Gender and Spending Habits

When you think of the typical shopper, you are likely to imagine a young woman with a shopping bag in a mall. This is a stereotype that has been associated with women (and youth) for quite a while. Moreover, this association has led to the belief that young adult women spend more money than their masculine counterparts. Is this true? Who actually spends more?

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Who spends more at Kalamazoo College, men or women? What kind of products do the sexes purchase? What factors influence these tendencies? 

In this study, I surveyed 28 students at Kalamazoo College. The survey was split into two main sections: 1. General Income and Quarterly Expenditures; 2. Situational Questions. The first section gathered data on hard numbers - how much income each person had/generated, as well as how much they spent on various products per quarter. These products included food/beverages, entertainment, travel, clothing, and monthly payments. The situational questions asked each person several hypothetical questions, like how likely they would be to spend on better hotels, cheaper clothing, better looking cars, and romantic interests.

It turns out that the question, "Who Spends More?" may be too broad. In the end, there was no statistically significant difference between the spending of men and women at KCollege. However, there were still patterns that emerged. Men generally spent more than women, but most generated more income than women. Still, men on average spent a larger percentage of their income. Statistically, more men were employed (part-time) than women. Men spent significantly more on entertainment and food/beverages, and women spent significantly more on clothing. 

The situational questions also pointed out some very interesting tendencies. Women were more likely to: spend on clothes that they did not initially intend to buy; buy a good-looking, used car with many miles; be charitable to the homeless; spend more on a hotel to for its superior location. Women varied less in their responses than men, which is why I could draw some of these patterns. Men, on the other hand, had very different responses to many of the questions; some were extremely likely to give into peer pressure and others were unaffected. One tendency that most men agreed on, though, was spending more money on a romantic interest, while women were more likely to have different opinions on the matter. Interesting stuff.

The Future of the Labor Movement in Trouble?

A study regarding current college students’ views and awareness of workers’ rights and labor unions occurred last week in Kalamazoo, Michigan.  About 57 students from the small, private liberal arts college participated, the majority of them (66.96%) believed that unions are an important force in society.

Students were given a statement and were asked to share their opinion from strongly disagree to strongly agree in a scaled response fashion.  The sample size was randomly selected by courses: Spanish, Mathematics, and a History class, and course level: beginner, intermediate, and advanced. 

Logic dictates that student majors who are immersed in Business and Economic courses would have a different perspective of unions than majors in the Social Sciences.  According to the study, there was no significant difference found between union favorability and major.  Both majors were found to have similar opinions regarding unions. 

On the other hand, significant data was found that female students have higher positive union attitudes than male students.  The average score for a female was 49.82 percent and that of a male student was 43.92 percent.  After accounting for the sampling error the data was still found to be reliable.  Therefore the idea of females and males having the same union attitudes can be rejected and that their opinions vary can be assumed.

Not only are college students today the future of the labor market, but also the future of labor unions.  Teenage and young adults in college are in a crucial period of transformation in their lives, as they develop their knowledge and opinions about the real world, they become closer to make a life of their own. 

With an averaged response of “neutral” to each particular statement on the questionnaire, it seems like labor unions have some educating to do.

K Student Textbook Spending

A study on students from Kalamazoo College and their textbook purchasing was recently conducted. The study focused on the methods students used in purchasing textbooks for one quarter, and their satisfaction with these methods. The students studied were randomly selected from every grade.

Results of the survey included 91.18% of students purchasing books, and of that percent 83.87% of the sample purchased from the K College Bookstore, and 70.97% using an online retailer. Although more students purchased books from the college bookstore, the average price spent on textbooks at the K College Bookstore was $131.67 as opposed to $98.95 using an online retailer. The difference between these averages is $32.72. Another interesting question asked was the students level of satisfaction with the market they chose to buy from on a scale of 1-10, 10 being the best. The K College Bookstore's average satisfaction was 6.17, while the online retailer's average was greater at 7.92.

In conclusion, many students appear to be using online retailers, and they're saving a good amount of money doing so. Additionally, the student's satisfaction in using online retailers is on the higher end of the scale as opposed to the K College Bookstore falling just above a middle, mediocre satisfaction level. Students can learn from this study that they can save some money through purchasing books online, and most college students definitely need whatever money they can get.

