Values and Value: Culturally Responsive Financial Literacy Programming in Higher Education

U.S. Higher education institutions (HEIs) developed financial literacy programs (FLPs) in response to the 2008 recession which was characterized, in part, by the poor and uninformed financial decision-making of Americans. A previous study that examined the existence, content, delivery modality and value of FLPs offered at U.S. HEIs, found that such programs are relatively prevalent, highly valued, and vary in content and modality. This qualitative study builds on the previous work by acknowledging the ways that cultural identity influences financial attitudes, behaviors, and decisions. The author further examined ways that some of the same FLPs tailor content and delivery modalities to be culturally responsive to the unique needs, perspectives, and experiences of the increasingly diverse students that they serve. To answer the research question of what ways FLPs are responsive to the students’ cultural identities, the author interviewed 9 program managers asking how their program content and delivery modalities were adjusted according to students’ cultural perspectives. Findings emphasize the need for cross-campus collaborations between FLPs and cultural centers in designing and delivering programs, intentional content and modality tailoring according to the cultural perspectives of students, and personal reflection strategies employed by program managers toward identifying limitations in their own cultural perspectives and biases when designing and delivering their programs.