For more information on this publication, visit /pubs/rgs_dissertations/RGSD410.html Published 2018 by the RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, Calif.R is a registered trademark Limited Print and Electronic Distribution RightsThis document and trademark(s) contained herein are protected by law. This representation of RANDintellectual property is provided for noncommercial use only. Unauthorized posting of this publication online isprohibited. Permission is given to duplicate this document for personal use only, as long as it is unaltered andcomplete. Permission is required from RAND to reproduce, or reuse in another form, any of its researchdocuments for commercial use. For information on reprint and linking permissions, please visit /pubs/permissions.html.The RAND Corporation is a research organization that develops solutions to public policy challenges to helpmake communities throughout the world safer and more secure, healthier and more prosperous. RAND isnonprofit, nonpartisan, and committed to the public interest. RAND’s publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors.Support RANDMake a tax-deductible charitable contribution at /giving/contributeiAbstractMy dissertation examines if state-mandated financial education improves debt-related andcollege-going behaviors among economically vulnerable young adults. Young adults are morelikely to be exposed to state-mandated financial education, yet are more likely to engage inadverse behaviors such as payday borrowing and sub-optimally financing postsecondaryeducation. I employ a difference-in-differences approach to exploit cross-state and consumer-age(or student-cohort) variation in financial education mandates to detect causal effects in theaforementioned behaviors. Overall, I find that exposure to personal finance course requirementsreduces engaging in adverse behaviors – particularly, reduces payday borrowing, increases full- time college attendance, and promotes selecting less risky institutions. Reductions in high-costborrowing specifically occurred among subpopulations that are more likely to use AFS.However, in context of higher education, stronger improvements in college financing were seenamong non-disadvantaged students. My findings reveal that financial education evaluationsshould account for all financial behaviors that are relevant to young adults. Otherwise, we mayunderestimate the impacts of school-based financial education; thereby, discourage policymakersfrom adopting these policies. Overall, policymakers should consider establishing these mandatesto ensure that youth enter adulthood with a basic set of information to make sound financialdecisions. They may wish to emphasize their efforts in underserved districts.iiiTable of ContentsAbstract ........ iFigures......... vTables ......... viSummary .. viiiAcknowledgments... xAbbreviations ........ xiiIntroduction . 1Financial Education Mandates...... 2Previous Studies Examining Impacts of High School Financial Education ......... 3State-Mandated Financial Education and Financial Knowledge .......... 3State-Mandated Financial Education and Financial Behaviors4Self-Reported Financial Education and Financial Behaviors ... 5Policy Applications Explored: Alternative Financial Services and Postsecondary Education ..... 6Alternative Financial Services .. 6Postsecondary Education .......... 7Organization of the Dissertation ... 81.State-Mandated Financial Education and Younger Consumers’ Use of Alternative Financial Services . 9Literature Review ........... 12Data ........ 14Methodology....... 15Findings .. 18Descriptive Statistics .. 18Main Findings20Heterogeneous Effects by Race/Ethnicity and Gender .......... 21Robustness Checks ..... 23Limitations .......... 28Treatment Assignment is Approximated ........ 28Identification is Solely Contingent Upon Time-Constant Factors ..... 29Conclusion .......... 29Supplement 1A. Full Results for AFS Use ........... 32Supplement 1B. Estimating Heterogeneous Effects Using Zero-Inflated Poisson Regressions .. 36Supplement 1C. Estimating Heterogeneous Effects Excluding Respondents Aged 18 and 19 .... 37Supplement 1D. Table of State Characteristics in Respects to Payday Lending Prohibitions andFinancial Education Mandates382.State-Mandated Financial Education and College Students’ Postsecondary Decisions ........... 39 Literature Review ........... 41。。。。。。