Designing Inclusive Budgeting Tools: Understanding Financial Behavior and Cultural Differences Among University Students

University students face financial challenges, including unstable income, rising living costs, and limited money-management experience, potentially causing stress, debt, and reduced academic engagement. Digital budgeting tools are often recommended, yet many solutions insufficiently consider students’ diverse financial needs, motivations, and cultural contexts, with little attention to who adopts them and who does not. To explore design opportunities, we examine budgeting-tool use through a mixed-methods study combining 305 survey responses and 13 interviews. Results reveal behavioral differences between users and non-users, shaped by saving goals, spending habits, income structure, and cultural context. Cluster analysis identifies three behavioral profiles associated with financial planning practices, income sources, and repayment behavior. Interviews further show dissatisfaction with existing budgeting applications and expectations beyond functional efficiency, including support for engagement, reflection, and everyday financial understanding. These findings inform more inclusive budgeting tools and highlight the potential of adaptive, AI-supported approaches for better supporting lower-engagement student groups.