How Much Credit Card Debt do Students Carry?
How Much Credit Card Debt do Students Carry?
Studies show that most college students, between 64% and 78% depending on which studies you read, carry at least one credit card, with the average being three per student. Of these, almost 60% claim that they pay off their entire balance every month, though experts think that number may be high due to the inaccuracies inherent in self-reporting of such statistics.
In a recent survey of college students, those who carried a balance on their cards from month to month varied widely in the amount they had accumulated. However, in the 6 ranges of debt offered by the study, the numbers of students reporting debt in each of these ranges was roughly equal, ranging from 15% to 20% in each category.
19% of students reported carrying credit card debt under $100 from month to month. 20% carried debt between $100 and $249. Only 15% carried between $250 and $499, but 17% carried large balances between $500 and $999. Nearly as many, 16% carried debt of $1000 or more from month to month. 12% either didn’t know what their balance was or declined to answer the question.
When the numbers were divided differently, in terms of thousands of dollars carried from month to month, 77% of students carried debt from $1 to $1000, 7% carried balances between $1001 and $2000, 2% between $2001 and $3000 and 5% had balanced of $3000 or more. One study concludes that of those with monthly balances over $3000, 13% carried from $3000 to $7000, and 9% carried more than $7000.
The implications of these studies are that many students are graduating college with a serious amount of credit card debt burden. Dollar amounts over $7000, being carried month to month, can add up to tens of thousands of dollars of debt with the accumulation of interest. Many of these students are paying for their education itself with their credit cards, racking up hundreds of dollars for credit hours and costly books. This is especially true for those who are maxed out on their student loans and use credit cards for living expenses as well as tuition and other school expenses. In these cases, these students will be triply burdened: they will have a bad credit history, they will still be required to pay enormous credit card balances, and they will be expected to pay off student loans.
Student credit cards.com @ July 17, 2008