The credit companies were happy to give me a piddly $500 credit card, with no proof of anything. (The fact that student loans counted as “income” on the forms made me look rich.) I then proceeded to *yoink* run off with my student loan check from the bursars the first day they were available, and deposit it with the credit card company as a payment (so I had a positive balance). A week later, I’d wander back to the bursars and pay my bill with my credit card.

By my second year, I had enough credit that I could take the check and hand them the card (which they still didn’t like). And by time I graduated, I had a gold card, lots of credit, and a great credit score. It made life a lot easier right out of school, especially since I had $60K in student loans at the time and otherwise would have never gotten credit from anywhere.

With the current law in place? I’d have been SOL trying to get any credit, and would have probably still had 0 credit history exiting college. In essence this makes it harder for poor college kids to build up their credit. And I’m so happy they’re protecting college kids from debt! I mean, that two or three grand in credit card debt could ruin you! Especially on top of the $10K to $90K you’ll have in student loans you’ll have right out of college (public vs private). Really?

This doesn’t mean to say that any student can attend any college/university they choose. Rather, they have access to quality institutions that are under a certain level of cost–typically in-state schools. While one can argue that access to all schools should be available, it ultimately doesn’t matter for undergrad with a few exceptions.

As for being approved for a place to live, the workaround for this is simple–cash deposit. Just because someone has bad credit, it doesn’t mean that they are suddenly homeless. It just means that the landlord or lessor needs more security up front in the form of a cash deposit.

Based on your comment, I can only make a quick assessment that you were responsible financially early, took out student loans above the Stafford limits, and attended an institution that was more expensive than a state school or didn’t work while going to school to offset the additional cost. Regardless of your path, you presumably ended with a degree.

Even with this bill, it is unlikely that anyone will be denied a degree, but the path will likely change a little bit compared to when you went through school. The path will now involve more cost/benefit analysis from prospective students and perceived sacrifices in educational quality. I say perceived because unless you are attending a major name college/university, it is unlikely that the name of the institution on the diploma will matter. It’s the completion of a degree program that matters to employers and after one has attained a certain level of experience, the degree’s importance is significantly diminished.

While I agree that this bill is…well…lacking, I don’t foresee any type of problem for prospective collegiates. Besides, with Obama’s stimulus, a $2,500 tax CREDIT is already available making the current federal aid package the most attractive it’s ever been.

Now, it is true that parents don’t always act in the best interest of their children, and that sometimes children turn eighteen and have to repair their finances. But preventing that from happening would require more in-depth legislation than exists in this particular law. Frankly, I’m not sure how exactly we’d go about legislating against just plain bad parenting; but I doubt it would be easy.

Also, because this is the first time I’m seeing it, nice looking redesigned site.

Adding an age requirement is foolish and I’m sure the credit card companies will be laughing all the way to the bank. Since co-signers will be required, they will be better able to collect in the end. I can see a scenario playing out thousands of times over under these new regulations where student gets card, student changes the address and phone number, tells parents the card doesn’t exist, card gets maxed out, and poof…we’re exactly where we are today. Of course, by the time the unlucky co-signer finds out, the account is past due has a huge balance, sky high interest rate, and a healthy dose of fees to boot.

I hate government regulation about as much as credit card companies. There were some steps forward, but just as many back in this legislation. Leave to Congress to step in it.