ESU School of Business surveys personal finance knowledge

What do Kansas high school seniors know about managing money? And what are school districts in the state teaching students about personal finance? Four researchers from Emporia State University’s School of Business are in the process of finding out.

“We’re interested in the finance knowledge people have relevant to what’s happened with the economy in the past couple of years,” said Dr. Donald Miller, professor of business at ESU. Miller is joined by Dr. Nancy Groneman Hite, professor of business administration and education, Dr. Barbara Railsback, assistant professor of business administration and education, and Dr. Tom Slocombe, associate professor of business administration and education.

The four surveyed more than 300 Kansas public high schools about the type of personal finance instruction that takes place in their classrooms, who teaches those classes, and the level of enrollment in personal finance courses.

Railsback taught personal finance as a high school instructor. “I’m interested in it because of a state statute that says all Kansas public schools are supposed to be teaching personal finance kindergarten through twelfth grade.”

Another survey went to high school seniors at six schools in Kansas. “We asked them to tell us how much money they’ve been spending. The survey asked the students about how they handle their personal finances,” Hite said, adding that the researchers asked students whether they’ve had experience in taking out loans for automobiles, buying insurance and using credit and debit cards.

Slocombe helped develop the questions asked in the surveys. “As a management professor, I’m interested in what the students are learning before they get to us,” said Slocombe. “Financial concepts are certainly important in the classes I teach, so this is relevant to what I’m doing.”

While the survey is large in terms of both its scope and the number of researchers participating, “It brings together people with backgrounds that complement each other well,” noted Miller. The research team from ESU’s AACSB International-accredited School of Business includes Hite and Railsback, who have extensive backgrounds in the area of business education. Slocombe contributes expertise in the area of question development and data analysis.

“Don Miller deserves a lot of credit for putting this project together. He’s one of the most active researchers we have, and he’s a real good ‘people guy,’” said Slocombe.

School districts participating in the survey are anxious to see its results. “One of the districts wrote to me and asked if they could get the data compiled just for their school to present to their board of education to prove the need for a personal finance course as a requirement for graduation,” said Hite.

The research team hopes to have its survey findings tabulated later this fall. “It’ll be something that’s useful in terms of helping promote information relative to the importance of personal finance,” said Miller. “That’s the idea we’re concerned about, that people have the capability to deal with the issues that confront them, and to deal with those issues successfully.”

Last Updated October 14, 2009>