Using Credit Cards in College – A Good Idea?

Many students are faced with the opportunity to acquire credit cards that are hawked to them on campus, and sometime this can cause major financial problems for not only the student borrower, but perhaps their parents as well.

Typically credit card companies will push their cards on students who already have limited means with which to pay debts.  Before the student knows it, they have charged up a boatload of non-deductible debt that may be in addition to any school loans they are carrying, and can pose quite a burden. Not only that, but sometimes parents have to come to the rescue, usually when the situation is already spiraled out of control, and put out even more money for the child’s "education" than they had envisioned!

Some colleges and universities are trying to take measures to limit the student exposure to this kind of predatory practice, such as by limiting access for credit card companies, instituting waiting periods, like the University of California does, so that a student can’t sign up on the spot, and by offering money management classes to their students.

Some think that college would be a good place to learn how to handle credit wisely. I’m not sure I agree with that, as the typical student has plenty to be concerned with. To see how universities in the state of Texas are dealing with this problem look at this article by Holly Hacker in the Dallas Morning News.