As college freshmen prepare their first-ever household budgets, balancing new checkbooks, signing for student loans or learning about the power of new credit cards, many recent college graduates will be paying off student loans, exploring graduate school opportunities, buying or renting cars and starter homes, and figuring out how to invest or save a portion of their entry-level paychecks.

Almost half of this 20-39 age group list debt reduction/management as a current financial goal. In comparison to the same survey that was conducted in 1999, this group also expressed diminishing interest in home purchase/renovation, vacation/travel and retirement planning.

The culprit of all this debt? Credit cards. Financial planners warn college students that these colorful pieces of plastic are easy to abuse.

"Credit cards are an important tool for careful users, but for students with poor judgment, credit card use can resemble a hard-to-quit cigarette habit," said Matt Reading, a Certified Financial Planner in Austin, Texas.

Debby Vinyard, a Certified Financial Planner in Marion, Ill., and an advocate of the careful use of credit, said college students are often lured into signing up for their first credit cards during summer orientation, where free mugs or T-shirts are offered just for filling out an application.

"Many kids have no idea what they are doing to themselves," said Vinyard. ""College students tell me how much financial trouble they were in because of high debts from credit cards."

editor@smartpros.com