opposed to female), race (White non-Hispanic as opposed
to all others), and increases of $1,000 in before-tax annual
income. The four financial behavior variables included in
the model were the mean positive financial behavior score,
student loan debt, credit card debt, and other debts. All
debts were measured in units of $1,000.
Table 2 shows the odds ratio estimates for students having
lost the HOPE Scholarship. All variables that were significant
in bivariate statistics remained significant in the
multivariate model, except for the amount of “other debts.”
Among socioeconomic control variables, the association
of gender and race with the odds of having lost the HOPE
Scholarship were not statistically significant. When other
variables were kept equal, the odds that the students who
had worked between 11 to 20 hours per week had lost the
HOPE Scholarship were about 62% less than the odds that
those who had not worked had lost it. For each $1,000
increase in before-tax annual income, the odds a student
had lost the scholarship instead of retaining it were about
5% greater.
Three of the four financial behavior variables were statistically
significant. Results indicated the higher the positive
financial behavior score, the lower the odds that the student
had lost the scholarship. Specifically, the odds that a
student had lost the scholarship were approximately half
the odds that he or she had kept it for each one point increase
in the mean positive financial behavior score. The
odds that the student had lost the scholarship were about
5% higher for each $1,000 increase in the amount of
student loan debt that he or she owed. Similarly, the odds
that the student had lost the HOPE Scholarship were about
28% higher for each $1,000 increase in the amount of
credit card debt that he or she owed. The amount owed in
“other debts” did not explain the variation in the odds of
having lost the scholarship when other variables were
controlled.
In summary, the results indicated that students with higher
incomes, higher levels of student loan debt, or higher
levels of credit card debt were more likely to have lost
the HOPE Scholarship due to their academic performance.
Also, students who worked between 11 to 20 hours per
week on average and those who had a higher positive
financial behavior score were less likely to have lost the
HOPE Scholarship than those who did not work or had a
lower score.
Implications
The current study was designed to increase our understanding
of college students’ financial management practices
through examining the relationship between college
students’ financial behaviors and loss versus retention
of the HOPE Scholarship. Consistent with achievement
motivation theory, students with higher incomes may be
less motivated to maintain the GPA that they need to keep
the HOPE Scholarship because they could use their income
to pay their tuition. The nature of the relationship
between greater odds of losing the HOPE Scholarship and
higher levels of student loan and credit debt is less clear.
Are students with higher student loan and credit card debt