Robert Manning, a senior research fellow at the Institute for Higher Education, Law and Governance at the University of Houston Law Center, has conducted what some consumer advocates call the most comprehensive research in the nation concerning student credit card debt. Manning's study found that overaggressive marketing tactics aimed towards students are partly to blame for increasing student debt something Manning himself began to notice as a professor. As tuition escalated and student loans jumped sharply in the 1990s, several undergraduates began to discuss with me their mounting credit card debts. Manning's subsequent research found that college students are vulnerable targets for credit card solicitations. Additionally, some universities now indirectly benefit financially from the use of student credit cards, according to Manning's report.
Colleges know that people are going to have to make up the difference with their credit cards.
The Longhorn card is one of several types of cards marketed to UT students on campus via strategically located tables. And students are happy because they think they got one on the bank. Just like a retailer in a shopping mall who can't sell you anything if you don't walk into the mall, it is the same with the credit card industry they can't make money off you if you don't get a credit card. The prevalence of such credit card solicitations has made it easier for unemployed college students to receive major credit cards than low and moderate income workers, Manning added. Banks also suspend their normal credit card underwriting criteria in order to make a more direct marketing push towards students, he said.