Credit card companies should not be on campus marketing to college students

Credit card companies love college students. They are the prime prospects of credit card companies. There are a couple of reasons they like to get you. First, they have a strong hunch that your parents will bail you out if you run up your credit card bill. Second, you have a long credit life ahead of you. This means lots of years of interest payments for the credit card companies. In the past, credit card companies were so hungry for college students; they approved applications even when students didn't meet the criteria. For example, a college student could get a credit card with no job, no verifiable income, no credit history, and even without a co-signer. Recent changes to credit card law now require credit card companies to verify a student's income before giving a credit card them a credit card. Students without income must get a cosigner to qualify. If you see a credit card company on your campus, they've likely paid your college administrators a fee, sometimes millions of dollars, for the ability to market credit cards to you. Colleges also get a kickback from every credit card opened and sometimes a percentage of charges made. Credit card companies pay to sell credit cards to students because they're banking on students making up for it in interest charges and fees. Expect to see credit card company representatives on or near campus giving out free stuff for credit card applications. Law prohibits them from giving away tangible items like t-shirts or frisbees on campus, but the law doesn't forbid intangible items, like a coupon for a free sandwich at a local restaurant or a statement credit on your new credit card. And, credit card companies may even give away tangible items, just at a location that's off campus. Free things are nice, but this isn’t the way to sign up for a credit