Originally published April 7 2005
Senate approves bill restricting credit card marketing to college students
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Washington's house of representatives is reviewing a bill that would prevent credit card companies from marketing to students on state college campuses. Lawmakers hope it will help stop college students from using their cards to improve their stand of living before they have the income to afford it. More than 80 percent of students have at least one credit card, and many of them begin to get into debt their freshman year.
Washington State University student Brea Thompson got her first credit card shortly before she left for her freshman year.
"The thing that most students don't think about when they are spending money on an intangible object is that they're not going to reap the benefits years later when they're paying off something like a pizza," said Thompson, who is now WSU's student body president.
For college students tired of cheap beer and ramen noodles, credit cards can offer a seemingly easy road to a life of plenty.
The state House is considering a bill that would restrict the marketing of credit cards to college students on the state's public school campuses.
Jeanne Kohl-Welles, a professor at the University of Washington and the bill's sponsor, said the debt students face after college or graduate school keeps growing - and part of it is from credit cards.
Credit card companies recognize that most unemployed college students will find a job after graduation - and there's the few whose parents will foot their bills, said Marie O'Malley, the vice president of marketing for Nellie Mae, the student loan organization.
Students who received their cards through student marketing programs actually had lower credit limits and smaller balances that other cardholders their age.
It's common to see credit card companies offering students free T-shirts or sunglasses, said James Evans, the school's student lobbyist.
The bill would require public colleges and universities to create policies regarding credit card companies on campuses.
As part of the policies, the schools could ask the companies to register with them, limit the times and places they could market the cards and even prohibit the gifts companies offer to students.
The bill doesn't suggest any consequence for credit card companies not following the campus policies - or for campuses not enforcing their rules, but Evans said it's a good start.
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