This phenomenon, according to Juliet B. Schor, consumer theorist and author of The Overspent American, illustrates a widely-known fact: paying with credit cards is "a relatively painless type of transaction" which has been shown to increase the amount people purchase.

And making purchases on the Internet--a popular tool of the young--only compounds that degree of painlessness says Schor, who teaches Women's Studies 132, "Shop 'Til You Drop: Gender and Class in Consumer Society" and is the director of studies for the committee on degrees in women's studies.

But more than just the ease of using credit, Schor and others say the trend toward increased debt reflects changing cultural norms--some of which may be due in part to the efforts of credit card companies.

Schor's theory suggests that there has been a shift in the way consumer aspirations and desires are formed, with consumers now more likely to look to the top of the income distribution for the cues about what to buy.

Though much of her research centers on the consumption behavior of adults, Schor says her theory of consumer society can be applied to Harvard--where many students are "thrust" into a reference group that is relatively affluent.

"I would bet that for students of moderate economic background who come here, that they become very aware that many of their classmates came from backgrounds of substantial wealth and privilege," she says.

Many new students use their new financial independence to compensate for their different backgrounds--buying items like clothes and material goods that signal status, according to Matthew J. DeGreeff '89, a senior admissions and financial aid officer and a first-year proctor.