Parents of college students, beware: The empty-nest syndrome
you’re experiencing may end up as empty-wallet syndrome. The
moment your kids step on campus, they become highly soughtafter
credit card customers. To establish relationships they hope
will extend well beyond the college years, card marketers are
offering students everything from free T-shirts to chances to win
airline tickets as enticements to sign up. As a result, college students
now have heavy card debts. Some 14 percent have balances
of $3,000 to $7,000, and 10 percent owe amounts
exceeding $7,000, according to Nellie Mae, a nonprofit student
loan provider in Braintree, Massachusetts.
“Students who have no history with credit are being handed
it on a silver platter,” say Gerri Detweiler, education adviser for
Debt Counselors of America, a consumer advocacy group in
Rockville, Maryland. As long as they are over 18, students can
get a card without asking mom or dad to cosign. But when they
get into trouble, they often go running to their folks for help.
Jason Britton did—and then some. Now 21 and a senior at
Georgetown University in Washington, Britton racked up
$21,000 in debt on 16 cards over four years. “When I first
started, my attitude was: ‘I’ll get a job after college to pay off all
my debt,’” he says. He realized he dug himself into a hole when
he couldn’t meet the minimum monthly payments. Now he
works three part-time jobs, and his parents are helping him pay
his tuition and loans.
