{"id":9083,"date":"2024-08-05T15:03:33","date_gmt":"2024-08-05T19:03:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/?p=9083"},"modified":"2024-08-05T15:03:33","modified_gmt":"2024-08-05T19:03:33","slug":"financial-woes-continue-for-gen-z-students-just-5-have-secured-the-funds-to-fully-pay-for-college-this-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/gen-z-research\/financial-woes-continue-for-gen-z-students-just-5-have-secured-the-funds-to-fully-pay-for-college-this-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Financial Woes Continue for Gen Z Students: Just 5% Have Secured the Funds to Fully Pay for College This Year"},"content":{"rendered":"

In July 2024, ScholarshipOwl<\/a> continued our on-going deep dive into learning if this year’s college-bound Gen Z have the funds needed to pay for college in the 2024-25 school year. Despite the fact that the Fall tuition bill will be due in August for most college students, we found that just 5% of students have secured the funds necessary to pay for college this year. This news is very disappointing, yet also unsurprising, due to the continually rising cost of college, as well as on-going inflation woes. In fact, the Education Data Initiative<\/a> reports that over the past twenty years, the cost of college tuition and fees at public universities has risen 179%.<\/p>\n

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Our survey also demonstrates that even MORE students are struggling to afford college compared to last month’s survey<\/a>, that found that only 10% of students have the funds needed to pay for college this year.<\/p>\n

Yet there is positive news arising from our survey as well – we can see that Gen Z is resilient and clever, as most of our respondents have developed a multi-pronged strategy for raising the funds needed to attend college this year.<\/p>\n

Who participated in the survey?<\/b><\/h2>\n

In July 2024, ScholarshipOwl surveyed high school and college students on the ScholarshipOwl scholarship platform to learn more about their financial preparedness for college. A total of 13,345 students responded.<\/p>\n

Among the respondents, 64% were female, 35% were male, and 1% identified themselves as a different gender identity or preferred not to respond to the question. Nearly half (42%) were Caucasian, 29% were Black, 17% were Hispanic\/Latino, 6% were Asian\/Pacific Islander, 2% were American Indian\/Native American and 5% selected “other” or preferred not to respond to the question.<\/p>\n

Over one-quarter (27%) of the respondents were high school students, with the vast majority high school seniors; nearly two-thirds (60%) were college undergraduate students, primarily college freshmen and college sophomores; 9% were graduate students and 4% identified themselves as adult\/non-traditional students.<\/p>\n

Survey topics<\/b><\/h2>\n

Availability of the funds Gen Z students need for college<\/h3>\n

We began the survey by asking a qualifying question, so that we could ensure that most of the respondents were planning to attend college in the coming school year. We asked students, \u201cWill you be attending college in 2024-25?\u201d<\/p>\n