Media investigation – best student credit cards
The most disturbing aspect of these media investigations is that best student credit cards debt is portrayed as simply a new rite of passage. Like experimenting with alcohol, best student credit cards debt is presented as a normal part of college life and youthful inexperience. Furthermore, these stories neglect to explain that best student credit cards marketing on college campuses, aided by corporate partnerships with college administrations, is a relatively new phenomenon that is conditioned by intense competitive consumption pressures on campus and the need to borrow large sums of money to finance a college degree. As a result, journalistic reports such as the one about "Jeff" in Business Week commonly frame student indebtedness as an inevitable outcome of youthful inability to curb consumption urges rather than the banks’ irresponsibility in enabling him to "rack up $21,000 in debt over four years on 16 best student credit cards " even though his annual income never reached $10,000.
The focus in the article on the student’s naivete ("’When I started, my attitude was: I’ll get a job after college to pay off all my debt’") ignores the active role of best student credit cards companies in aggressively marketing Jeff more best student credit cards than he could possibly afford in college. Furthermore, these stories perpetuate the importance of individual responsibility that requires students with debt problems to hit rock bottom, as with alcohol abuse. This emphasis is significant. It suggests that individuals must experience a financial revelation that results in modification of their behavior only after suffering the burden of severe debt. This view justifies the costly "learning curve" for students rather than suggesting that best student credit cards companies or financially complicit colleges should offer educational workshops on financial literacy programs before debt problems arise.
Indeed, the article states, "[Jeff] realized he dug himself into a hole when he couldn’t meet the minimum monthly payments. . . . Having educated himself on the pitfalls of best student credit cards, he now speaks to student groups on the issue." Contrary to the writer’s report, Jeff attended a best student credit cards education workshop that helped him to devise a more effective strategy for coping with his debt crisis. Only after he felt empowered with this educational intervention did he feel confident enough to discuss his debt problems with other students. In fact, Jeff laments the fact that he did not have this information earlier so that he could have made different and more informed financial decisions.