Shootingstar, don't neglect the effect that predatory lending has had on these kids.

Obviously they need to take responsibility. But that responsibility has to be shared between the kids; their parents who never taught them financial skills; their elementary and high schools that also never taught them financial skills; and the predatory lenders themselves.

In order to go to college at all, a kid needs to sign on the dotted line for an amount of money so large they've probably never imagined it in their life. By definition they don't have the ability or a plan to pay it back - that's what the education they're borrowing for is "supposed" to give them. (Which has been shown to be false in most cases, but that's another rant. )

Now they're softened up for all the credit card offers that start arriving in their mailbox. And they have been deluged with them for the past 25 years - it had just started when I was in law school. The current debt crisis put a little blip in that, but it's started to pick up again. A kid's 18 years old with all the maturity that entails. They've never made more than $7.25 an hour or worked in a full-time permanent position. They just signed a loan for anywhere from $15,000 to $50,000, and that's just for their first year of an anticipated four. They get an offer in the mail for a credit card with a $500 or $1,000 limit. "What's the difference between $50,000 I can't pay off, and $50,500 I can't pay off?" You and I know there is a difference, but it's pretty darned hard to see for an 18-year-old with no financial education.