He says that each year he witnesses many first-years who arrive at the College, only to go straight out and create a new image--often financed by credit.

"All of a sudden they're wearing clothes beyond their means," he says.

This willingness among college students and young adults to spend so freely--while not necessarily a new development--has been aggravated by the more prominent role credit cards play on campuses.

In researching his recently-released report entitled "Credit Cards on Campus: Costs and Consequences of Student Debt, " Georgetown University sociologist Robert D. Manning says he found that mass marketing has helped hasten major changes in consumption patterns.

Manning contrasts the situation today with a time in America when people set their personal standards of living to their expected earnings. A glut of easily accessible credit has changed that, he says.

"The credit card industry has tried to fracture that cognitive connection," he says.

By marketing credit cards as comprehensive lifestyle enhancers--complete with celebrity spokespeople such as comedian Jerry Sienfeld and golf star Tiger Woods--rather than just convenient tools of purchase, Manning says credit card companies are hooking more and more young people. Credit card companies, he says, are bringing about a "cultural revolution."

Tackling the issue