Paper or Plastic?
By Michael Penn MA'97

University officials would like nothing more than to expel the credit card marketers that use such predatory practices. But they're left with limited options. The tables are set up on city-owned terraces, where the university has no authority to remove them. And even without the tables, there's nothing to stem the tide of phone and mail solicitations to students. Student addresses and phone numbers are considered public records, and unless a student specifically requests privacy, they must be published. Vendors need not even ask the university for the records; they can simply buy the publicly available student phone book and use computer software to scan the information. "We're powerless to resist them," says Ben Griffiths JD'92, associate university legal counsel.

About all the university can rely on is its core mission: to educate. The Office of Student Financial Services offers several educational programs to warn students about the dangers of credit, including pamphlets on responsible use of credit cards, periodic seminars on debt management, and one-on-one counseling. But some students say those programs are too low profile. "As far as what students are actually aware of, it's almost nothing," says Megan Fitzgerald x'03, a campaign coordinator with WisPIRG, the UW's student chapter of the national PIRG. "The university can do a lot more in terms of education."

Fitzgerald says the university needs to match the zeal of credit card marketers by having its own tables set up during the beginning of the school year. The university has run how-to budgeting classes during Welcome Week in the past, notes Van Ess, but they were ultimately dropped due to poor attendance.

Michael Gutter, a professor of consumer science who teaches a course in personal finance, agrees that more efforts are needed to correct what amounts to a glaring deficiency in financial savvy among students nationwide. At the beginning of the spring semester, Gutter asked his students to assess their overall debt and was stunned to find that only a few had any idea. "You can see how it can easily become a problem," he says. "If you have no idea, it's easy to say, 'Why not take on a little more?'"

Some studies have shown that students coming into college aren't even prepared to handle relatively simple tasks, such as drafting a budget. Gutter emphasizes the need to reinforce financial curricula in K-12 schools and to urge parents to teach their children about financial responsibility before they're living on their own. Some help may come from Wisconsin state legislators, who recently passed a bill advocating financial literacy classes in state schools.

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