Students use credit cards for everything from copies to coffee to college tuition, but the sneaking debts can skyrocket, causing students to file for bankruptcy.

The average college student will graduate owing over $18,000 in student loans and $2,740 in credit card debt, according to student loan corporation Nellie Mae.

Bankruptcy filings by 18 – 24-year-olds rose 51 percent between 1991 and 1999, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

In 2001, the same age group filed for 94,717 bankruptcies, according to the Harvard University Consumer Bankruptcy Project, and 25-34-year-olds filed for 464,647 bankruptcies, up 11 percent from the year before.

Graduate student Angela, who agreed to an interview only if her first name was used, had to go through bankruptcy before she could get her life back in order and return to college.

“I was drowning in debt and didn’t see another way out. I was transferring balances at the end of each month to make the payments. I finally said enough is enough. I couldn’t function anymore,” Angela said.

Angela filed for bankruptcy in early 2002, and it was finalized toward the middle of the year.

Angela said American Express targeted her right out of high school. At one point when she owed nothing on the card in the late 1990s, she tried to close the account, but instead American Express sent her their Optima card.

After she acquired her American Express Optima card, Citibank issued her both a Visa and a MasterCard after she applied for both. Then Wells Fargo solicited her for one of their Visa cards. More offers came, she said, and in total she had approximately eight major credit cards, two gas cards and two department store cards.

Angela filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy and is free from her creditors, but her credit rating will be damaged for at least seven years.

It costs $200 in court fees to file Chapter 7 bankruptcy.Angela said she feels guilty about filing bankruptcy, but at the same time she does not feel sorry for the companies that will not be getting their money.

“They make it way too easy and too tempting. CitiBank kept upping my limit on the Visa card until it got to $12,000,” Angela said.

In all, Angela owed approximately $18,000 when she filed bankruptcy.

Sacramento bankruptcy attorney Stephen Koonce agreed that while people are responsible for their own actions, the credit card companies are in part to blame for the Chapter 7 bankruptcies people file.

“Credit card companies do entice people. They give $5,000 to $10,000 limits, and credit is so much easier to get these days,” Koonce said.

Years ago it was difficult to get a credit card, and banks would review every application carefully, Koonce said. Now they hand out credit cards to just about anybody, he said.

Koonce said he does not keep track of the numbers of college graduates who come to him to file bankruptcy, but he said it is a significant number.

“A fair number of them (clients) are in their mid-twenties and are still in college either at Sac State or UC Davis,” Koonce said.

“Many more (students) come in than I would expect.”

Koonce said he sees students and recent college graduates with tens of thousands of dollars racked up on their credit cards.

A survey of Sac State campus businesses including Round Table Pizza and the Copy Graphics Center revealed approximately 45 percent of student purchases are paid with plastic.

Brian Castaneda, who worked at the Copy Graphics Center, said he has seen students charge as little as 15 cents for copies on their credit cards, but he added that most students do not carry cash and a lot of them use ATM check cards.

Six of the seven students interviewed for this story possessed one or two credit cards in addition to carrying student loans.

According to a pamphlet put out by the university’s Financial Services Center, it takes 15 years to pay off a starting balance of $2500 at 17.9 percent interest if only the minimum payments are made.

According to the California Public Interest Research Group, 80 percent of students have at least one credit card, and 48 percent of students have paid late fees for missing payments. Seven percent of students have had credit cards cancelled due to delinquent payments.

Most bankruptcies were filed under Chapter 7 of the bankruptcy code. Chapter 7 can dissolve credit card and other unsecured loan debts.

Student loans are almost always exempt from bankruptcy, said Assistant US Trustee Antonia Darling. She said under certain circumstances a student loan can be discharged for economic hardship, but it is rare.