Being broke is, in many respects, a key fix­ture in col­lege culture.

Every stu­dent has that story about liv­ing off of jam for a week and most col­lege grad­u­ates have devel­oped a strong aver­sion to Ramen noo­dles by way of their col­lege experience.

This Goodwill shop­ping, scroung­ing for cash men­tal­ity though, is some­thing that I am see­ing less and less. With the sup­posed “neces­sity” of cell phones, $300 mp3 play­ers and clothes that have that pre-worn look for a new-sticker price I have to won­der how stu­dents are com­ing up with all this spare cash.

Answer: Many of them are charg­ing it.

Credit card com­pa­nies too have noticed this recent sur­ren­der of fru­gal­ity and offer deals that are geared specif­i­cally to stu­dents. With bonuses like returns for good grades, money back on book­store and fast food restau­rant pur­chases and cash-in points for prizes like DVD’s and iPods, it is obvi­ous how appeal­ing these cards may be to some stu­dents. Numerous reports have shown that the aver­age amount of credit card debt is steadily increas­ing among col­lege students.

Credit card com­pa­nies know how to keep stu­dents minds on these bonuses too. You can fol­low your cred­i­tor on Facebook if you hap­pen to have a Chase Bank +1SM card or jam out with bonuses from MTVU if you have an MtvUTM card from CitiBank.

These com­pa­nies are obvi­ously preda­tory. It is shame­ful, though not sur­pris­ing, that they would put in so much effort to lure in col­lege stu­dents. We are obvi­ously not the most money savvy bunch of indi­vid­u­als, and hav­ing mag­i­cal money at our dis­posal is dan­ger­ous. Undoubtedly, credit card com­pa­nies are more than aware of this.

Thankfully, the allure these cards offer stu­dents and credit com­pa­nies’ per­sis­tence to loop in the 20-somethings has not gone unno­ticed. Last May the credit CARD Act of 2009 was signed into effect. Along with pro­tec­tions for all cred­i­tors, accord­ing to the​white​house​.gov, the act “con­tains new pro­tec­tions for col­lege stu­dents and young adults, includ­ing a require­ment that card issuers and uni­ver­si­ties dis­close agree­ments with respect to the mar­ket­ing or dis­tri­b­u­tion of credit cards to students.”

Among other stip­u­la­tions, credit card solic­i­tors can­not adver­tise within 1000 feet of col­lege cam­puses. Parts of the act are already in effect and it is set to be in full swing by August 2010.

There is a really easy way to avoid the whole prob­lem all together. Do not get a credit card. Instead, live more fru­gally and pur­chase only within your means.

If a credit card is nec­es­sary for sur­vival, be smart about the stip­u­la­tions, rates, rules and “rewards” the card offers. Instead of look­ing for bonus returns on cloth­ing pur­chases or points toward that DVD Box set of “Entourage” you have had your eye on, look for a card with a low annual per­cent­age rate and a low default inter­est rate.

As stu­dents, we are already the tar­gets of gra­tu­itous amounts of mar­ket­ing. In the case of credit card com­pa­nies, it is dire that we not let the allure of this adver­tis­ing get to us. We will end up pay­ing for it. Maybe not now, but def­i­nitely later.