“I really didn’t know I was applying for a credit card, said Trisha Casey, a business administration major at Cerritos College, “I was walking to the parking lot one day after class and this guy asked me if I wanted a free t-shirt. I filled out the papers, got the shirt and didn’t think twice about it. “

Two weeks later, Casey, an unemployed college student, received her first credit card, and now two-years later she is almost $1,000 in debt.

This story is not uncommon among college students.

Financial companies have been marketing credit cards on college campuses for a number of years now.

Simply being enrolled in college is the only prerequisite many companies mandate for being approved.

A Nellie Mae survey of undergraduates in 2000 found that:

o 78 percent of college undergraduates have at least one credit card.

o The average number of credit card per student is three.

o Average credit card debt per student is $2,748.

o Thirteen percent have credit card debt between $3,000 and $7,000.

o Nine percent have more that $7,000 in credit card debt.

Before this year California had laws that regulated credit card marketing practices, but none referred specifically to college students.

Richard Bukowiecki, a Cerritos College campus Police officer said Cerritos College treats credit card marketers the same as any other company ” we let the come on campus and hand out pamphlets.”

In September Governor Gary Davis changed that by singing senate bill AB 521.

The bill will require CSU’s and community colleges to regulate the marketing practices of credit card companies on campuses.

Along with signing the bill Davis said, “This bill is necessary to stop aggressive credit card marketing practices aimed a college students. Credit card companies induce college students with no credit history by offering them gifts.”

This bill will also prohibit card companies from offering gifts to students for filling out credit card applications, require that campuses offer card debt education and counseling sessions as part of orientation for new students, require that colleges utilize education material prepared by non-profit entities, and require credit card marketing sites to register with each campus administration.

For Casey and many other college students this bill is too little too late. She will have to take less classes next semester so that she can get a part-time job and pay off her debt.