Cracking down on campus card marketing.

GETTING FREE STUFF JUST FOR filling out a credit card application can sound enticing to a student, but interest groups and politicians are wary about the consequence that often follows--unwanted debt.

One response has involved a direct approach to educating students about money matters and warning about free come-ons. The U.S. Public Interest Research Group has conducted the "Truth About Credit" campaign, a program designed to rein in irresponsible credit card marketing on campus, explains Christine Lindstrom, U.S. PIRG's higher education program director.

The program was developed after members of the Student PIRG observed a number of campus marketing practices, such as having displays in high traffic areas or giving out freebies. The group conducted a survey, titled "The Campus Credit Card Trap"(www.truthaboutcredit.org), which found that three-fourths of students stopped at tables offering free gifts in exchange for filling out a credit card application.

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"Some of these techniques we thought were a little over the top and needed to be controlled," says Lindstrom.

The program, which began last October, works with student representatives at college campuses to set up tables with a display similar to a typical credit card marketing effort. The display is for FEESA, a fictitious company that parodies the name of a certain real company. Brochures and educational booklets about credit card fee pitfalls and tips to avoid debt are distributed. Takeaways are available, including lollipops that say, "Don't be a sucker."

Some institutions have restricted vendor activity or have completely banned credit card solicitors on campus.

Legislators have taken their own measures to protect students. In Maryland, a new law is set to take effect October 1 that requires higher ed institutions to develop guidelines for credit card marketers and the use of giveaways on campus. In May, Tennessee enacted a law prohibiting credit card issuers from recruiting students on campus or through university facilities or student organizations, with one exception: days when there are athletic events. The bill also requires University of Tennessee system institutions that receive funds from student credit cards or from the use of the school name or logo on credit cards to disclose the amount of money received and how the money was used.

Creola Johnson, a professor of law at Ohio State University who has studied campus credit cards, cites her concern about the impact of solicitation on students. "To me, the most important [measure] would be not to offer the trinkets to students to sign up for credit cards."