Credit Card Debt and the College Student
By
Danielle Wyman
October 23, 2011
COM 156

When you think of credit cards, do you think easy access to money or incurring more debt? Some say that credit cards can help build your credit score which will help with future purchases like a car or home, but more often they help cause debt that you cannot afford. Credit cards can also help you acquire more debt adding financial burdens that increase stress levels. Of all people college students do not need this hassle, since most start college in debt already and just learning to be a responsible adult with finances. So credit card companies should not be allowed to solicit to college students on or near college campuses. With the increasing costs of tuition and students having to take out loans to pay for college they do not need any extra debt added to their plate. With the easy access to credit cards, students are spending and using credit cards to pay for their tuition more often than before. There are other ways that college students can build their credit history, then using credit cards. A few prepaid cards and reloadable cards are available through their banks and other credit companies that help build credit. This way the student is only spending money that he or she has and building credit at the same time. This helps the student save money by not having extra bills and high interest rates.
Students that are finding themselves covered in debt are more likely to drop out of school and pursue jobs instead of an education in order to pay for their bills. There have been many studies regarding credit card companies on college campuses because of the increasing dropout rate. Studies show how far credit card companies will go to get the college students attention. There have been companies that will make deals with colleges so that they can solicit to students. This is usually done because the percentage of students that use credit cards is high, and because of the ease of availability that it is to get them. Some credit card companies offer great rates to college students, and using other things like free stuff to get them to fill out an application. However, most of them have an interest rate that increases after six months to a year. This is just leading students to bury themselves in debt before they even graduate. Most often with little hopes of being able to pay off their debt before the high fees and interest double the amount that they spent. Everyday more and more employers are starting to run credit checks as well as background checks prior to employment. So being a student fresh out of college and in debt can hurt their chances in the working field. That is one of the biggest reasons why credit card companies should not be allowed on campuses.
According to Mustang Journal credit card companies on campus can only be described as a plague. Their survey proved that more than 80% of college students had a credit card in 2008. Fifty percent of the college students had four or more credit cards. It increased to over $4100 in 2009. This just proves that this is an ongoing problem with students and credit cards and it seems to only get worse as time goes on. I feel that something has to be done about the soliciting to college students.
Another study done by Sallie Mae showed that too many students are at risk of overpaying for college by using credit cards to pay for textbooks or even part of their tuition bill, instead of using less expensive financial aid to cover these items. The first study that Sallie Mae made in 2004, nearly 30 percent of students put tuition or books on their credit cards. This increased to 92 percent of students purchasing books or tuition on their credit cards in 2009.
The increase of students dropping out has been mostly because of financial burdens. A big percentage of the students dropping out are students using credit cards for tuition instead of student loans. Credit card companies