But there is a dark side to buying on credit, as some students have found. Lured by the ease of buying on credit, some students said they underestimated the serious responsibility involved with owning credit cards. So from negligence or lack of funds, they drown in the quicksand of time and money.
Kathleen M. Flaherty, a first-year Harvard Law School student, got her first credit card right before college for emergency money at the insistence of her father and today carries a collection of cards, including two Visas.
Yet, as a result of her commitments to pay several different credit card companies, Flaherty said she has fallen into "very deep debt," which has tainted her credit record and almost jeopardized her efforts to secure student loans for law school.
Looking back on her situation, Flaherty says she would not recommend credit cards to anyone and that she thinks the credit industry's systems for payment disguise the amount of money cardholders really pay.
"I think it's very seductive and if you're just paying $20 per month you don't realize how much you're actually paying until you get into trouble," Flaherty says.
To prevent such cases from becoming the norm, credit card companies say they have instituted several safeguards.
American Express requires that customers pay their bills in full each month, says Ty. This measure keeps students not only from accumulating interest on their payments but also protects them from establishing poor credit histories.
Ty says a poor credit record can remain on file for up to seven years, affecting the ability to secure future student, car and house loans.
With BayBank, card privileges can be revoked if customers fail to pay their bills one day past due. Yet, it hesitates to do so because the bank understands the college student's precarious financial existence.
"This is a bunch of people who've made an effort to get into school and are embarking on the time to get credit," says Cosman.
In addition, BayBank charges interest on unpaid bills, which earns the bank profits. But the company does not make a lot of money from the interest charges, according to Cosman, and would prefer that customers not abuse their cards in this manner.
But several students say they do not believe these safeguards are adequate. They say they are afraid of spending money that they either do not have or really cannot afford to spend.
"For right now, I'd rather have no credit record than have a bad credit record," says Rosalie R. O'Brien '95 of Wigglesworth, adding "I'm sure I'd just buy all kinds of things without funds to back them."