Like Books and Laptops, Credit Cards a Part of Campus Life

College students are using credit cards in significant numbers and a significant number are paying the price through late fees, high balances and delinquencies, according to a new report from the U.S. PIRG Education Fund, "The Campus Credit Card Trap."

More than one-third of students who had the cards in their own names carried a balance, and nearly a quarter of all students with credit cards said they were used at least in part to pay tuition and other education-related expenses.

Twenty-five percent of those surveyed said they had paid at least one late fee on their credit card account, 15 percent said they had paid at least one over-limit fee, and more than 6 percent of respondents said they had at least one credit card cancelled due to non-payment.

College students are among the most targeted new prospects for card companies, the report said. “They are young and understand that they need credit to get ahead in the world. Some need credit because of the rising cost of a college education. Finally, most of them are clumped together on campuses that they either commute to or live at. This makes them easy to target. Companies use a variety of techniques, from buying lists from schools and entering into exclusive marketing arrangements with schools to marketing directly to students through the mail, over the phone, on bulletin boards and through aggressive on-campus and ‘near-campus’ tabling– facilitated by ‘free gifts.’ ”

The report comes out on the heels of a study of New Hampshire students that found that more than 80 percent of college freshmen had at least one open credit card, while 42 percent had six or more open credit cards ("Students Climbing Mountain of College Loan and Card Debt," April 2). The study found that the average credit card balance of student borrowers was $3,106, compared with the average $4,433 carried by consumers.

The PIRG Fund is a subsidiary of U.S. PIRG, the federation of U.S. Public Interest Research Groups, a public interest coalition.