Source: Jessica Silver-Greenberg & Ben Elgin, Businessweek

Universities and their alumni associations have discovered an unlikely and disturbing source of revenue: Increasingly, they are selling students’ personal information to big credit-card companies eager for young customers.

Using state public disclosure laws, BusinessWeek has obtained more than two dozen confidential contracts between major schools and card-issuing banks keen to sign up undergraduates with mounting expenses for tuition, books, and travel. In some instances, universities and alumni groups receive larger payments from the banks if students use their school-branded cards more frequently.

The growing financial alliance between schools and banks raises questions about whether universities are encouraging students to incur additional high-interest debt at a time when many young people graduate from college owing tens of thousands of dollars. Most undergraduates lack substantial income of their own and are especially vulnerable to late fees and other penalties if they fall behind on monthly payments. 

Read Full Article: The College Credit-Card Hustle