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Abstract
The aim of this study was to investigate the budgeting and spending habits of university students at a South African university. In addition, the study examined if there is a significant gender difference in the budgeting and spending habits of university students. The study adopted a quantitative research approach with a descriptive design. The instrument used for data collection was a self-administered questionnaire. Convenience and snowball sampling techniques were used to identify the study participants. The Cronbach's alpha was used to test reliability. Data analysis included descriptive statistics and the t-test. The findings of the study show that the majority of university students do not have a written budget. In addition, the majority of university students spend money on groceries and fast food. Female students are more likely than male students to have a budget. Recommendations to improve the budgeting and spending habits of university students are suggested.
Keywords: budgeting, spending, habit, university students, South Africa
Introduction
Bailey et al. (2008) point out that spending by university students is one of the important components of total consumer spending. Spending by university is very essential to local communities because many residential universities are large relative to the size of the communities in which they are located. University students are money-spending machines (Karlson, 2013). Universities are a catalyst for the economies of local communities because spending by university students creates employment. Spending behaviours that are established by students in the university influence their conduct later in life (Siegfried et al. 2006).
An individual's ability to manage money is one of the vital components of success in life (Lau et al. 2011). Effective budgeting strategy by universal students.is fundamental to academic success (Cummins et al. 2009). High academic performers tend to have a lower amount of debt because of a higher level of anxiety about debt (Robb & Pinto 2010). Deficit spending is harmful to future financial well-being (Norvilitis, et al., 2006; Thaler & Sunstein, 2008; Stollak et al 2011). In addition, the introduction of new payment methods such as internet payment that does not involve the physical exchange of cash has led to a major change in the spending habits of students (Angrisani et al. 2015). Credit can easily be obtained by students online (Leclerc,...