Friday, September 7, 2001

Average student owes more than $2,000 in credit
By Aaron Chimbel
Staff Reporter

College students with credit cards are carrying an average debt of $2,748 thanks in part to high interest rates and fine print, according to a July report by the U.S. General Accounting Office.

Zach Klemo, a senior speech communication major, said he initially got his TCU MasterCard because his roommate had one.

Klemo said the temptation soon overcame his better judgment.

“I needed it for big purchases, then I used it for little stuff,” he said. “Why pass up what I can pay off later?”

He said that attitude got him into his current debt when he took the card with him on a trip to Chicago to see a U2 concert. And despite his bills, Klemo said he would do it all again to see his favorite band perform.

Michael Martin, a senior finance major, said he got his credit card because a free T-shirt was offered for signing up.Now he is paying 18 percent interest on his purchases.

“Just about everybody that has a credit card has gone through (credit card problems),” he said. “I pay about $50 a month. Eventually it will get paid off.”

TCU does not have a specific office for assisting students with credit problems, but there are several places to go on campus for assistance, saidAssociate Dean of Campus Life Mike Russel. Career services can help students in finding a job to pay off the bills, and the counseling center can help students who have emotional problems as a result of financial woes, he said.

Campus Life can help students, but Russel said the best thing to do is to go to a credit counselor off-campus for advice.

Kevin Williams, a community outreach specialist with consumer credit counseling service of Fort Worth, said his office gets many inquiries from students seeking help.

“Many times what we have seen is double trouble for students with both student loans and credit card debt,” Williams said.

Students need to know what credit is and what all the terms and conditions are, he said.

Senior speech communications major Scott Boldt has a credit card, but said he only spends what he can afford.

“I just watch every time I get a statement and match it with my checking account to not get into debt,” he said. Boldt said he has three credit cards and wants to establish good credit so he pays them off in full each month.

Williams said that credit card debt can affect anyone and it is not indicative to any one group. He said people of every income have credit card problems, and the best method to avoid trouble is to know what you are getting into.

Aaron Chimbel
a.a.chimbel@student.tcu.edu