Members of Generation Z are no strangers to financial fears. At U-High, most students were born between 2007 and 2011, meaning they were born in — or during — the 2008 housing crisis, were in middle school during the COVID-19 pandemic, and have since watched inflation surge and plummet.
Financial anxiety is not just an intermittent worry for many U-High students; it is shaping how they approach their futures. As technological advancements and an uncertain job market redefine stability, students are becoming more cautious and strategic about college and career decisions.
Some seniors said as college applications and career planning intensify, questions about cost and stability are no longer abstract, they are part of everyday worries.
“Especially being in the midst of college applications, you can’t have a conversation about college without having a conversation of how you’re going to pay for it,” Xia Nesbitt said.
For U-High students who have not had to think about the college process yet, the financial concerns encompass a different field, that rapid technological change makes long-term planning feel uncertain. For Conrad Stern, a junior and portfolio manager of Finance Club, that uncertainty is something to plan for, not panic about.
“ I think Gen Z approaching money compared to other generations is good, because, I would say, there’s a lot more access to good information about saving. It’s also very easy to open an account, even if you’re a teenager,” Conrad said.
While U-High students hold a wide variety of perspectives on money and financial planning, Ayelet Fishbach, a behavioral science professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, said that the underlying trend of increasing anxiety in Gen Z reflects real economic uncertainty.
“Gen Z is probably correct to worry,” Dr. Fishbach said. “There is much more uncertainty around the future of the job market. The move to working at home created some changes that really happen once in a very long time.”
Dr. Fischbach said artificial intelligence has added uncertainty around the future of finding work, intensifying financial anxiety among young people.
“ No one knows what AI will actually do to the job market, but there is a lot of worry, which adds to the fact that the distribution of wealth is shifting toward older age,” Dr. Fischbach said. “Which means that even though Gen Z might be better than young people in the past in terms of how much money they have, they feel worse because they have a smaller chunk of the pie.”
That uncertainty feels personal for junior Austin Lok, whose parents work in finance and who is active in Finance Club.
“Both my parents work in finance and they have seen AI revolutionizing the industry,” Austin said. “I’ve seen firsthand using AI tools to predict financial markets, which is something that I’m doing to use it to analyze market data, and it’s seriously replacing a lot of the low-level analyst jobs”
This same uncertainty also forces students to choose between passion and practicality.
“I feel like it’s always the battle of following your heart versus following what can support you in life and both like considering and not considering AI,” Leah Teklu, a senior, said.
Financial anxiety does more than cause stress; it can change how young people make decisions about their lives.
“Anxiety is not good for financial decision making in particular, like decision making regarding the job market,” Dr. Fishbach said. “ You might prioritize what will make you financially comfortable by age 30 and not thinking that — well in your 30s and 40s and 60s — you will likely still be doing this job, and it better be something that you enjoy, that you are passionate about, that you you feel fits your life priorities best.”
For Arjun Sawhney, a junior, who has taken two years of finance classes at the University of Chicago, financial anxiety is more about standing out in an increasingly competitive academic and professional landscape.
“Now that you see the influx of AI, which limits the job market, especially in terms of white-collar jobs, you really do get what feels like a large drop in job security, and people are starting to feel like college degrees, etc., aren’t effective enough anymore, because entry-level positions are now competitive with another market of AI,” he said. “With this added competition for my aspirations, yes, I’m anxious about my finances.”
