Colorado Daily/Zak Wood

Owner of Albums on the Hill, Andy Schneidkraut, swipes a credit card Thursday afternoon.

Getting one's first credit card can be tremendously exciting and sort of a rite of passage into economic adulthood -- but students also should be aware of the potential pitfalls of plastic.

College students traditionally have encountered aggressive marketing tactics and offers of tempting freebies from credit-card companies. They can also be tempted to pay off tuition: 24 percent of students responding to a U.S. Public Interest Research Groups survey said they did that.

Those survey respondents, on average, left college with $2,600 in credit-card debt.

For some graduates, moderate credit-card debt won't be a major near-term problem. But others might only make entry-level income fresh out of college, and carry student-loan balances on top of those credit-card balances -- and potentially wind up in a cycle of debt that is tough to break out of.

On the positive side, holding a credit card and using it responsibly can build a person's credit rating -- and it's often the most convenient way to conduct a large number of transitions.

So, young adults might wish to seek advice on how to avoid credit-card problems in the first place, and CU students might be able to get that help through Elevations Credit Union (formerly the University of Colorado Credit Union) or other entities.

Dennis Paul, Elevations' assistant vice president of business and community development, said the credit union does a great deal of on-campus credit education through seminars and partnerships.

It has an online educational program called "FoolProof" that can teach young adults about responsible credit use -- with a separate program available that can allow parents to participate as a credit "coach" with their children.

Elevations also has its own line of Visa cards that CU students may apply for, including the Buff One Visa. But Paul said Elevations approaches setting students up with credit cards in a different manner than certain other firms.

"With a lot of other companies, their goal is to get a card into your hands so you can max it out," Paul said. "We start with reasonable credit limits and try to get people to ease into it."

CU students also have probably seen reps from Wells Fargo manning a table at the University Memorial Center. Igor Radomyshelsky, a teller with Wells Fargo, said it also starts young cardholders out with low credit limits, and only boosts the limits as people increase their credit scores.

Still, Paul emphasized that it is essential for young adults using credit cards, from any company, to learn and understand the details of their credit card agreement -- including late fees that can hit $29 or $39 for a billing cycle, as well as interest rates.

First-time cardholders might be enticed into signing up by a low introductory interest rate, which could increase dramatically after the introductory period expires. But Paul said people should be aware of the circumstances, such as late or missed payments, that can put a credit user into a "universal default rate" category that could approach or exceed 30 percent interest.

"One thing we're stunned by is how many people in our classes aren't aware of their terms and conditions," Paul said.

Also, he said credit users should be aware that making minimum monthly payments can wind up being a tremendous waste of money in the long run.

For example, Paul said that a person making $20 minimum monthly payments on a $2,000 balance would only knock about $50 off of the balance over the course of 12 months, because of the interest accrued. He added that the same person could "theoretically" take 10 years to pay off the balance, if he or she just pays the monthly minimum.

Paul said students should definitely be wary of gimmicks or low-cost giveaways, such as free pizza or T-shirts, which card companies might flaunt before the potential young interest-paying customers. Also, he said most students shouldn't feel the need to obtain more than one card to build their credit rating, especially since many of them won't be in the market for a home mortgage for years.

But he emphasized that using a card improperly can also do serious damage to one's credit rating, which can impact a person's ability to obtain loans or even employment. He said young people should seek out as much knowledge as possible, especially since key details of an agreement are often buried in really fine print, before making important financial decisions.

"Your performance on your credit today will have huge implications tomorrow," Paul said.