Athletes, specifically field athletes, support $16 million fields project

A recent study undertaken by two Kalamazoo College athletes sought to understand the relationships between various characteristics and opinions of the the new Kalamazoo College fields project. The study, consisting of 12 core-questions and distributed to 80 random students compared gender, class year, hours of exercise per week, hours of sports on TV per week, athletic contests attended in Fall '12 and whether or not the student was an athlete to what was called a 'positivity index'. This index was established to determine an overall opinion of the fields project.
The study indicates that it is quite clear that athletes have a more positive opinion of the field complex than non-athletes do; a result that is unlikely to shock many. Furthermore, the study indicates that the direct beneficiaries of the fields project, field athletes, are significantly more supportive of the decision to spend $16 million fields project than are athletes who's competitions are confined to Anderson Athletic Center.
Contrary to expectation, additional findings from the study indicate that there is little to no difference in opinions project between genders and class years. Additionally, there seems to be little relationship between how much a student exercises, watches sports on TV or attends K-College athletic events and overall opinion of the field project.
The overall impact of this study is yet to be determined. However, with many future plans for athletic renovations, the Kalamazoo College administration will need to continue catering to athletes while doing their best to get non-athletes engaged in the eventual renovations of the fitness center, natatorium and gymnasium.

The Impact of a Kalamazoo College Student's Financial Circumstances on Academic Performance

My study looked at the impact of a Kalamazoo College’s financial circumstances on his or her academic performance. I looked at three main factors – employment, parental financial support, and financial aid – and their effects on a Kalamazoo student’s academic performance, measured in terms of the student’s GPA. I sent a link to my online survey to 141 students, of which 40 completed the entire survey.

Of those surveyed:

·         65% were employed

·         73% work on campus

·         50% had a work-study job

·         80% percent were female, 20% were male

·         Employed students work about 10.5 hours per week on average

·         Students spend about 19 hours per week on average studying and/or doing homework

·         On average, students said they could do homework or study at work 23% of the time

·         On average, students said that their job had no effect on their academic performance

·         The average amount that parents pay for tuition is $15,921 per year

·         The average amount that parents pay for tuition is $3,003 per year

·         The average financial aid award was $18,779 per year

·         The average amount of merit-based aid received was $14,655 per year

·         The average amount of need-based aid received was $4,068 per year

After analyzing the data collected in the survey, I found the following evidence to support my three original research questions:

·         Does a student’s employment status affect his or her GPA?

o   Spending more time studying per week increases GPA

o   Spending more time working per week decreases GPA

o   Having a job decreases GPA, compared with a similar unemployed student

o   Working on campus increases GPA

o   Having a more flexible job increases GPA

·         Does the amount a student’s parents contribute toward tuition affect his or her GPA?

o   The higher a student’s family income, the lower his or her GPA tends to be

o   The more a student’s parents contribute toward tuition, the lower his or her GPA tends to be

o   The more a student contributes toward his or her own tuition, the higher his or her GPA tends to be

·         Does the amount of financial aid a student receives affect his or her GPA?

o   The more merit-based aid a student receives, the higher his or her GPA tends to be

o   The more need-based aid a student receives, the higher his or her GPA tends to be

The fact that I found statistically significant relations between these factors led me to conclude that a Kalamazoo College student’s financial circumstances do in fact impact his or her GPA.

Athletes, specifically field athletes find

Students and Textbook Spending

Recently, an interesting study was performed with students Kalamazoo College in regards to textbooks, and textbook spending. The focus points of the study included how much students spent on their textbooks for one quarter, different markets from which students purchased their books, and satisfaction with these markets. The researchers studied a random sample of students from every grade at the school. 

Results of this study were quite interesting: 91.18% of students spent money on books in some way. Of the 91.18% that spent money on books, 83.87% purchased at least one book from the Kalamazoo College Bookstore. Here, students spent an average of $131.37. Also, 70.97% of those who spent money on books also used an online retailer. Students who used the internet to purchase books only spent $98.95 on books. That is an average savings of $32.72. Students were also asked to rank their satisfaction with the markets that they purchased from on a 1-10 scale, 1 being the lowest, and 10 being the highest. For students who used the K College Bookstore, the average satisfaction was a lousy 6.17, whereas the online retailers received a higher score of 7.92. 

Essentially, the simple conclusion that can be drawn from this study is that students, now more than ever, are using the internet to purchase textbooks for school. Using the internet has no doubt saved countless students money, and with the ever-rising tuition costs, students are looking to save every penny that they can. 

Opinions on The Kalamazoo College Fields Project

Have you wondered what Kalamazoo College students think about the new fields used by some of our fall and spring sports teams? A survey conducted by 2 Kalamazoo College students shows how different groups feel about the fields project. The different groups compared included: athletes vs. non-athletes, field sport athletes vs. non-field sport athletes, men vs. women, and underclassmen vs. upperclassmen. There were both expected and unexpected results from this survey.

