“Follow the money”: qualitative evidence on financial literacy and college choice

Students from low-income households face barriers to higher education not only from increasing costs, but from navigating college systems themselves. Interpreting institutional information, understanding costs, resources, and making enrollment decisions all require forms of knowledge that are unevenly distributed across families and schools. This research examines how financial knowledge and access to support shape college enrollment, retention, and completion. Building on existing research and new qualitative interviews, the findings show that students’ confidence in navigating college processes strongly predicts whether they enroll and remain in college. Situating financial literacy within frameworks of human capital, cultural capital, and social reproduction, the analysis argues that while programs can mitigate inequality, they also operate within structures that risk reproducing barriers. Programs designed to help narrow that gap are most effective when they are timely, culturally relevant, and peer-led rather than generic or jargon-heavy. The study suggests financial literacy is not just a life skill but an access point to higher education. In an attempt to make that access point more equitable, this poster recommends practical financial literacy programs and culturally responsive curricula tailored to different student backgrounds and experiences. Investments such as these have an institutional benefit that can include: reducing aid underutilization, strengthening tuition revenue, easing administrative strain, and improving retention and graduation. When schools want fairness and long-term success, financial literacy matters. It helps students move forward and helps the school do better, too.