| NSF Org: |
EEC Division of Engineering Education and Centers |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | September 13, 2018 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | September 13, 2018 |
| Award Number: | 1848842 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Christine Grant
EEC Division of Engineering Education and Centers ENG Directorate for Engineering |
| Start Date: | April 1, 2019 |
| End Date: | June 30, 2022 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $200,746.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $200,746.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
1050 STEWART ST. LAS CRUCES NM US 88003 (575)646-1590 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
Las Cruces NM US 88003-8002 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | EDA-Eng Diversity Activities |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.041 |
ABSTRACT
Student loan debt is frequently discussed as a creating a financial burden to underrepresented minority students (URM) leading to the lack of completing degrees at the undergraduate and graduate levels in engineering. This research project investigates a framework that describes students? perceptions about financial options for graduate school and how these options impact decisions to enter graduate school and the engineering workforce. The focus of this project is to leverage relationships with select Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU), Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI) and Predominately White Institutions (PWI) in the Midwest that were established from the implementation of an earlier graduate recruitment program.
The data collected from students of the participating universities includes decisions related to borrowing practices of student loans, accumulation of debt, decisions that impact career decisions related to debt, along with investigating students? perceptions and knowledge of financial options available related to their future as engineering graduate students. In addition, the researchers will investigate students, perceptions, knowledge and usage of financial options taken while they are an engineering graduate student and how these choices impact their decisions during graduate school. A mixed methods approach will be employed using quantitative and qualitative data to explore these issues from various perspectives. The expected outcomes from the analysis and the methods that are most effective at increasing the recruitment, retention and graduation of underrepresented minorities students will be disseminated through workshops and journals.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
Financial literacy and wellness programs are offered by many universities to support the economically and educationally disadvantaged and often first-generation college students, along with students who have little to no experience about financial decision-making. In reviewing the literature, it was established that of necessary importance to the discipline is to educate URMs about financial capability and the lifelong impact it has on their future. Throughout the grant we offered workshops on Job Offer to Retirement, Capitalizing on Benefits and Financial Opportunities, Cognitive Bias in Financial Decision Making, Financial Capabilities, including how family history impacts financial decision-making. The following are definitions of the grant variables.
Financial Capability, Financial Literacy, Financial Wellness
- Financial Capability Access, Behavioral Factors, Social Influences, Emotions, (ABSiE) includes financial literacy, but adds access to financial services, behavioral factors, social influences, and emotions. It further involves capability as both the ability to act (i.e., internal capacities such as knowledge) and the opportunity to act (i.e., availability of products that are accessible, affordable, and financially attractive, easy to use, and safe and reliable). It also includes finanical wellness.
- Financial Wellness CONTROL & FREEDOM, (C & F) is about a sense of security and feeling as though you have enough money to meet your needs. It's about being in control of your day-to-day finances and having the financial freedom to make choices that allow you to enjoy life.
Financial Capability
What is obvious from these definitions is that financial capability incorporates literacy and wellness. What is lacking is the social behavioral emotional family history of financial decision-making that has been deeply ingrained in the college students from their family of origin. The financial literature indicates that the most crucial components in understanding the college students financial decisions are based on their family's financial history and the behavioral cultural emotional impact it has on the college students financial decisions. Such factors include poverty, educational attainment, family relationships and home life that all impact social mobility.
The project began with a face-to-face conference addressing financial capability, however when COVID-19 occurred with the closures of universities and everyone having to participate with their academic institutions through technology and online resources the project transitioned into a technology online basis with virtual conferences.
The advisory board and the PI for this NSF grant transitioned to online methods to continue the requirements of the grant. The PI with the support of the advisory board began the process of taking the outcomes and data gathered from the face-to-face conference to develop a CANVAS online Financial Capability and Wellness course to be offered free of cost, which included a research component to further examine and validate the preliminary findings of the first conference. The online course included pre and post measures that captured URMs responses to issues of financial capability, cultural intelligence, and familial financial decision-making. This provided the ability to gather pre and post data across the underrepresented minority students to expose, measure, and assess the impact of the variables that educated students about financial capability. The course remains active and is still in use by faculty and institutions free of cost to its participants. Data continues to be gathered through the online course.
Two virtual conferences were developed through collaborative efforts between the Minority Serving Institutions in this grant. The conferences proved to be successful in addressing financial capability, cultural and emotional intelligence, along with the role of family emotional history of financial decision-making.
It was obvious that even though the pandemic developed great stress for everyone, it also provided the impetus for students to make financial decisions that were a direct extrapolation of their family emotional financial history and responsibility to the family. The development of the online CANVAS course and data gathering, along with the virtual access through zoom technology allowed the project to be accessed by approximately two hundred students.
Final outcomes, this grant increased the knowledge of financial decision-making and indicated that taking into consideration the theory of financial capability with the inclusion of financial wellness and literacy provided a foundation for students ability to make financial decisions. In addition, it is of utmost importance to include and assess cultural and emotional intelligence and family emotional cultural financial history, since the project indicated that it impacts the holistic financial decision-making process for underrepresented minority students, first generation students and students from low socioeconomic statuses.
The incorporation of the theories of financial capability, cultural and emotional intelligence coupled with family emotional financial history, presented through various learning modalities, and assessed through appropriate measures and presentations can provide multiple resources for students to succeed and manage financial decision-making in making lifelong financial decisions.
Last Modified: 10/24/2022
Modified by: Luis A Vazquez
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