(U-WIRE) PROVO, Utah – The average college student has $3,000 of credit card debt, and experts say it is partly a result of students never being taught the basics.

“Few people are ever taught anything about managing credit card debt or budgeting,” said Todd Martin, a financial counselor in BYU’s financial aid office. “The credit card companies typically do not do it, required school classes typically don’t do it and very often parents have been poor examples.”

Martin said many students get into credit cards unprepared, which leads them to a lot of debt. He believes credit companies hope that will happen.

“I think there is a perception by many that a credit card gives free money, or at least money that ‘I don’t have to worry about for some months or years,'” Martin said. “And that is a dangerous mistake.”

Bryan Tait, a Brigham Young University graduate in zoology who works for Fidelity Investments, said people who are smart with their money could make more of it from credit cards instead of getting into more debt.

“I think they’re not the smartest cats,” Tait said. “In over-extending themselves, they often end up paying up to double the original price. Having the self-discipline to live within their means could mean the difference of huge sums down the road.”

Jason Teeples, a BYU-Idaho student from Rexburg, Idaho, majoring in finance, said students who use a credit card to spend beyond their means are starting to put themselves in a “rat race.”

“They will start the trap where they work to pay off their credit card debt instead of working to spend their money on their current expenses,” he said. “They start down a path where most of the world is today, a path where you spend money to get instant satisfaction instead of using self-control and waiting.”

Martin said not all students are bad at managing their money and offered advice for how to keep debt under control.

“The first rule of thumb would be to pay off the entire balance every month, but more importantly build and operate within a budget so you have a strategy and some control,” he said.

– Janae Ashton