Financial Literacy Needs Of South African Third-Year University Students

Abstract

It is evident from the literature that financial education and financial training fail in South Africa, which results in tertiary institutions sending their students into the world with a lack of preparedness for the financial challenges that await them. The problem with this study is that before interventions can be designed, a thorough understanding of the needs of students is important. Therefore, the purpose of this case study is to evaluate the financial literacy needs of third-year students at a South African university. The research fulfills the purpose by means of a survey, where a questionnaire was developed to first evaluate the socio-economic environment and exposure to the world of finance and then the financial literacy of 424 students who participated in this study. The contribution of this study is, first, that with the existing literature as a basis and a cluster analysis of the results, a new suitable questionnaire to evaluate financial literacy was developed for the South African context. Furthermore, the study uncovered the areas where the respondents, who are mainly financially supported by their parents, have a high level of literacy, as well as the areas of illiteracy that need to be addressed.