Everybody talks about the massive amount of debt today’s college students are carrying from their student loans. However, they often forget that college students are often carrying other debt that will also haunt them into adulthood. Their credit card debt alone might be overwhelming.

Despite changes in the law designed to make it harder for banks to prey on students, roughly a quarter of today’s college graduates walk away from school with over $5,000 in credit card debt. About one out of every 10 students graduates owing more than $10,000 on their cards.

Why do these companies extend so much credit to college kids? Here are several key reasons:

• They know that parents will often foot the bill. Some college students will need a cosigner to even get a card. If they don’t, however, their parents may still pay off their cards for them so that their kids don’t have to struggle.
• They know that young people often have poor money skills. Most college kids haven’t had experience managing money on their own, so they may make small, unnecessary charges without thinking about how those charges add up. Every dime of their balance that goes unpaid from month to month makes the credit card company richer through the interest.
• They want to get people hooked early. Once you get accustomed to living on credit, it can be a lot harder to live within your means. Credit card companies know this.

If you fell for some tempting credit card offers when you were a student and now find yourself burdened by debts that you can’t repay, find out more about your options. Bankruptcy might be the best decision you could make.