Determinants of Financial Literacy among College Students in Assam

Financial literacy presents a crucial skill that equips the youth with the ability to make rational financial decisions, resource management as well as attaining a sustained economic independence. This paper aims to analyze the major sources of financial literacy in Assam among college going students and the Sonitpur District particularly- a place that has both socio-economic diversity and under reaches in the institutional financial connections. With the aid of descriptive-analytical research method, the investigation obtained the results based on primary data acquired through the application of structured questionnaires to 100 students in five colleges. The survey was able to capture various demographic, socio-economic and institutional factors such as the age, gender, parental education, family income, academic discipline, and accessibility to financial education programs. A statistical test of multiple regression indicates that the variables with the strongest influences on predicting financial literacy are parental education (β= 0.42, p less than 0.01), family income (β= 0.36, p less than 0.01), and institutional exposure (β= 0.31, p less than 0.05). There is also significant interaction of gender (β = 0.21, p < 0.05) and academic discipline (β = 0.29, p < 0.05) where male students and students of commerce mostly pass financial literacy test questions. The explanatory power of the regression model would be strong since it explains 62 percent of the winning across the scores of financial literacies (R2 = 0.62). These results are indicative of the fact that serious interventions are urgently required particularly in the cases of students with low-income groups, non- commerce streams and female students. The research prescribes the implementation of financial training in academic field, improved institutional outreach and engagement of the family in learning. The findings are instructive to educators, policy-makers, and financial company leaders, hoping to foster financial literacy among rural and semi-urban schooling institutions. Keywords: Financial literacy, determinants, regression analysis, socio-economic factors, college students.