Here’s a sobering fact: over 80% of college graduates have credit card debt. Debt they have no way of repaying until they find a job. Credit card marketing moguls have done a good job in convincing teens that adulthood and credit cards are synonymous. If your teenager is pressuring you for a credit card, chances are they won’t feel like an adult until they get one. It’s not their fault, they have just succumbed to very convincing advertising, but it is the fault of parents if they pass the plastic and in doing so endanger their son or daughter with debt.
Tragedy can often follow seemingly insurmountable debt problems. A reminder of this was the case in Oklahoma where two college students committed suicide with the bills lying on the bed beside them. Even when debt does not amount to a tragedy on this scale, it can be the cause of stress and resulting health problems.
‘Emergency’ credit cards
Just about everybody at some stage has promised themselves they will only use the credit card ‘in cases of emergency’. Sophmore students are certainly no exception and often apply for credit cards in the event they need some extra money fast. Problem is, most students find themselves needing extra money on a weekly basis. Suddenly debt can climb to five figures leaving the student unable to meet repayments unless he leaves college for a job. An all too common scenario which must break the hearts of parents who have strived for years to put their kids through college.
One last sobering fact for all parents out there: according to the American Bankruptcy Institute, 19% of bankruptcy applicants were college students in 2007. In real currency, that equates to 1 in 5 bankruptcy filings by very young people who have started their adult lives as financial failures.
