Picture this: You’re thirty-five, and still paying for your Sophomore Spring Break to Cabo. It sounds crazy, but it’s a reality for many cash-strapped graduates who maxed out their cards during their college years. Most college students boast a wallet full of plastic, and will spend years paying off the balances.

College cards are often a necessity (ranking right up there with tequila shots and coffee) during your four years, unless you have a big fat trust fund or a wealthy eccentric uncle. A multitude of costly expenses fall outside your tuition bill. Some are necessary, like food, books and transportation, while others are luxuries, like clothes, alcohol, trips and concerts. Here are some tips to avoid the debt trap that so many students fall into.

Compare offers

Be as choosy with what you put in your wallet as you are about which boys you let sleep in your bed (Editor’s Note: When alcohol isn’t involved). There are tons of credit card offers out there – don’t just take the first one you stumble upon.

Do your research: check out the finance charge, annual fee, cash advance fees and late payment fees. The finance charge can be as high as 25 percent on the unpaid part of your bill, and the annual fee can suck up a hundred bucks each year. For cash advances, most cards charge a scary amount and high interest. Read the fine print, and look at what a late payment can do to your rate (hint: just one late payment increases your interest rate). Try sites like credit.com or bankrate.com) to compare cards and score the best deal.

Screw the free-t-shirt

Forget the free-t-shirt/ water bottle/ random-crappy-thing-that-you’ll-never-use-again. Don’t apply just to score free gear. With every application, an inquiry is made into your credit history. This can pull down your credit quicker than a drunken frat guy drops his pants (or yours). Push through the crowd of over-eager credit card pushers – its okay to say no. Read More »