WHERE IS FINANCIAL WELLNESS INFORMATION PUBLISHED WITHIN INSTITUTIONAL WEBSITES IN HIGHER EDUCATION?

Abstract

Although institutions of higher education in the United States have published websites since the late 1990s, little is known regarding whether institutions publish financial wellness-related content on their websites and specifically where this information resides. Many institutions of higher education have provided their students with access to resources intended to improve their financial wellness and address the financial illiteracy crisis, yet it can sometimes be challenging for students to find the information. These institutions often have several different websites, often under multiple departments, through which students must search for the resources they need.

Analyzing the number and location of financial wellness information will ensure students are receiving the necessary information in a trust-worthy manner and help determine how information should be presented for the sake of accessibility. For example, many institutional webpages related to prospective student applications (ex:: https://admissions.indiana.edu/enroll/freshman/) reside within the institution’s broader admissions website (ex: https://admissions.indiana.edu/). However, no studies have explored where financial wellness content or webpages are published. As a result, to inform financial wellness practice in higher education, this brief reports on website data gathered from 948 institutional webpages (all .edu) to better understand where professionals are publishing financial wellness content on their institutional websites.