Dear Mr. Floyd:

Just thinking about our short conversation yesterday in line at the Bulldog Café.  You said that my Mastercard would serve as a commuter meal plan.  

I’ve attached some information on credit card use by college students.  Bad stuff.  You might want to consider creating a real meal plan instead.  

BTW, did you pay for your meal?

Regards,
Chris Hoofnagle
Law School Senator


Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine.

               News of the Day

               Our selection of consumer, business and financial news
               that matters to you, your money and your career.

               by Alistair Barr

               Last Updated: Thursday, August 28, 5:03 p.m. EST

               Universities offer students a lesson in smart credit

               Many parents have nightmares about their kids going off to
               college and running up thousands of dollars in debt on credit
               cards they don't know how to use.

               If anything, most universities make the situation worse by selling
               student lists to credit card issuers that prey on the financially
               inexperienced 18- to 22-year-olds.

               With personal bankruptcies hitting record highs, though, some
               schools have decided to be a part of the solution rather than the
               problem.

               John Delaney, a vice-president at Sam Houston State University
               in Huntsville, Texas, says educators have to get involved before
               students get the credit cards.

               "Many times we don't hear about students' credit card problems
               until irate parents call us with a child who suddenly has a $5,000
               balance on a credit card they knew nothing about," Delaney says.

               Spokesperson Gila Reinstein of Yale University in New Haven,
               Conn., says colleges can take a big step in the right direction by
               ending a common practice known as "tabling"—renting space to
               credit card marketers who set up a table on campus and sell
               directly to students, using promotions like free tee-shirts or food
               vouchers.

               "Universities need to be highly selective when they review
               marketing requests," Reinstein says. "Our first priority has to be
               our students."

               A number of schools have also initiated credit seminars, to
               educate incoming freshmen (and other interested students) about
               the pitfalls of sloppy card use. Scripts from a series of seminars
               sponsored by the Visa credit card company are available online.

               Politicians have also begun to respond to concerns about
               students' credit card use. Bills are pending in Massachusetts and
               New York, for example, that would ban all credit card
               merchandising at state universities.

               Ultimately, though, the student and his or her parents are
               responsible for making sure college leads to a brighter financial
               future and not the poorhouse.

               For more information on the wise use of credit while in college,
               read Credit-Smart College Students from the March issue of
               Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine.