The level of credit card debt being carried by college students has risen dramatically in the last 5 years, according to a new Sallie Mae study.

For too long, the giant banks handed out credit cards like candy to freshman. In many cases, the schools themselves got kickbacks for every student that signed up.

82% of students now run a balance on high interest cards, according to the latest numbers. That's up about 37% in just 5 years. Even more disturbing, if you go back 5 years you'll see that nearly 70% of students carried no monthly balances. Yet today, only 15% pay in full each month!

The good news here is that the banks won't be allowed to target college students like they have in the past when the new credit card rules go into effect.

Yet it's still incumbent on parents to educate your children about the dangers of credit card debt before they go off to school. If they protest and say you're infringing on their freedom, you should explain that there is no freedom when you owe the credit card companies.