"Not a whole lot I could do": Challenges Facing College Peer Financial Mentors

Abstract

It is critical for college students to develop a sense of financial literacy before they enter the workforce (Durband & Britt, 2012; Goetz et al., 2011). However, financial literacy programs on college campuses are sparse (Britt et al., 2015), and those campuses with programs often do not utilize a peer financial mentoring model. As a result, this study engaged with 54 collegiate peer financial mentors across seven institutions of higher education to explore mentors’ challenges working with their peers. This study employs a phenomenological qualitative approach using focus group data collection techniques (Saldaña & Omasta, 2022). We purposively sampled participants from institutions of higher education with peer financial mentoring programs over a three-year span (2020-2023) through research team connections with the Higher Education Financial Wellness Alliance. Participants attended virtual focus groups with colleagues from their institution, resulting in 22 focus groups held with 54 peer financial mentors across seven institutions of higher education. Three core themes emerged from the data related to the challenges faced by college peer financial mentors: 1.) Mentees having financial concerns that mentors could not help with, 2.) Mentors not possessing the financial knowledge to provide high quality peer financial mentoring, and 3.) Toggling between virtual and in-person programming was fraught with difficulty. Moreover, peer mentors mentioned miscellaneous challenges, such as communication with students, student volume, and students’ expectations of the mentoring session. As the first study of its kind to engage with college peer financial mentors regarding their challenges, institutions seeking to improve their peer financial mentoring model can learn from these challenges and increase programmatic effectiveness. These institutions can also better anticipate student needs and train mentors accordingly. Ultimately, institutions seeking to develop peer financial mentoring programs can also address programmatic expectations and communication with students to streamline the peer financial mentoring process.