Article
Financial Literacy among University Students in Himachal Pradesh, India: A Multidimensional Assessment
Financial literacy has become a vital life skill which helps people make sound financial choices and enhance their financial situation. In this context financial issues are creating a big problem among the students of the university due to the transition from financial dependence towards financial independence. This study aims to discuss the overall financial awareness status of university students of the state of Himachal Pradesh, in India in three respects of financial awareness: Financial Knowledge, Financial Attitude and Financial Behaviour. The method used was quantitative research design and data collected were mostly secondary data from the respondents of the research, which consisted of 360 students from six universities, three public universities and three private universities. Ten objective questions were used to measure financial knowledge and five-point Likert scales statements were used to measure financial behaviour and financial attitude. Descriptive statistical techniques that included frequencies, percentages, means, standard deviations, skewness and kurtosis were used in analysing the data.
The findings reveal moderate level of financial literacy in all three aspects among the university students. The average financial knowledge score was 6.08 out of 10, which means that the group had a fairly basic understanding of fundamental financial aspects. Overall, financial behaviour was good with students generally creating a budget and comparing the prices, but there was a moderate level of poor financial behaviour in terms of financial record keeping and emergency preparedness. Likewise, there was a positive sentiment about financial planning and saving, and financial stress and uncertainty remained evident. The study is also a contribution in the growing literature as it has provided an empirical data of financial literacy of Himachal Pradesh University students. The findings are significant for universities, financial education policy makers, and financial education trainers to help them develop financial education programmes based on evidence to improve the financial capability of students, and to encourage people in making financial decisions.