Students: control your debt

Bakersfield Californian 4/17/07

Students beware: Credit card debt can be hazardous to your futures. Schools must help drive home that point as students head off to college. At the end of four years of college, they should not be buried in debt.

Universities and colleges should focus on the dangers of credit cards and how to manage credit during their freshman orientations.

Credit card companies are clever when it comes to advertising to college students. Often students who get lured into opening credit card accounts leave school with overwhelming debt.

The average credit card debt owed by college students is about $2,700. The mistake made by students is that they are paying for tuition, books and other school-related materials with credit cards that have high interest rates.

A student loan, with much lower interest rates, is a better route to take. The payments for loans are deferred months after graduation. Credit card payments are not. Credit card companies know how to aggressively advertise to students. They give away freebies like clothing and food. What college kid turns down free stuff?

E-mails, on and off campus solicitation and phone calls trap many students -- especially freshmen -- into a high-interest credit card use.

Although students are the ones who ultimately decide to open an account, many don't understand the slide they are taking into debt and possibly bad credit.