This month, you’re likely to read many stories about the importance — particularly for young people — of understanding compound interest, budgeting and other concepts key to creating a healthy financial life.
During the 2017-2018 academic year, banks including Wells Fargo, WF, -2.41% PNC PNC, +1.31% and U.S. Bank USB, +0.69% compensated 95 colleges across the country to allow the companies to market their debit card and checking account products to students, an analysis of a government database of the contracts by the Education Fund at U.S. PIRG and Frontier Group, a left-leaning think tank.
Are you a college student dealing with high fees on a campus bank account? We want to hear from you. Email jberman@marketwatch.com. In 2015, the Department of Education issued new rules aimed at addressing these concerns. As part of the regulations, deals between banks and colleges that allow the companies to promote their products on campus can’t be “inconsistent with the best financial interests” of students.
And the bulk of Wells Fargo contracts with universities — 20 out of 24 — included revenue-sharing provisions that would incentivize schools to encourage students to sign up for the account. The years of relatively high fees faced by college students is why Vitez and other advocates would like to see the government take a more aggressive approach to regulating these agreements. In the past, the CFPB has monitored them and released reports highlighting what they viewed as troubling practices by banks and schools. But given that the 2017 report only surfaced after a public records request, it’s hard to say whether that will continue.
How is that any different than parents paying bribes to colleges to get access to their kids?