Firstly, as you might expect, after compiling the results of 62 surveys, it was found that athletes feel more positively about the project than non-athletes. Also, field sport athletes viewed the project much more positively than non-field sport athletes. This particular result is interesting, yet not completely unexpected as these are the athletes who are directly receiving the benefit of the new fields complex.

 It was also found that there was no statistical significance between being a male or female and being in support of the fields project. The same was found for underclassmen and upperclassmen, meaning that these groups viewed the project relatively similarly.

Overall, the results of this survey were fairly expected, as athletes supported the construction of new athletic facilities at a higher rate than non-athletes.

Streaming Video Service Usage by Kalamazoo College Students

A recent study of 100 Kalamazoo College students examined their use of streaming video services.  Many aspects were studied with the survey including which services were used, how much they were used and customer satisfaction with the services.  YouTube was the most widely used services by students, with 91% of respondents reporting having used it within a week of taking the survey.  Following closely was Netflix with 58% of respondents reporting having used it within a week.  Remaining services such as Hulu/HuluPlus, HBO Go and others were reported to be used much less.

One very interesting finding of this study was the amount of people who actually paid to use Netflix.  Netflix is a monthly subscription-based service that requires an account to have access.  Of the 58 respondents that reported having used Netflix only 11 reported that they were paying for the service themselves.  This coincides with findings by a Nielsen survey of Netflix users that reported only 28% of those using Netflix paid themselves.  Perhaps Netflix ought to look into this issue and find ways to increase this lost revenue.

Another major aspect studied through this survey was satisfaction ratings of the streaming services that were used.  The graph below shows the four satisfaction categories that were studied and the results for each of those categories.

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Although Netflix was the most popular paid service, it returned some of the lowest satisfaction ratings of any service.  It ranked in the bottom two of every category except the quality of the video that was streamed.  This was surprising and seems not to backup the usage statistics. This study returned findings similar to other studies of its nature, with some small differences most likely due to the fact that this was a study solely of Kalamazoo College students and not the general population.

Does gender or age affect on college students' spending?

Debt on a National Level

In the survey conducted by Kalamazoo students, it was found that after 60 surveys had been answered some questions about the national debt was clear. According to the study, it can be seen that the average college student does not know the fundamentals about the United States economy and how the debt affects us all.  Most students did not even know that the national debt is 16.7 trillion dollars; the survey had an average national debt of $6.93 trillion. Also it was found that Kalamazoo college students on average only read any type of news 2.54 days out of the entire week. Then it shows that college students at Kalamazoo College are going to be ignorant when making decisions about the United States economy, not only today but for the future as well. Which means the decisions they are making will be poor ones and not be useful or helpful to our economy. Another thing to look at is how many economics courses had students in the survey taken. The average amount of economics classes taken was 0.78. Meaning there is a lack of understanding because a lot of knowledge is not being transferred into the younger generations through news or the class rooms. 

College Satisfaction from the 2012 Graduating Class of Colchester

In a recent study, a student from Kalamazoo College surveyed the graduating class of 2012 from Colchester High School to look at relations between various factors such as overall school experience, involvement in clubs and sports, drinking, GPA, and many others. From the study it can be assumed that graduates from Colchester High School are happy with their social life and their overall school experience in college. These students seem to be receiving B’s and a few high C’s and pay more for college on average than students from other schools. Students also seem to participate more in inter-collegiate athletics if they attend a small school. This could be because smaller schools aren’t as competitive, or athletes prefer smaller schools.  From various statistical techniques we can gather that for every student added to the average class size, tuition goes up 97.66704 dollars. A very apparent limitation of this survey was the inability to survey multiple people. Due to time constraints only 50 people could have been surveyed, however with a larger scale study and more time many more of the graduating class could have been surveyed. Some of the questions were unclear to some of the subjects, and while some subjects guessed things such as the population of undergraduates that attended their school, others looked it up. Further studies could attempt to focus more on sports in comparison to school size since that was one section of analysis that stood out.

#1 College Bar In Kalamazoo

     Kalamazoo College students wait no longer! If you and your friends are looking for the number one spot to go out to in town, this article is just for you. A recent survey was conducted at Kalamazoo College to determine what the best college bar in Kalamazoo is. From the data collected, the K-College student body has spoken and declared Waldo's Campus Tavern the best bar in Kalamazoo! The survey drew responses that highlighted over eight local bars. Each participant was asked to rank factors that they felt were most important to them such as live music, dance area, food menu, drink variety, location, seating, and activities.
Furthermore, the survey also questioned individuals how many times they attended their favorite bar as well as other bars in the past month. Although this study did not include any responses or participants from Western Michigan University, some may be skeptical on whether the data accurately reflects the opinions of college students in Kalamazoo. However, with the rich tradition of Waldo's and their famous "Pitcher Thursday's" it would not seem surprising that students in Kalamazoo find this little campus bar to be the best in town.

