"I think there are several reasons," says Dr. Walden, a professor of agricultural and resource economics. "I think probably the biggest is that credit card companies know that although college students may be poor now they are going to be much, much better off income-wise in the future.

"In fact that's the main reason why I think most kids, at least in my experience, go to college because they know that is the ticket to a good income in today's kind of economy. So there's a big income-earning potential there, which translates into big spending -- which translates into the potential for credit card companies to get a lot of customers.

"There are some other reasons, too," Walden adds. "College kids are a growing part of the economy a growing segment of the economy as more young people go to college. Studies find that college kids also use their credit card and they are actually very loyal. They are actually very loyal to the credit card company that issues them the card.

"Now of course credit cards can be a very useful tool in fact they are useful tools," he concludes. "But users, including college students and graduates, must carefully their costs along with their benefits."