Business Week on the dirty secret of campus credit cards:
Leech isn't just taking on Virginia Tech, which takes in seven figures from the Chase deal. Nearly every major university in the country has a multi-million-dollar affinity relationship with a credit card company. The deals can be worth nearly $20 million to a single university. Schools, especially public universities supported by state revenues, are coming under increasing financial pressure to generate new revenue these days, and deals with credit card companies can provide a steady stream of income. And in most cases the worse the card terms are for students and alumni, the more profitable they are for the schools.
2 comments:
Couldn't one make the case that if a Univ. is able to subsidize all students by allowing Banks the "opportunity" to market high rate cards on campus, that those that choose to consume credit services are volunteering to a) pay the true price for an education, or b) subsidize smarter kids?
ko,
That sounds somewhat Darwinian!
I'll have to think that one over.
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