College Credit Card Debt

June 23rd, 2008 at 09:23am Larry Messing

I glanced at the top of the Business Rockford website today and noticed the little tidbit of information which says 45 percent of college students have an average credit card debt of $3,066.

Scary thought.

For someone making $7 an hour at the college book store or $4 an hour plus tips at a local restaurant, a number like that can be quite daunting. Considering the interest rates for those credit cards that college students qualify for are not all that great, the minimum payment could be rather considerable on such a small income.

I’ll be the last person to say that we should teach our youth that all credit cards are bad. Emergencies happen. Books are needed. Sometimes the car needs a repair. But we must teach our youth, and probably even ourselves, the difference between needs and wants. The more you spend your money earlier on wants, the less you will later have for needs.

Kids learn from example. What are you teaching yours?

Entry Filed under: Junior Achievement, Economic education, Financial literacy