Established 1826 — Oldest College Newspaper West of the Alleghenies

Credit card marketing should match education

There is no denying that ­credit card debt for students is a skyrocketing phenomenon. In order to stem the rise of this debt, Ohio state representatives are proposing legislation that regulates-and effectively blocks-credit card companies from marketing at public state universities. The editorial board of The Miami Student believes that this is too drastic a step, which not only cuts into university marketing and revenue, but avoids addressing the real issue: education of consumer economics.

This board believes that the state should not encroach in university-business relationships by prohibiting marketing as long as the marketing is open and honest. Students will be confronted with ads for credit cards everywhere from TV to walking down the street. Cutting out marketing on campus is only a small sliver of the advertisements that students are exposed to. As long as these credit card companies are not predatory or misleading in their information-as we saw and have warned about in stories and editorials on the foundations of the sub-prime mortgage crisis-there should be nothing wrong with fostering this type of business partnership.

It is not the state legislature's responsibility to make college students understand how credit and credit cards work and how to live one's life in the "real world." This board wholly understands the misuse of credit cards, especially, among young adults and that is why we see education-not marketing-as the root of the problem that should be addressed. From our own experiences, we know some of our peers have no idea what an "interest rate" is or what damaging effects a credit score can have. However, it must be the responsibility of the university that chooses to market credit cards to educate its students about these matters to encourage responsible use.

Credit cards at this age can be a good thing for later in life, but only when used responsibly. Building credit earlier in life will make it easier to apply for loans for a house or a car. These university-business partnerships are also a small, but key component of Miami University's revenue. Not only does the university get a certain percentage of the money students spend using the cards they obtained through the university partnership, but having a Miami-based credit card is a symbolic reminder of the university in a consumer's pocket.

This editorial board believes Miami should offer consumer finance classes and potentially even use some of the revenue it receives from the credit card sales to pay for educational programs related to finance. By blocking Miami from entering into future agreements with credit card companies, the university will lose an income stream-one that other organizations that continue to have partnerships with credit cards will capitalize on-and we will lessen our ability to tie this marketing into student education.