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Objective Scholarly Inquiry? The first issue that begs for clarification is the authors' failure to conduct an adequate literature review of college student-related credit card issues. Except for the Sallie Mae student loan survey report, the meager list of cited sources relies primarily on research funded directly or indirectly by the credit card industry. For example, the Student Monitor's market research clients feature major banks and, not surprisingly, its executives actively promote the industry's contention that college students rarely accumulate high levels of credit card debt. Furthermore, its annual college marketing survey is based on only 10-15 students per educational institution. This raises important questions about the kinds of information that are nationally representative of students' use of bank credit cards; requests by the authors for clarification of student selection procedures and statistical "weighting" of the overall sample were rejected by the managing partner of the company. More significantly, by neglecting the professional obligation to discuss the most important academic research literature (including several recent articles in JSFA), it permits the authors to ignore several key factors that influence student use of credit cards and their rising levels of consumer debt. For the interested reader, a list of recently published research studies on this topic is referenced below. Today, approximately 75 to 85 percent of undergraduate students at four-year colleges and universities possess their own "universal" bank credit cards. (cf Manning, 2000; 2003; Nellie Mae, 2000; 2002; Jamba-Joyner, et al, 2000; Pinto et al, 2001; Bianco and Bosco, 2002; Manning et al, 2002; Norvilitis, 2002; Ohio State University, 2002; 2003; Tan, 2003; Gnizak et al, 2004; Hystad and Heavner, 2004; Mattson et al, 2004). The highest proportions are at more affluent, private universities and the lowest in predominately minority colleges and public universities that feature students from lower income households. Not incidentally, the growing popularity of debit cards is frequently cited by the credit card industry as evidence of the greater financial responsibility and debt awareness of college students. This assertion ignores the reality that debit card use masks a significant proportion of college students whom have lost their bank credit cards due to defaults on their outstanding account balances (Manning and Smith, 2005). And, this "race to the bottom" marketing campaign of the credit card industry has recently crossed a previously unimaginable age threshold: High School. Beginning in the early 2000s, our survey-based study of a mid-sized, public university in Virginia (N=518) indicates a dramatic increase in credit card use among high school students (Manning et al, 2002; Manning, 2003).
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