Prospective further education students need to calculate their finances as best they can to ensure they receive the appropriate funding. Costs include tuition and books, room and board, living expenses and food. Students need to ensure they can secure the funds they will actually need to get them through each semester at college.
By carefully considering anticipated costs and applying for the correct amount, students won’t find themselves short of money or get themselves into a debt nightmare.
It is too easy for students to get into big trouble with credit cards. Students inexperienced in dealing the reality of debt receive enticing credit card offers in the mail. Too often the student grabs the credit card offer without thinking ahead. Credit cards are often conceived by the student as 'free money' or appear to be a quick fix to cashflow problems. Then when the introductory rate ends or the repayments aren't met the interest and charges mount up.
Student Loans versus Credit Cards
Much like student loans, credit card debt must be paid back. Student loans are usually paid back once the student has finished their course, the expectation being that they are then earning a reasonable amount of money. With credit cards a minimum payment, usually between 3-10% of the outstanding balance, is required on a monthly basis from the first month the credit card is used.

Student loans are usually taken out with fixed interest rates, depending on the type of and value of loan, students’ credit rating, repayment terms, etc. With credit cards students are often drawn in by the 'amazing' introductory offers. The catch is once the introductory period finishes, more often than not it is followed by sky-high finance charges, some as high as 29 percent! Despite these being stated in the terms and conditions, students frequently ignore the small print and accept the credit card offers.
Some students who haven’t taken out enough student loans to cover their college expenses resort to credit cards to pay for necessities, books and even rent! They’ll use their credit cards to take out cash advances, which usually have even higher finance charges than by simply charging.
It's not all bad though. If you avoid using the cash advances and can afford to pay off the outstanding amount in full every month you could well have access to free money... but most students can't afford to do that, so think wisely before you accept!
Ever-increasing Cycle of Debt
Many students accept more than one credit card offer. Once the limit is reached on the first credit card, it's easy to accept another and then another, and so on. With the high interest rates and penalty charges attached to these credit card offers, students easily can rake up more than they bargain for. When only the minimum payments are made, students are extending the length of time they borrow, therefore increasing interest charges and making their financial situation worse. In some cases it could take almost a lifetime to pay off the credit card bills by minimum payments only.