Taking credit, taking blame

I love free stuff. I've dedicated considerable effort to disproving the economists' maxim, "There's no such thing as a free lunch." I have no shame: I've gone to technology fairs for the free candy and club meetings for the free pizza.\nBut I do not like the guys who give away free t-shirts, phone cards and sunglasses on campus to students who sign up for credit cards. Why? Because I think student credit card debt is as costly and disturbing as Michael Jackson's nose. \nA study conducted in 2001 by loan provider Nellie Mae found that 83 percent of undergraduates have credit cards, with an average balance of $2327. Students triple the number of credit cards they own and double their average credit card debt between matriculation and graduation. Of seniors with credit cards, 40 percent have balances exceeding $3000.\nCredit cards have monthly payment plans and high interest rates, while students often lack steady income and experience managing their own finances. It hardly seems a match made in heaven. Yet credit card companies increasingly market cards that, like Chase Platinum for Students, claim to be "made just for you and your needs." Presumably, Chase thinks I "need" a credit card, and that I "need" to use it to buy other things I "need," from "small purchases like pizza and CDs" to "bigger things like tuition or a new futon." Apparently without intending to be ironic, Chase says its student card "helps you establish a solid credit history every time you use it."\nA recent IU graduate told me how he "established a solid credit history" by accumulating about $3000 in credit card debt. He took a year off school to dig himself out of the hole. "It was stupidity and overconfidence on my part," he says. "It doesn't seem so bad at first, because you're only paying $30 or $40 for a few months, but then it really adds up." \nLooking on the bright side, being saddled with heavy debt loads and high interest rates might make students more sympathetic to the governments of Third World countries.\nClearly, student responsibility is a factor here. The wisest strategy is to use your credit card only for what you can reasonably afford, and to pay your bills fully and on time. But are the credit card companies completely unaccountable for their role in student debt?\nA guy giving away free stuff in exchange for credit card applications explained to me that credit card companies get a certain percentage of the purchase price every time you use your credit card, and that's how they "make their money -- not because you pay your bill late."\nWell, I'm glad that allows him to sleep at night.\nNow, I'm so gullible I once checked to see if the word "gullible" was really in the dictionary, and even I can't bring myself to believe that credit card companies don't also make money from late payments and high interest rates. \nAnd I can't believe the companies that target students don't know full well that some students will abuse their credit cards. Robert D. Manning, a university professor who studies credit card use, writes in the Center for the New American Dream's quarterly report Enough! that "credit card companies encourage fantasies of easy money because students are so profitable: teens have financial naïveté, high material expectations, responsiveness to relatively low-cost marketing campaigns, high potential earnings, and future demand for financial services."\nSometimes our laissez-faire tendencies lead us toward defeatism, to say that credit card companies aren't responsible for irresponsible students and that taking advantage of each other is simply part of capitalism.\nBut just because preying on students is legal and profitable doesn't mean it's right.