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
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