     Still not sold yet? Students were also asked in the survey whether or not price had any influence on their decision to go out to a specific bar as well as their annual income to help draw further comparisons. As one may assume, price had a significant impact on all participants surveyed. In addition an example of these comparisons would be; if a person has a higher annual income would they be more likely to go out to a bar than someone that has a lower annual income. Again the data accumulated assisted a standard assumption and showed this comparison held true. So, whenever you and your friends are wanting to grab some after class refreshments, why not try out the best bar in Kalamazoo at Waldo's Campus Tavern.

College Students' Spending

     A recent study was conducted by two Kalamazoo College students on college students' spending. This study focused on how gender and age influence students' spending on food, apparel, transportation, entertainment and school supplies. It specifically compared the difference between men and women's spending on clothes, shoes, perfume, and underwear and the difference in spending on school supplies between freshmen, sophomore, junior, and senior.

     107 students from various colleges and universities responded and finished a survey on spending habit. For the apparel section, the survey asked students' last purchase. The students who conducted this study assumed that women would spend more money on clothes, shoes, perfume, and underwear. According to this study, women generally spend more money on shoes. For clothes, perfume, and underwear, there is no statistical evidence to support that women spend more money than men. Thus, men may spend more money than women in these categories. Another interesting facts is that Upperclassmen tend to spend less money on books compared to underclassmen. On average, seniors spend $120 on textbooks, but freshmen spend $245. The reasons vary; one can be that seniors have more sources for books. They can ask friends or buy books at cheaper price on online, yet freshmen lack sources in general. Over all, there is no relationship between income and total spending. Students with a high income may spend less or more money; students with low income may spend less or more money. However, there is a relationship between students' total spending and allowance. More allowance indicates more spending.

K College, Cars and Cost

In a study of 109 Kalamazoo College students, factors that lead to the purchase of a car and beyond aided in reflecting the sentiments of the student body. In addition, the results collected by the survey were compared to the rest of the nation. On average, Kalamazoo College Students planned to spend less than $15,000 on the purchase of their next automobile. This figure, compared to the national new car price average of over $30,000 leads one to believe that college students in general are less likely to spring for a new car. With college tuition prices soaring, this statistic will serve as an interesting comparison to students in the future.

  According to the study, women spend nearly half the amount that men do when purchasing a new car. This observation was further reinforced by the importance of affordability to both sexes. Women clearly value affordability more than men, implying that they would have different wants and needs when picking out a car.

  

            

The sample population strongly favored freshman and sophomores at Kalamazoo College, but the lesser-surveyed classes were congruent with the findings as a whole. The survey in its entirety appears to give a relatively unbiased look at how students buy and feel about automobiles. 

BREAKING: What Students Want

A new study released recently by two Kalamazoo College students provides an interesting insight to the preferences of K students. The students were asked how satisfied they were with certain aspects of the college, and whether or not they were willing to pay more tuition to see these areas improved. These areas included student housing/dorms, athletics, clubs, study areas, the cafeteria, and the weight room. The areas of greatest concern according to the students were housing, the cafeteria, and the weight room. Those areas were in the most need of extra funding, according to students.

Students ranked all the areas on a scale of 1 to 5, with “1” meaning no additional funding was needed, and “5” meaning additional was needed. The top category in need of funding was student housing/dorms, with an average rating of 3.8 out of 5. The cafeteria came in a close second place with a rating of 3.75, and the weight room was third with 3.56. Coming in last was athletics with a mere 2.75 rating, which might be due to the fact that the football, soccer, and baseball teams all received brand new fields last year. 

Interestingly, 67% of students were unwilling to pay any additional tuition to provide more funding for the selected area. Many believed they pay too much in tuition as it is. If any of the improvements that the students want to see are going to happen, it likely won’t be from a raise in tuition. Perhaps the college board members will choose to allocate the school funds differently so as to meet some of the wishes of the students. If they do, keep an eye out for cafeteria improvements, a better workout facility, and/or more spacious and comfortable dormitories.

Student Spending at Kalamazoo College

A recent study conducted by two Kalamazoo College students has brought to light some interesting information on average student spending at Kalamazoo College.  51 K College students were randomly selected to fill out a survey regarding what they spent their money on (entertainment, groceries, alcohol, etc.…) and where that money came from (their parents, job, savings etc.…). The results of this study, though by no means conclusive based on the small sample size, still offer some interesting statistics.

