Guest Blogger Arone Silverman

We all love credit cards. They allow us to buy what we want now and worry about paying for it later. It often seems effortless to just swipe the card and go enjoy whatever it is we thought we needed or couldn’t live without.

But now, after decades of shrinking financial aid options and rising tuition, students depend on credit cards. Eighty-four percent of college students have at least one credit card and they’re not using them just for buying food, gas and other living expenses, but also to assist in paying tuition! Since students have to pay their credit card debt as soon as they incur it while student loans are deferred, it's the worst option for paying tuition. Most students aren’t aware of all the hidden fees and high interest rates associated with credit cards and some don’t even know how they work, according to a study conducted by Sallie Mae the nation’s leading provider of saving- and paying-for-college programs.

In their report, Sallie Mae states, only “two-thirds of survey respondents said they had frequently or sometimes discussed credit card use with their parents. The remaining one-third who had never or only rarely discussed credit cards with parents were more likely to pay for tuition with a credit card and were more likely to be surprised at their credit card balance when they received the invoice.”

With the economy in a tailspin, parents are strapped, but many students aren’t aware of their options. By using credit cards, they rely on one of the highest-interest loans available to pay for their education. According to the report, undergraduates are carrying record-high credit card balances. The average balance grew to $3,173, the highest in all the years the study has been conducted. Twenty-one percent of undergraduates had balances of between $3,000 and $7,000, which is also an increase from the last study.

There are other ways for students to pay for college, but none that have on-campus advertising with introductory 0% APR fliers and trendy gifts when they sign up. These credit card companies know that by targeting students they can recruit long term customers who will be paying off their debt for years after receiving their diploma--sometimes at 24.99% even before the last round of increases. Salie Mae predicts this problem could get "a little bit worse" this year. Zac over at WalletPop wonders if it will get a lot worse.