Adoption of saving culture among Makerere University students a case study of final year students at school of statistics and planning, Makerere University

Abstract

The study was about adoption of a saving culture among Makerere University students and was conducted in Makerere University at the school of statistics and planning in Uganda. The research methodology for the study was a cross-sectional research design. The sample size was 112 respondents and the cluster sampling technique was used in selecting respondents included in the sample. The researcher used questionnaires to collect data and data was analyzed using SPSS version27 at the univariate and bivariate levels. The research findings indicated that financial literacy significantly influences the level of saving among Makerere university students since the p-value (0.020) is less than the critical value (0.05) i.e. 0.020<0.05. Research also indicated that peer influence has a significant relationship with the level of saving among Makerere university students since the p-value (0.464) is less than the critical value (0.05) i.e. 0.464<0.05. Research further showed that parental influence has a significant relationship with the level of saving among Makerere university students since the p-value (0.404) is less than the critical value (0.05) i.e. 0.404<0.05. Research also indicated that self-control has a significant relationship with the level of saving among Makerere university students since the p-value is less than the critical value. From the barriers, research indicated that there is a significant relationship between income earned and saving, since most of the respondents responded to not saving as a result of limited income (42.9%). Most of the respondents (96.4%) believed saving is very important while others (3.6%) believed saving is not important at all. Close to half of the respondents reported to be using banks, as a form of saving (40.2%). I recommend that Makerere university can pay more attention to cultivate students, financial literacy by offering general courses on financial knowledge. In addition, the university can also organize relevant activities such as personal finance skills contest, financial lecturers and so on, to improve students’ financial literacy. According to the results, a big proportion 74.1% of students indicate that parents can do a better job of setting good examples for their children in terms of saving, thus directly influencing their children’s saving behavior. Therefore, I suggest that parents should offer advices to their children on savings plus its importance. It is suggested also for the research to be conducted among different universities of the country or world wide for which will offer a big sample for further and better comparison and conclusions.