Charge it: college student credit card use on the rise, says Nellie Mae study. (Financial Aid Watch).In its third in a series of credit card usage studies conducted since 1998, Nellie Mae Nellie Mae See Student Loan Marketing Association. randomly selected data for 600 undergrads This article is about the television show. For the educational term, see undergraduate education. This article or section does not cite its . You can Wikipedia by introducing appropriate citations. , aged 18 to 24, attending four-year public and private institutions. The students had applied for a credit-based loan with Nellie Mae during the summer and fall of 2001. (The same methodology was used in 1998 and 2000, with a smaller sample size; methodologies year-to-year remained consistent.) Highlights of the study: * Graduating students have an average of $20,402 in combined education loan and credit card balances, but ... * Undergraduate college students are carrying credit cards in record numbers. The percentage of students holding at least one card in 2001 has risen 24% since 1998. * 83% of undergraduate students have at least one credit card; a 24% hike since '98. * Although freshmen have the lowest rate of card possession among undergraduates, 54% carry a credit card. The percentage of students with at least one card increases to 92% in sophomore year. * Only 23% of freshman, on the other hand, have a student loan. For many students entering college today, their first credit experience is with a credit card, whereas 10 years ago it was through a student loan. * The median debt level among card-carrying card-car·ry·ing adj. 1. Being an enrolled member of a particular organization: a card-carrying Communist. 2. undergraduates--where half the population have balances lower than this amount and half have balances higher--has risen to $1,770, up 43% from $1,236 in 2000. This is an indicator that more students are using their cards regularly and may not be paying off the balances each month. * 21% of undergraduates who have cards have high-level balances between $3,000 and $7,000; a 61% increase over 2000. * The good news is that average credit card balances among students who have cards is $2,327, and has decreased by 15% from the previous average calculated in 2000. The percentage of students with balances greater than $7,000 has also declined. * The bad news: Students double their average credit card debt Credit card debt is an example of unsecured consumer debt, accessed through ISO 7810 plastic credit cards. Debt results when a client of a credit card company purchases an item or service through the card system. , and triple the number of credit cards in their wallets, from the time they arrive on campus, 'til graduation Graduation is the action of receiving or conferring an academic degree or the associated ceremony. The date of event is often called degree day. The event itself is also called commencement, convocation or invocation. . Source: "Undergraduate Students and Credit Cards: An Analysis of Usage Rates and Trends," 2001, Nellie Mae (a wholly owned subsidiary Wholly Owned Subsidiary A subsidiary whose parent company owns 100% of its common stock. Notes: In other words, the parent company owns the company outright and there are no minority owners. of Sallie Mae Sallie Mae: see SLM Corporation. ). |
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