Identity, Security, Payments, Biometrics, Smart Cards and Authentication News
CBORD: Securing buildings, transactions, and the bottom line. www.cbord.com

Credit-card ownership, debt down among college students, study says

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Students are using credit cards less and have a smaller debt–an average of $452-when they graduate, according to a recent study reported in The Press Enterprise, a southern California newspaper.

Citing the Student Monitor, which publishes an annual study of college students, those “owing thousands on their credit cards are becoming the exception.” The study found that the percentage of students with credit cards declined from 56% in 1997 to 35% in 2008. At the same time, the percent of students with debit cards, after rising from 30% to about 70% in 2006, dropped to about 60% this year.

One other point from the study: students usually have their credit cards before they arrive on campus.

Read more here[end] 

Lake Superior College (LSC) in Duluth, Minn. has launched a new official campus ID dubbed the LSCPlus Card, an all-in-one swipeable card for students.

The LSCPlus Card will work similar to a debit card, storing any remaining student loan balances and work study, student employment payments. The new cards will also be used for access to campus services and functions, granting students’ library privileges, and a free Duluth Transit Authority (DTA) bus pass.

read more »

Fox News Business has taken a look at university IDs that also double as prepaid cards. Fox dubs the prepaid aspect as “the latest twist on a long tradition of college campus ID cards serving a dual financial purpose.”

read more »

Students at Park Hills, Mo.-based Mineral Area College will be receiving their financial aid refunds faster this year through a prepaid card issued by Central National Bank in Oklahoma.

read more »

The OneCard from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, can now be used at three off-campus restaurants with more merchants set to join.

“It’s a project we’ve been working on for some time now and its finally coming to fruition,” said OneCard Coordinator Chris Bird.

read more »

Heartland Payment Systems Campus Solutions division has recruited 12 higher education districts and campuses totaling 20 different colleges to manage the schools’ financial aid disbursement services utilizing Heartland’s Acceluraid electronic disbursement product.

read more »

Cheshire Integrated Transport Services teamed up with Applied Card Technologies (ACT) and sQuid to expand a UK smart card offering to the West Cheshire College and Chester College campuses.

read more »