The average credit card holder keeps the first credit card for 15 years, according to CCCS. Needless to say, this makes 18-year-old college first-years a tremendously attractive market for credit card companies--one they expend large advertising budgets on every year.

Before issuing a card, companies do run credit checks, but if a student has just arrived on campus and applies for several cards, they all may be issued before any of them have the chance to show up on the report.

"You can get a whole bunch of credit cards very quickly," DeGreeff says. "It's all funny money."

Add to that the fact that Harvard graduates have one of the highest rates of loan repayment in the nation, and it's no surprise that, as DeGreeff puts it, "Banks love Harvard students."

A full 80 percent of colleges and universities allow companies to take further advantage of the student market by allowing on-campus credit card solicitations. Fortunately for Harvard students, as in many matters, their school is stricter than average.

The College's Handbook for Students says, "Solicitation in University buildings and on University property must have prior approval of the proper authority."

The statute, while expressly intended to regulate student groups, applies also to any outside groups, says Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis '68.

"We would almost never grant approval for a non-Harvard commercial enterprise," Lewis wrote in an e-mail message.