Research Paper

Driving College Success

Higher education can provide remarkable access and opportunity to Americans, but financial challenges often prevent students from reaching their full academic potential. Read about how educational institutions can help more students achieve academic success and financial health.

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By Eric Wilson, Farah Manjiyani, Tanya Ladha

Category:

Student

Thursday, March 21, 2019

Higher education can provide remarkable access and opportunity to Americans, but financial challenges often prevent students from reaching their full academic potential. By organizing their efforts around key metrics, educational institutions can help more students achieve academic success and financial health.

Top Takeaways

Students face unique financial challenges that stem from juggling full and complex lives, underscoring the need for holistic solutions that take their entire lives into account.

While institutions are increasingly aware of the link between student success and student financial health, efforts to address financial health issues vary widely.

By measuring key student financial health metrics, institutions can begin to build a financial health profile of their students and develop solutions that promote retention and completion.

While institutions are already collecting some data, they will need to access other information in new ways to paint a true picture of student financial health.

Data Spotlight

Using our existing 8 Indicators of Financial Health, the Financial Health Network worked with a forward-thinking cohort of colleges and universities to determine the best metrics for measuring student financial health.

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Our Supporters

This report is made possible through the financial support of MetLife Foundation, founding sponsor of the Financial Health Network’s financial health work.

Written by

Eric Wilson

Associate
Farah Manjiyani

Manager, Product
Tanya Ladha

Senior Director, Workplace and Financial Health Equity