Financial Literacy Among Health Professions Graduate Students
Purpose:
Students commonly accumulate debt to fund their graduate and post-graduate education. Student debt is known to impact mental health, career choices (including practice type and location), and continued specialty training in many medical fields, but debt management has been inadequately addressed in the field of physical therapy. The purpose of this project is to develop and pilot a cross-sectional survey that identifies students’ financial literacy in the areas of budget, savings, investment, and loan repayment strategies. This baseline needs assessment will be used to develop educational modules to address identified deficits in financial knowledge, career planning, and money management.
Methods/Description:
After reviewing the literature, a cross-sectional survey was developed containing 43 items related to financial lifestyle (healthy financial habits-8), savings knowledge (9), credit and borrowing strategies (10), investment knowledge (16). The main sources for items were the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and the Study on Collegiate Financial Wellness. These questions were scored to evaluate financial literacy. In addition, the survey included six items rated on a four-point Likert scale to assess financial self-efficacy and demographic questions that include students’ background, debt status, financial risk tolerance, and career plans. Following IRB approval, 268 students in the School of Health Professions at UT Southwestern Medical Center were invited to complete the survey administered via REDCap. The email invitation assured students that their candid opinions, reflections and answers are valued, and not to hesitate to select the “unsure” option rather than consult others or look up answers.
Results/Outcomes:
135 surveys (50% response rate) were completed in March 2019. Students were from Physical Therapy, Physician Assistant Studies, Prosthetics & Orthotics, Clinical Nutrition, Rehabilitation Counseling and Radiation Therapy. The overall score for financial literacy section was 39%. Financial lifestyle and credit and borrowing strategies were the areas that students scored the best at 50%. Students scored the lowest on investment knowledge with an average of 25% correct responses. Physical Therapy students' scores were not statistically significantly different from the rest of the cohort. Regarding financial self-efficacy, the overall mean score was 12.97 + 3.08 (range 5-20). The PT students' mean score was 12.92 + 2.80 (range 6-20). A score of 17 or more is considered financially self-efficacious. ±± 2.80 (range 6-20).
65% of the respondents expected to have student loan debt upon their graduation, with the median debt in the range of $40,000-$60,000 tier. This is significantly less than the national average of nearly $100,000. This reduced amount may be attributable to the affordable, state-supported tuition at UT Southwestern as 82% of the students said the cost of tuition was a deciding factor in selecting which graduate training program to attend. Another factor may be the relatively high familial affluence of these students with a mean reported parental income of > $150,000. Despite this relatively low debt, 11% of students stated this debt causes "extreme" stress and another 35% categorized the stress as "large". Only 20% of students stated their educational debt stress level would be characterized as "none" or "small". 73% of the students indicated that the amount of student loan debt will influence their decision about their career selection after graduation.
Conclusions/Relevance to the conference theme:
Much has been written and discussed about the rising cost of higher education and the burden of student debt, but less attention is directed toward facilitating financial health in the graduates of health professions programs. The survey used in this study can identify deficits in financial knowledge, career planning, and money management. The survey could also be used as a tool to measure outcomes of activities and programs designed to remedy these deficits.