New Survey Reveals Gender Gap Among Teens Planning to Attend College

Junior Achievement USA^® and The Allstate Foundation survey also indicates more girls are considering different options for higher education due to the rising cost of education

Junior Achievement USA^®(JA) and The Allstate Foundation's 2014 Teens & Personal Finance Survey reveals a gender gap among teenagers' views and habits on college plans and future earning power.

Junior Achievement USA has conducted the Teens & Personal Finance Survey for the last 15 years, partnering with The Allstate Foundation since 2005. The survey found that 91 percent of teen girls, ages 13-18, plan to attend college or trade school after they graduate from high school, compared to 86 percent of their male counterparts.

"It is important for young women and men to understand their options and the financial implications for continuing their education, " said Jack E. Kosakowski, president and chief executive officer of Junior Achievement USA. "As an organization that strives to empower all young people to own their economic success, JA will continue to help position students for success whether that means attending college, vocational school or another educational path."

Of teens planning to attend college, girls may be giving more thought to how they financially will achieve their goals. Seventy-nine percent of teen girls (ages 13-18) plan to seek scholarships/grants to pay for college, compared to 66 percent of boys 13-18. Sixty-six percent of teen girls say the rising costs of college have changed their decisions about their future college plans (versus 57 percent of teen boys), and 40 percent of teen girls say they are considering staying in-state to save money on tuition costs (versus 30 percent of teen boys).

"The Allstate Foundation partners with Junior Achievement to uncover new trends and identify solutions to the financial issues of the day for young people, " said Don Civgin, President and CEO of Allstate Financial. "The next generation has tremendous potential and we want to make sure that potential is realized. The Allstate Foundation is committed to making the next generations' dreams and financial goals a reality."

Since 2005, Junior Achievement and The Allstate Foundation have partnered to provide students with valuable information about personal finance in the classroom and help them apply it in their lives. The JA Economics for Success^®program, created in partnership with The Allstate Foundation, has helped more than 1.2 million students set personal goals about money and make wise financial choices. The program also helps empower students to develop, plan and set goals to help protect them from unexpected financial pitfalls.

Other key findings from the survey include:

Parents are more likely to give their sons an allowance than their daughters. Among all young people surveyed, 67 percent of boys compared with 59 percent of girls say they get an allowance from their parents.
Forty-three percent of teen boys think they will make more than $35, 000 at their first jobs, compared with 35 percent of teen girls.
When it comes to financial literacy, boys and girls agree that parents/guardians do not spend enough time talking to them about money-related topics (52 percent of boys and 51 percent of girls among all young people surveyed).

An executive summary of the 2014 Junior Achievement USA/Allstate Foundation Teens & Personal Finance Survey is available at www.ja.org.

Survey Methodology: This survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris Poll on behalf of Junior Achievement USA from February 12-24, 2014 among 1, 234 youths ages 8-18. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.