Mike Oh was left with a hefty burden while still finishing school; due to his parent’s financial situation, not only did he have to take care of two separate credit card payments of his own, but he had to handle his mother’s card as well.

According to University faculty, the trend is not limited to Oh alone. Students are turning to credit cards to compensate for shortcomings in money that they lack from their personal income, parents and financial aid.

“In college, I was paying off the minimum and because of interest I wasn’t really paying it off,” Oh, a University alumnus, said. “With that kind of debt you got to pay over five to six times the minimum balance.”

But many college students have little to no income. Tackling credit card debt head on can be a challenge.

During his time in college, Oh had about a total of $8,000 that he owed on three separate credit cards. Of that amount, he said $4,500 could be attributed to his mom, but the rest was his own.

“I was very stupid with my money,” Oh said.

Angela Lyons, assistant professor of economics in the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Economics, has helped develop financial plans for students through UI Extension in the past and continues to do so.

“A lot of students are looking for an alternative means to finance their education and are turning to credit cards,” Lyons said.

Dan Mann, director of University financial aid, agreed. He finds that students use credit cards for more personal needs due to lack of money from loans. He said credit cards should be a last resort.

“We encourage students to go through financial aid whenever possible and to get whatever’s available there,” Mann said.

When freshmen first come to campus, credit card companies looking to sign prospective clients onto a plan bombard them. Lyons said at some schools, students and administrators have kicked credit card companies off campus as a result. However, she said some schools go the opposite route and work out deals with these companies to score huge revenues.

“It’s not happening right now at the University,” Mann said. “Any kind of deal should be evaluated so students get the best rate.”

Student credit card debt is not only due to the result of a lack of financial aid.

According to a 2004 report by Nellie Mae, which is part of a large student loan company, the average outstanding credit card balance for undergraduates in colleges around the country was $2,169.

The state of Oklahoma in particular considers debt such a problem that they are currently reviewing legislation to require high school students to take courses in personal financial management. According to The Associated Press, certain politicians in Oklahoma want to teach people early on about fiscal responsibility to prevent financial ignorance.

And yet Lyons said that Nellie Mae and the media make the problem of student credit card debt appear more severe than it actually is. She said that the majority of college students are using their credit cards responsibly. Through her own study, she found that over 70 percent of students at Midwestern colleges are making their credit card payments on time. In fact, she encourages responsible credit card usage.

“It’s important to build good credit early on,” Lyons said.

Lyons said she has come across students who have been offered jobs but then lost those offers after the employers checked their credit. She said she has even heard of students that have refused to marry their fiancee until they bring their credit scores back up.