Paying For and Consuming College: Student's Resource Integration Strategies

Abstract

For this research, I interviewed ten graduating college seniors on the planning of their college expenses, the actual consumption, and how they feel about the overall experience. I learned that these students usually did not deviate from their original plan on how they would pay for college and expectations for families' financial contribution was usually very clear. However, many students did make modifications over the four years to accommodate changing circumstances and needs. An emergent theme was that paying for college taught students how to be responsible with money. Future research could further explore this theme.