University students need to master budgeting or the act of allocating money to help them make better financial decisions in the future. Being aware of the budgeting practices of university students is essential in order to be enlightened. Thus, allowing rooms for improvement to develop their budgeting skills. This study aims to shed light on the budgeting practices of the financial management major students in terms of their spending and saving habits as well as their financial problems and solutions. The sample composed of 104 Financial Management majors who were in their first, second, or third-year college standing. This undertaking utilized a quantitative descriptive method as research design. Through an online survey questionnaire, the desired data was gathered. The researchers were able to derive valuable information from the respondents to fulfill the research objectives by using frequency, rankings, and mode. Most of the respondents were at the age of 20 years old who are in the third year of Financial Management course in Tarlac Agricultural University. They receive a monthly allowance amounting to Php 1,001- 2000 (18USD-36USD). Findings revealed that most of the students can sometimes save money in a piggy bank or wallet; always save money for personal interests; rarely give their saved money to people that are close to them; and always save money for emergency purposes. In terms of the students’ spending habits, the students consider the necessity, prices, and benefits of the products before purchasing, such as basic necessities, for their leisure activities, as well as their miscellaneous expenses. Additionally, results also showed that the main problems encountered by the students when budgeting are being indecisive in finance and having a lack of knowledge about the 50/30/20 budget rule. To solve these problems, students mainly direct their efforts toward becoming smart consumers. This information gathered through the conduct of this study helped the researchers develop a budget plan for the students to improve their budgeting practices.
Keywords: budget practices, financial management, spending habits, saving habits, budgeting plan