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Credit Card Debt Exceeds Student Debt
By Gwendolyn Bradley
More students now have credit card debt than have student loan debt, according to a survey released in August by Smith College researchers, and credit cards are being used to pay for academic expenses. The nationwide survey found that 23 percent of students use credit cards to pay for tuition and fees and 52 percent use them for textbooks and school supplies. Credit card debt steadily increases as students advance through college.
The study also uncovered differences in the amount of debt carried by different groups, says its principal author, economics professor Mahnaz Mahdavi.
“Full-time, traditional aged college students who were still dependent on their parents for tax purposes and who were single without children were least likely to have credit card debt of more than $5,000,” Mahdavi says, and female students were more likely than male students to have credit card debt of more than $5,000. About a quarter of students who use credit cards to pay for tuition have that large a debt.
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