Financial Stress Among College Students: New Data About Student Loan Debt, Lack of Emergency Savings, Social and Personal Resources (2024)
We provide updated results about the link between student loan debt and emergency savings with financial
stress, and after conditioning for differences in social
and personal resources. We use the stress process
model framework and data from the 2020 Study on
Collegiate Financial Wellness (N = 25,310) to estimate
ordered probit regression models. The 2020 data confirm that students report higher levels of stress if they
hold more loan debt and have lower emergency savings. Students with higher levels of financial socialization and financial self-efficacy experience less financial
stress and experience more stress when they report
both positive and negative financial management
behaviors. Among student-borrowers, the role of social
and personal resources is weakened. The data confirm
ongoing financial stress among college students and
points to the important role of financial socialization
through parents and financial skill in students’ ability
to cope with financial stress.