Making Ends Meet: The Role of Community Colleges in Student Financial Health

Posted by Center for Community College Student Engagement on May 1, 2017

Making Ends Meet: The Role of Community Colleges in Student Financial Health

Student financial stability is a critically important facet of the improvement work in which so many community colleges around the country are engaging. The financial stability data that the Center explores here go hand-in-hand with the guided pathways reform that is sweeping the country and with Beyond Financial Aid, which I developed with Lumina Foundation. Taken together they give colleges a powerful opportunity to ensure that significantly more students complete their journeys with us and move directly into the workforce or transfer to a four-year institution.

This special report is truly important, not only because it calls further attention to community college students’ high level of financial instability. Perhaps more important, it provides students’ own perceptions on the issue of financial stability. And it does so in a way only the Center can—by sharing on-the-ground student responses to questions
specifically targeting financial health. This data set provides new connective tissue and insight into students’ lives and the ways in which their financial concerns coincide with their academic work and their ability to succeed.

While this report includes a multitude of fascinating data, I will focus on a key exploration that connects with one of my own areas of interest. I am consistently struck by how often we look at data on financial stability and/or financial health and conclude that the student is the problem. The Center points out that while engaging students in
financial coaching and/or financial literacy may be worthwhile, these skills may not be the whole or even the primary story. Consider the following passage from page 13 of the report:

Perhaps if students had better long-term budgeting skills, their situations would improve. That said, long-term financial planning is very difficult for individuals with limited discretionary income (or no income at all). Thus, it is possible that students’ running out of money is not a function of poor financial management skills, but simply indicates a reality of not having enough resources.

This is powerful stuff—and much of the data the Center shares is supportive of this hypothesis. As you read the report, note how many students feel they have a handle on managing their finances and pay their bills on time, but also then report struggling to keep up.

Similarly, as we explore the data on students’ approaches to budgeting, we should consider whether the answers would be significantly different if college employees—particularly those in the lower half of the salary distribution—were asked the same budgeting questions. My bet is that the budgeting answers would be similar. This finding would indicate that we should exercise caution in thinking that budgeting challenges are somehow unique to our community college student population. Again, the far bigger issue may be the lack of financial resources to be budgeted. Finally, do not miss the discussion guide that begins on page 14. It can help you start and facilitate conversations at your college. In doing so, you can find opportunities to link this financial stability movement to existing work at your college, as well as bring your community together.

http://www.ccsse.org/docs/Making_Ends_Meet.pdf