There are two major issues related to college students and financial services. One is that the level of financial literacy among young Americans – including college students – is very low, and the other is that the college student demographic is changing dramatically.

This report examines some of the challenges college students face, partly because of their lack of financial knowledge and partly because of financial experience, as well as some of the opportunities institutions have to help them overcome those challenges. It also examines some of the changes the college student population is undergoing as it comprises a more diverse set of students than ever before.

For the purposes of this report, Mintel has used the following definitions:

A college student is defined as one who is aged 18-23 and enrolled in full-time or part-time in a 2-year or 4-year college or university.

For the purposes of this report, Mintel commissioned exclusive consumer research through Lightspeed GMI to explore college students’ attitudes and behaviors toward financial services. Mintel was responsible for the survey design, data analysis, and reporting. Fieldwork was conducted in December 2014 among a sample of 500 adults aged 18-23 who are college students with access to the internet.

Mintel selects survey respondents so that they are proportionally balanced to the entire U.S. adult population based on the key demographics of gender, age, household income, and region. Mintel also slightly oversamples, relative to the population, respondents that are Hispanic or black to ensure an adequate representation of these groups in our survey results. Please note that our surveys are conducted online and in English only. Hispanics who are not online and/or do not speak English are not included in our survey results.

While race and Hispanic origin are separate demographic characteristics, Mintel often compares them to each other. Please note that the responses for race (White, Black, Asian, Native American, or other race) will overlap those that also are Hispanic, because Hispanics can be of any race.

All estimated mail volume data and consumer direct mail marketing creatives are provided by Mintel Comperemedia.

Mintel Comperemedia is a searchable competitive database tracking direct mail, print and online advertising in the U.S. and Canada, as well as email in the U.S. Comperemedia tracks information across eight sectors: Banking, Credit Card, Investments, Insurance, Mortgage and Loan, Telecom, Travel and Leisure, and Automotive.

For more information, please contact Account Services Management at 1.312.450.6353 or www.mintel.com.

The following is a list of abbreviations used in this report: