Abstract:
The aim of this study is to identify the factors affecting the various spending behavior among
undergraduates in University of Vavuniya. The primary data were gathered through online interface
which was conducted during the period of May -June 2025 among the1226 students registered in the
first, second, third- and fourth year students of faculty of business studies, University of Vavuniya.
And 106 students were selected using stratified random sampling method. Monthly expenditures of
the undergraduates for different items were categorized as food, travelling and communication were
taken as dependent variable while gender, receive of other income sources, number of family members,
parents’ income per month, distance between the hometown and university, and the mode of transport
were taken as independent variables in the study. Data were analyzed using frequency, descriptive
statistics, independent samples t-test and Multivariate Tobit regression model. Results of frequency
revealed that among the students 87.7% of them are females and 12.3% of them are males whereas
only 12.3% of them receives income from other sources and rest of the 87.7% of them do not receive
it. Among the three categories of expenditures, average expenditure for food is the highest and the
lowest cost for the communication. Spending behavior across gender revealed that, expenditures of
food and communication for males are higher than females but, travelling expenditures for females is
higher than males. Independent samples t –test showed that, there is a mean difference in food
expenditure across male and female students whereas, travelling and communication expenditures are
the same between them. Multivariate Tobit regression revealed that, gender and receive of other
income sources are the major factors in determining the food expenditures while travelling
expenditures were determined by the mode of transport. Andreceive of other income sources is an
important factor to determine the communication expenditure in the study. The results of this study
will be useful for students to understand and manage their various expenditures in a proper way.
