Level of financial literacy of academics of the interdisciplinary Bacharelado Interdisciplinar em Ciencia e Tecnologia de uma Universidade publica federal

The theme of financial literacy has become, in recent years, relevant both for governments and for academic literature because a large part of the population does not have the necessary skills to make good financial decisions and not even good control of their own monetary resources. Financial literacy is understood as the way in which individuals employ the appropriate knowledge of how to use, apply, control and manage their resources. This article analyzes the level of financial literacy of students of the Interdisciplinary Bachelor of Science and Technology (BICT) at the Federal University of Maranhao--Campus de Balsas, based on their background (financial attitude, financial behavior and meaning of money). This is a quantitative, descriptive cross-sectional survey-type research. For data collection, an online questionnaire was applied using the Google Forms Software applied to 205 respondents, BICT students from UFMA--Campus Balsas. For data analysis, multivariate analysis techniques were used (mean, standard deviation, variance, Pearson's correlation and reliability test). The results show that the Financial Attitude and Financial Knowledge costructs presented a greater dispersion among the responses, while the Meaning of Money construct presented a greater Pearson correlation and greater scale reliability. It is concluded from this that the BICT academics establish meanings for money, however they have a low level of financial knowledge, a fact that directly impacts the financial attitude and financial behavior of each one. Keywords: Financial Literacy. Meaning of Money. Financial Behavior. Financial Attitude. A tematica da alfabetizacao financeira tornou-se, nos ultimos anos, relevante tanto para os governos quanto para a literatura academica devido boa parte da populacao nao possuir as habilidades necessarias para se tomar boas decisoes financeiras e nem mesmo um bom controle dos seus proprios recursos monetarios. Entende-se a alfabetizacao financeira como a forma pela qual os individuos empregam o conhecimento apropriado de como usar, aplicar, controlar e administrar seus recursos. Este artigo analisa o nivel de alfabetizacao financeira de academicos do Bacharelado Interdisciplinar em Ciencia e Tecnologia (BICT) da Universidade Federal do Maranhao--Campus de Balsas, a partir dos seus antecedentes (atitude financeira, comportamento financeiro e significado do dinheiro). Trata-se de uma pesquisa quantitativa, descritiva transversal, do tipo survey.