ERIC Number: EJ965781
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2005
Pages: 10
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0884-9153
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Credit Cards on Campus: Academic Inquiry, Objective Empiricism, or Advocacy Research?
Manning, Robert D.; Kirshak, Ray
Journal of Student Financial Aid, v35 n1 p39-48 2005
Professors John M. Barron and Michael E. Staten's article in Vol. 34, No. 3 of this journal, "Usage of Credit Cards Received through College Student-Marketing Programs," purports to "provide benchmark measures of college student credit card usage." Based on empirical analyses of proprietary industry data, they conclude that "There is no evidence... that young adults who received credit cards through student-marketed programs are misusing cards so frequently as to warrant singling them out as a group for special protections from marketing solicitations." Their key assertions, which portray on-campus credit card marketing campaigns and rising student debt levels as relatively benign trends that merely mirror patterns of older adults, contrast sharply with a growing body of academic research on this topic. Accordingly, the central question of this essay is whether the authors' conclusions are based on a thorough examination of the numerous empirical research studies on this important topic. If such a thorough review of literature was not referenced, then questions could be raised regarding the value of this effort and the intellectual credibility of the conclusions offered by the authors. This article examines the systematic flaws of this study in order to better inform the higher education community about the increasingly important public policy debates arising from the social consequences of student credit card debt.
Descriptors: Young Adults, College Students, Undergraduate Study, Credit (Finance), Debt (Financial), Use Studies, Validity, Research Methodology, Researchers, Attitudes, Conflict of Interest, Evaluation Methods, Educational Finance, Marketing, Contracts, Evidence, Standards, Scholarship, Politics of Education
National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators. 1101 Connecticut Avenue NW Suite 1100, Washington, DC 20036. Tel: 202-785-0453; Fax: 202-785-1487; e-mail: membership@nasfaa.org; Web site: http://www.nasfaa.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Opinion Papers; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A