An evaluation of a digital financial education program and the impact of COVID-19 on financial well-being among college students

OBJECTIVES: To study the impact of a financial education program on financial well-being among college students. PARTICIPANTS: 162 students at a university. METHODS: We designed a digital educational intervention to improve money management practices and financial well-being among college students, where we delivered weekly nudges for three months via mobile phone and email to review and complete activities from the online platform CashCourse. We evaluated our intervention using a randomized controlled trial (RCT), and the outcome variables of interest were the financial self-efficacy scale (FSES) and financial health score (FHS). RESULTS: Using a difference-in-difference regression analysis we found that students in the treatment group were significantly more likely to pay their bills on time after the intervention compared to the control group. Students who had higher than median financial self-efficacy level reported lower stress levels related to COVID-19. CONCLUSIONS: Digital education programs for college students to improve financial knowledge and behavior could be one strategy, among others, to improve financial self-efficacy particularly among females and help mitigate the adverse impact from unexpected financial hardships.