It’s not enough these days that college consumes most our lives, but now it is also consuming our wallets. Credit card companies have made it incredibly easy for college students to obtain a credit card. According to BankRate.com, “the average credit card debt owed by college students is about $2,700, with close to a quarter of students owing more than $3,000. About 10 percent owed more than $7,000! That's not even including student loans.” "There are more money issues for today's students than in any other generation before them," says Todd Romer, executive director of Young Money Magazine.
Tuition and room and board are only some of what college students have to pay for, during their college years. At our own Towson University Store, “textbook sales have risen 9.96 percent over the last year, an increase of over $260,000. For the 12-month period that ended Jan. 31, textbook sales accounted for approximately 94 percent of the University Store's revenue and totaled just under $2.88 million", according to the Towerlight. Our textbook totals usually come out to over $200 depending on how many classes you are taking, and how many books each class requires. I know I am not carrying around $200 in cash with me, so obviosuly my hand goes into my wallet and out comes the plastic.
Each year we pay more and more for our textbooks. Why? The publishers of the textbooks come out with specialized books with CDs and special packets that cost you way more then just the book alone. Who needs any of those “special” materials anyway? If I am having trouble I would rather go to free tutoring then pay an extra $30 for a CD’s help. The publishers also come out with newer and newer editions every year. One kid in my Physical Geography class paid .50 cents for the fourth edition of our Geography book, while I paid $85 for my sixth edition. The only difference between the two, was mine had newer topics and a prettier cover, definitely not worth the $84.50 extra.
“The percentage of undergraduate college students with a credit card jumped from 67% in 1998 to 78% last year, according to the Nellie Mae study. And many of them are filling their wallets with cards. Last year, 32% said they had four or more cards, up from 27% two years earlier", according to USA Today.I know I personally first received a credit card in the 7th grade because I was traveling abroad, however I still have that same card today, along with 4 others. Sometimes people do not realize that using a credit card does not mean you do not have to pay for it. You certainly have to pay, and if you’re late with your payment, your $25 new top has become your new $50 top. I know many times I have used my debit card, to find that the $20 I spent I did not have in my account, so because there was no $20, they charged me an extra $32. In the past my credit card bills equaled to about $5,000, (my parents are still paying it off.)
College students have a lot more to worry about then paying bills, that’s what being an adult is for.
3 comments:
Very nice writing here! I like that you've used quotations to cite your sources, included all the links and used paragraphs.
I really like how you put the picture of a person with a "bag" of debt over him to make the blog post seem more interesting. I also like how you talked about another student buying a book which you had to buy for $84 dollars less just because it was an earlier addition.
I really like the picture at the top this was good. Maybe just a little long, but you did a good job keeping it interesting.
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