An assembly committee had a public hearing Wednesday regarding a bill that would put regulations on university and credit card issuer marketing campaigns that target students.

The bill would require the Department of Financial Institutions to ensure credit card issuers do not come to educational institutions to engage in aggressive marketing, including activities like setting up booths and offering freebies to students signing up for credit cards.

“Often a student will sign up for a credit card only to get the free item without any knowledge of what owning a credit card really means,” Rep. Jeff Smith, D-Eau Claire, said. “The students are put in a really precarious position regarding credit cards, and there is, I feel, an obligation to reach out to students and educate them on financial literacy.”

The bill would also require that everyone under the age of 21 have a co-signer for a credit card or proof of an independent means of paying off their debts.

Smith said he hopes the bill will help students realize that credit cards are not a source of income or a job, but are actually expenditures. On average, students today leave college with $4,200 in debt due to credit cards, he added.

David Giroux, spokesperson for the UW system, said the bill would hopefully decrease the problems that students have with debt.

“It is no surprise that a large number of students graduate with at least some debt, usually in the form of student loans.” Giroux said. “Student loans are relatively safe and have a low-interest rate with many other protections for the student’s financial future. Credit card loans, on the other hand, have high interest rates and, if improperly handled, will greatly affect the students’ borrowing power in the future.”

The bill, as it reads now, would require students to take an online tutorial or another means of financial literacy education before they could enroll and register for their next semester’s classes. However, this provision received much scrutiny at the hearing.

Rolf Wegenke, president of the Wisconsin Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, said requiring students who are usually already busy with school, work and other activities to additionally take an online tutorial regarding financial literacy before they can register for the next semester puts all of the consequences on the student.

“Encouragement will help any programs that the university sets up and should include something that is fun, and something in it for the student, instead of force and punishment,” Wegenke said.

Giroux also said the current language of the bill would only be another barrier for the students.

“The aim of the bill is to help students gain financial literacy and to protect them — we want to provide information how to manage credit cards,” Giroux said. “On one hand, mandated financial literacy programs should be part of the student experience … but the burden of financial literacy education should be for the credit card companies.”