In the fall of 2000, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) proposed to conduct a study of college student credit card behavior using samples of accounts from major card issuers with student credit card marketing programs. This account-level empirical study was to be part of the GAO’s response to a request from members of Congress to examine a variety of issues that pertain to college students, credit card marketing, and student credit card usage. Concern over credit card marketing practices used in soliciting college student accounts led to proposed legislation at both the state and federal levels that would restrict card marketers. The members of Congress who requested the study specifically asked the GAO to gather information about whether students managed their cards and debt differently from non-student account holders.

In June 2001, the GAO issued a preliminary report on college student card usage that reviewed the findings from three existing surveys of student card usage and reported the results from the GAO’s interviews with card issuers, campus administrators, and others regarding card marketing practices (GAO 2001). The three surveys of student card usage (The Institute for Higher Education Policy 1998; Nellie Mae 2000; Student Monitor 2001) employed different sampling methods, and each produced dramatically different results on card holdings and outstanding balances. For example, the Student Monitor survey of 1,200 undergraduates reported an average monthly balance per card of $577 for students who carried a balance in 2001 (GAO, 2001). Student Monitor also found that students owned 1.55 cards on average, which implies a total credit card debt of $894 per student (Student Monitor, 2001). In contrast, the Nellie Mae survey of 256 undergraduates conducted one year earlier reported an average total credit card debt of $2,748 (GAO, 2001) for cardholders who carried a balance.