college students banking on the future...

Remember your first credit card? It's not out of the question that you are still paying it off.

The quandary of credit card debt is not new to college campuses, but in the midst of a banking bailouts, slowing economy and retreating job market for graduates there is an accentuated attention to the dangers of a once carefree attitude toward credit on campus...enough to draw the attention of Congress this past summer.

From free blankets and t-shirts to discount coupons and free food, credit card companies are paying good money to access students eager to assert their independence. Unfortunately these table draws look a lot like most campus ministry booths I've set up and walked by during activity fairs on campus as well...makes me cringe as I think about it.

In a recent article in the NY Times called The Debt Trap, Jonathon Glater gives us a look at the payoff for colleges who allow banks access to students on campus. Bank of America, for example, has an $8.4 million, seven-year contract with Michigan State giving it access to students’ names and addresses and use of the university’s logo.

One of the more troubling of the findings was from a NY Times survey taken from October of '07 through February of '08 that 51% of students who had a credit card as a senior in college received their card BEFORE starting their freshman year, and another 25% during their freshman year, that's 76% of credit card owners received their card by the end of their freshman year. Even more alarming, a 2005 Nellie Mae study found that 65 % 18-19 yr. olds failed a basic financial literacy test. And we know that they still have 4-7 major changes before they finally graduate. But they are already banking on getting a good job to pay off the debt when they graduate...and buy the new car of course.

It is estimated that the average debt of students is over $2,600 by their senior year paying an average of 12.5% interest.

The good news, however, is students have a great capacity for self-awareness. A PIRG survey of 1500 students found that only 20% of responded that they thought students could handle credit card marketing on their campus without regulation.

Which causes me to wonder, with that kind of self-evaluation, why haven't we listened?

I'm not advocating that our campus ministries step in and create a public policy movement for banking regulation (whatever you political view might be on that issue). We happen to live in a state (MA) that I think charges a tax for breathing the air, and regulates it's usage. So, personally I'm not for regulation, but for casting an alternative vision of the future.

I mean, how beautiful could it be if we partnered with multiple organizations on our campus to build awareness about the dangers of student debt and a credit culture?

I'm not that great with finance...so correct me if I'm wrong...but, what if our booth at the activity/student/involvement fair could tell a different story? What if we could illustrate the amount of money paid in interest on $2,100 (the average credit card debt of a college student) over 3 years...app. $780...multiplied by just 200 students on OUR campus who would refuse to take a credit card? What if our booth created a movement instead of giving away an ipod nano for filling out an interest card? What if we created cards with water wells, food, shoes, books that represented what $156,000 could do in developing regions instead of being used pay late fees and interest on food, beer, and room decor? Even if there was no way to actually collect the money, could we cast a vision of generosity on our campus and curb student debt by 50%?

Student credit is not new problem on our campuses, but it seems like a new opportunity to tell an alternative story about the texture and beauty of the kingdom of God.