Credit Cards Online Information

Over 1000 students at 3 college campuses in the Northeast were surveyed. The sample was evenly divided by gender Eighty percent of the sample was traditional students. The original sample was reduced to 260 students having at least one credit card and was classified into groups as high or low academic performers. The groups did not differ in terms of the number of credit cards and outstanding balances; however, they differed significantly in the level of anxiety felt from carrying debt, perceived need to work, and perceived impact of employment on academic performance.

Much has been written in the popular press on credit card usage and spending patterns of American college students (Blair, 1997; Fine, 1999; Leon, 1998; Lynn, 1998; Murdy, 1995; Newton, 1998; Susswein, 1995). The proliferation of credit cards and their ease of acquisition ensure that college students today have more opportunities for making credit purchases than any prior generations of college students (Schor, 1998). Indeed, college campuses have become one of the most common sites for undergraduates with no credit history to sometimes acquire multiple credit cards. College officials and consumer advocacy groups have increasingly voiced their concerns about the effect that unlimited access to credit card spending may have on college student performance (Gordon, 1999; Hitti, 2000). Specifically, they have argued that the enhanced spending opportunities available through easy access to credit cards is likely to increase students' need to work extended hours to pay off outstanding balances, which could adversely affect academic performance (Grazier, 1998).

Many college administrators believe that credit card ownership encourages students to become consumers too early, at a time when they should be more appropriately engaged in academic pursuits. Lehigh University, for example, has banned credit card marketing on its campus because of its belief that credit cards create financial pressures for college students that negatively impact academic performance (Geraghty, 1996). Parks (1999) reported that college administrators perceived that credit card usage leads to depression and dropping out.

Predictably, financial institutions that actively market credit cards to college students take an opposing viewpoint and have suggested that college students are more sophisticated consumers than they actually are. These financial institutions further have contended that the majority of college students use credit cards responsibly, leaving college with reasonable credit card balances (Institute for Higher Education Policy, 1998). These institutions are highly motivated to "capture" these young consumers while still in college, as their research verifies that early customers tend to be lifelong customers (Vickers, 1999). Financial institutions have actively sought opportunities to work in partnership with colleges across the country to gain access to these thousands of prospective customers.

Many colleges hold an ambivalent attitude toward credit card solicitation on their campuses. Although many campus officials have decried the potential for excessive consumerism that unrestricted access to credit cards offers their students, they also have stood to reap significant financial rewards through working in partnership with the institutions issuing credit cards. Colleges routinely have allowed credit card banks to set up tables in student unions and other high-traffic areas and to promote social events sponsored by the colleges. At The Pennsylvania State University, for example, any student calling to register for classes over the telephone has had to first listen to a taped advertisement from a bank followed by an option to sign up for the card over the telephone.

As mirrored in the context of the larger society, the popularity of credit cards is beyond dispute. Credit cards have financed billions of dollars in purchases annually. Fueling this "possession obsession" is a prevailing culture of materialism, the availability of credit to all facets of society, and the lack of stigma attached to debt accumulation (Pinto, Parente, & Palmer, 2000). Students often acquire credit cards and become knowledgeable in their use prior to matriculating at their universities (Hitti, 2000). Indeed, one could reasonably argue that the current generation of college students is the first that has grown up having open access to credit and being comfortable in its use (Ritzer, 1995). How they choose to use credit cards (i.e., their spending patterns) therefore becomes an important issue in more fully understanding the effect that credit card usage can have on college students.

One aspect of any examination of college students' credit card activity is their roles as members of Generation Y (Y'ers), individuals born from 1977 to 1998 whose parents were born during the baby boom or Generation X (Von Bergen, 1998). This emerging market has been highlighted by the media and aggressively courted by marketers.

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