ABSTRACT
The aims of this project are to describe the various ways in which students spend their money and to advise them on how to spend their money judiciously. About three hundred and sixty questionnaires were distributed randomly to six schools and one hundred and forty valid returns of questionnaires were gathered. From the analyses, it was discovered that despite the hard earned income of parents, most students insist on spending their money extravagantly. This is mostly found commonly the female students. According to the data age was identified as one of the major factors which influence the spending habit of students. Students below twenty – five years spend higher than students above twenty-five years. We also noted that students whose parents are wealthy spend much higher than students whose parents are averagely rich. Finally, students should judiciously spend money only on important items and should avoid ostentations spending.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Spending is referred to the total expenditure of an individual, government or an organization. Having said this, government can spend money for projects like building of schools, construction of roads, establishments of electricity, etc. and these erupt development in our country. Parents also cater for the need of their children and enrich them with huge sums of money as pocket money. Some of the student’s need which propels them to spend could be enumerated thus: school fees, hotel fees, feeding, transport fares, drinks and educational materials, etc.
Taking you years back, Nigeria had a good economy. Government and parents spent much of their money without any pains. Students at that time used money recklessly because there was a good economy and balanced with monetary value in the market.
From 1980 till now, we have been experiencing our increasing an unexpected inflation of goods
By carrying out this study within the context of a tertiary institution, this paper contributes to the growing body of literature on the analysis of student’s expenditure. To my knowledge, there has been no prior research of personalfinance habits conducted on a tertiary institution’s population. Previous studies such as that of Cummins et al. (2009), indicates a geographic factor that may play into the development of financial habits. Certain regions may encourage particular behaviors, resulting in location-specific effects, especially if students selected to participate are mostly from that homogenous population. The implementation of this study specifically using individuals from various ethnicities allows for greater applicability that is representative of colleges with a diversified student body representation. This paper highlights the impact of cultural norms that inevitably impact the establishment of spending behaviors, many of which are all appropriated based on differing social norms across the globe. As this topic is relevant across various continents, there is increasing desire to further the examination of financial habits among college-aged individuals.
A majority of the literature reviewed focuses on demographic factors or socially constructed models of consumption to explain spending behavior. However, there is very limited knowledge on the applicability of existing economic theories that explain consumers’ spending habits, particularly within the setting of college students. As such, contributions can be made from this study’s attempts to draw connections between university level spending and theories of Hyperbolic Discounting and the Permanent Income Hypothesis.
Subsequent sections of this paper are organized in the following manner: Section II provides a framework of pertinent literature to contextualize the existing findings on college students’ spending and saving habits; Section III includes methodology and data, where a description of the survey questionnaire is provide along with data collection methods; Section IV provides results from the regression analysis; Section V is a discussion, which draws conclusions and relates findings from the study back to existing literature; and Section VI concludes with final remarks and policy implications.
1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT
There is a limited amount of research that has investigated students expenditure in tertiary institutions in regard of being efficient, productive, and accountable in the use of financial resources. There are some measurable goals that are commonly used as indicators of student’s financial management performance such as first-year and six-year (Promades, 2012). There is a need to explore how much the different components of institutional expenditure affect such performance indicators. This study aimed at fulfilling this need and providing a better understanding of resource allocation patterns that might be related to improved financial management among students in different types of tertiary institutions in Nigeria.
1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
- To figure out the factors that influence students expenditure in tertiary institutions
- To identify the patterns of student’s expenditure in tertiary institutions?
- To study the effect that different levels of student’s expenditure have on their academic performance?
1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
- What are the factors that influence student’s expenditure in tertiary institutions?
- What are the patterns of student’s expenditure in tertiary institutions?
- What effect do the different levels of student’s expenditure have on their academic performance?
1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
In an environment of economic challenges and budgetary constraints, students of tertiary institutions are required to reconsider their patterns of resource allocation in order to achieve their goals and improve their performance within the available financial resources. This study investigated the impact of resource allocation on student’s performance. Results of the study may be utilized as guidelines for new resource allocation patterns that help improve management of finances. The findings of this study will provide information that would help students, parents and decision makers to set up a system that will aid in adequate management and allocation of resources among students in campus.
1.6 LIMITATIONS
This study is limited to the targeted population students of tertiary institutions characterized by institutional control (public or private-not-for-profit) and colleges. The findings of this study may not apply to institutions of other categories such as community colleges, private-for-profit institutions, associate colleges, special focus institutions, and tribal colleges.
1.7 DEFINITION OF TERMS
It is the social or professional position of somebody in relation to others:
Income: This is the earning of an individual in taking part in production of goods and services.
Expenditure is broken into meaningful and logical categories namely:
A Food:
It is anything we eat for the nourishment and growth of the body.
B Clothing and Foot-Wears
Clothing are those things that we use to cover our body because of cold and diseases. While foot – wears are those things that we wear on our feet so as to prevent us from wound and diseases.
- Drinks
It is either alcoholic or non-alcoholic liquor.
- Make-ups
These include such thing as powder, pomerde, up-sticks, eye-pencil, etc.
- Educational Materials
These are materials used for academic works like books, mathematical sets, drawing sheets, calculators, etc.
- Projects
This includes field-works, research – work, term paper, etc.
- Hobbies
It is occupation for one’s leisure time, for example reading, sports and listening to music.
- Entertainment
This includes film show, parties, cinema, which we use for enjoyment and relaxation of the body.
1.8 ORGANIZATION OF WORK
The purpose of this study is to analyze student’s expenditure in tertiary institutions in different schools characterized by institutional control (public and private-not-for-profit) and colleges. Chapter 2 included an overview of the literature and research related to institutional expenditures and performance indicators. Chapter 3 described the methods utilized to conduct the study. Chapter 4 presented the results and findings of the study. Chapter 5 presented the conclusions of the study and discussed the implications of the findings for institutional leaders.
