It's almost a crime what colleges charge for tuition these days. And it's not much better how credit card companies target college students BEFORE they even get a job and make enough money to use credit cards. Sure, both are businesses and it is their job to make money.

But the culture of getting in debt is starting WAY too early across college campuses.

I read this article the other day, Student Loans are the New Indentured Servitude, and was amazed at just how much recent college graduates owe when they get out of school:

It's a little technical, but it makes a strong point. OK, I know college is expensive. Been there, done that. So I know what it is like to pay back your student loans.

But what message are we sending to young people by making them struggle under such incredible debt before they have the means to pay it back? If they can't pay back their loans, how will they learn to pay all their other expenses? By using credit cards?

No, I don't have a good solution to this problem. It's the same at most colleges these days. But I just can't help but wonder whether college is ever worth it for many of these young people. Especially when these loans and credit card bills don't come with any instructions on how to manage money.

Bad way to start adulthood. Tough lesson to learn the hard way.

Hopefully most of them will find a way to break through and not think that having debt is cool.

So, which do you think is worse for college students, credit card debt or even bigger student loan bills?

My biggest surprise as a college student wasn't the wild parties, the burning couches (thrown from the windows of "The Jungle" at UConn), the freedom to go to sleep and wake up whenever I wanted, or the ability to party 7 nights a week.

It was the ease of getting an American Express card with just a signature (and virtually no income)! I have to admit, it was fun to walk around campus with my new green AMEX card. And it was fun getting a call from my friends who went down to the casinos in Atlantic City NJ telling me they wish I had gone with them because "there are these cool machines that take your credit cards and give you money!"

But what a horrible lesson to teach a young adult in college, right!

You can buy things even without any money. All you have to do is use your card, and pay later. Never mind that you can barely pay for a pizza on a Friday night. You can but whatever you want, anyway (well, with AMEX you need to pay in full every month, but for most cards you don't).

Well, the new credit card rules that go into effect in February 2010 require that credit card companies can't just give away credit cards to applicants under 21, unless they can prove their ability to repay the cards or get a co-signer.

On the one hand this sounds like a great idea. After all, college students aren't responsible adults yet, are they? That's what I was thinking.

Until I read this article that states Credit Card Act treats adults as children. Now I'm not so sure.

What do you think? Are college students over the age of 18 adults who should be able to get a credit card and learn how it works before they're out in the working world full-time? Or should the credit card companies have the burden of treating college student special and make sure they know what they are getting into?