On average, students spend about $16 per week on groceries with women spending about $14 more on them than men do. Also, both spend about $9 per week on meals out, $32 on entertainment, and only $5 per week on alcohol. The alcohol statistic is surprisingly low, which could be because of some anxiety about admitting to underage drinking. The statistic that states that women spend more on groceries per week than men do is not too surprising because women at K do seem more likely to want to cook their own food than the men do.

As for where students get their money from and how they go about paying for things, 73% of students surveyed listed their debit card as their primary form of payment, followed by 12% for their credit card and 12% for cash. Another place that 61% of students get money from would be from their jobs on campus. One of the most surprising statistics recorded would be, of the 51 K students surveyed, those who are only-children receive $14 LESS, on average, from their parents than students with multiple siblings do. That statistic could be affected by the student’s parental income as well as whether or not the student with the multiple siblings is one of the youngest (generally, the youngest siblings receive more things from their parents than the older siblings do). 

Students' Thoughts on the Labor Union System

In a study conducted at Kalamazoo College, the issue of current labor union knowledge and support was explored. Randomly selecting three classes and surveying all of the students in each class, 57 students were surveyed. The first part of the data was on a one to five scale and each participant was given a composite score of the questions portraying unions in a favorable light and a score of the questions of the questions unions in an unfavorable light (the high score being a 70, low score a 14). Men’s average score for positive questions was a 43.92 and the score for women was a 49.83. The second half of the essay had questions on demographics and other factors that could help test some of our hypotheses.

Based on the data collected, a few hypotheses were tested to find some influences on the composite scores. One test conducted was to find out if business majors were more inclined than social science majors to join a labor union when they enter the work force. There was no statistical significant evidence that business majors were anymore likely to join a union than social science majors. One factor that showed a significant influence to the positive question scores was the presence of a family member’s involvement in a union. The presence of a family member in a union added a significant amount of points the to the positive score. Many students were uninformed about the issue in general, especially the underclassmen. The more orientated an upperclassmen becomes with the work place, the more his or her opinions would be better formed in one-way or another.

The Vehicle Interests of K College Students

A recent study conducted by two Kalamazoo College Business Statistics students has revealed what kinds of different vehicles K College students would purchase as well as the many factors these students would take into consideration when purchasing a vehicle.

109 Kalamazoo Students ranging from freshmen to seniors were randomly selected to fill out surveys regarding which vehicles they are most interested in, which factors they take into consideration the most when purchasing vehicles, and financial information about both themselves and their families. The findings were then compiled and separated into two different groups for analyzation. These two groups were genders and grade levels. From the collected data, the two students conducting the survey came across many interesting findings.

Of the 109 surveyed students on campus, some of the analyzed data suggests that SUV's appeal more to males than females, vehicle affordability has twice the importance to females as it does to males, males care more about luxury features than females, females place a slightly higher importance on MPG ratings than males, males are willing to spend more than double what females are on their next vehicles, and there is an upward trend in the importance of vehicle performance from freshmen to seniors. This data can be very important to car salesmen who are looking for the specific vehicle desires of college students. This data can also be important to parents who are buying their college kids' vehicles and aren't sure what the norm vehicle desires for college kids are.

The following graphs represent some of the analyzed data of this survey.

Student Spending Habits at Kalamazoo College

In this study, 51 Kalamazoo College students were surveyed about their spending habits. We took into consideration: Age, housing, food, alcohol, entertainment, transportation, work, and parental contribution. Our goal was to determine whether or not having parental allowances affected spending habits. We looked at where student’s spending money comes from, where they spend the most, and whether services provided by the school, such as meal plans and munch money, affected spending. Unfortunately, we did not find very much correlation between any of our variables. The spending habits of students surveyed changed very little when anything was varied. For example, student’s spending on groceries and meals out barely changed depending on the number of meal swipes a student had in their meal plan. We also tested the effect of money received from parents on groceries, eating out, and alcohol purchases. Groceries varied by about $1 while eating out and alcohol purchases varied by $4 and $3.50. Even given these numbers, the test showed very little correlation between these figures. In all, we discovered that student spending is fairly random and not affected much by outside factors. This is most likely due to the fact that most students are still learning to manage money on their own. Many will not have had to keep a budget before and will spend money as they have it. If we had been able to survey the entire on-campus student population our findings may have been different. Our sample consisted of almost entirely freshmen and sophomores. If more seniors and on-campus juniors had been surveyed these numbers may have been much different.