as most valuable for enhancing their engagement with coursework, and their learning, in any subject area. And students love them for it" (p. 80).

"The relationship between the amount of writing for a course and students' level of engagement – whether engagement is measured by time spent on the course, or the intellectual challenge it presents, or students' level of interest in it – is stronger than the relationship between students' engagement and any other course characteristic" (p. 55).
  

Relation to my topic:
Making the Most of College: Students Speak Their Minds provided me quite a few things for my project. The first is that it gave me an example of a student's dissatisfaction with professors and classes. When I read that even a Harvard student notices the disengagement of college students in his large classes, I realized that this was a perfect example of how colleges can do a better job guaranteeing that students maximize their return on tuition costs. By reorganizing their classes and shuffling the professors around, a college has the ability to create a more interesting and engaging class for its students. The book also provided me more support for my section on the correlation between writing classes and student engagement. Although I already have two sources prodding at this concept, I may incorporate the quote from page 55 for extra evidence if I believe it to be necessary.

Literature Review #4

Citation:Shaffer, Leigh S. Live Like the Affluent in College, Live Like a Student After Graduation. Mar. 2012.

Summary:
Live Like the Affluent in College, Live Like a Student After Graduation discusses the thinking behind a college student's spending choices. College students appear to be stuck in premature affluence, referring to students whose parents provided for them and allowed them to spend money without discretion, and thus spend the same way in college despite living in different circumstances. The piece defines a number of expenses students unwisely spend money on, including entertainment, cosmetics/fashion, and travel.

Author:Leigh S. Shaffer - Professor in the Department of Anthropology and Sociology at West Chester University

Quotes:

"Bachman called their use of spending money affluence because it represented what economists traditionally called discretionary spending— that is, money spent on items beyond their own living expenses such as rent, utilities, groceries, health care, and other necessities. He also referred to their spending habits as premature affluence because many, if not most, of these individuals would not be able to sustain their discretionary expenses after their schooling once they were forced to pay for their own room and board out of their own earnings. It is one thing to have “spending money” and to develop an affluent lifestyle and expensive tastes, but it is quite another to earn enough money to sustain that lifestyle once one is responsible for the costs of living as well."

"Bachman’s graduates seemed to be experiencing what social psychologists call relative deprivation—a sense of resentment based on a belief that one is being deprived of a deserved status or an expected standard of living."

"Academic advisors can work with student affairs professionals to identify reputable resources for work- ing with student debt, particularly when students report being troubled by the consequences of poor choices they have already made...faculty in accounting or finance departments can offer financial literacy programs to their campuses as well."
  

Relation to my topic:
This article appears almost identical to the argument I've made in my essay. College students, due to psychological or other factors, tend to make unwise spending decisions that could have been prevented with the help of the university and its faculty. The idea of discretionary spending is particularly applicable to the short-term financial choices in my project. Students will spend money on things beyond their means of living, particularly because of the background they come from (premature affluence). I might use this article as extra support for my argument that students spend money in the short-term unwisely and for a variety of reasons.